How to Use Edvo to Get Rid of All Your Chrome Tabs

Like most people, I have been living my life through a 13 inch computer screen for the past two years. School work, part time jobs, Netflix, and social events all resided in one of the 60 something tabs that were always open. 

I couldn’t bring myself to close them. What if I needed that exact Pad Thai recipe again? At the same time, seeing so much clutter made me feel like I was constantly behind schedule.My online disorganisation was creating unnecessary anxiety. 

In this post, I’ll share some ways that I used Edvo to reduce the number of websites running in the background and build a simpler online experience. How I:

• went from having 60 tabs open to a few topical workspaces (one for recipes, one for writing blog posts, etc.)
• organized each workspace to optimize my productivity
• now have only one tab open at any time (whatever Edvo space I’m currently working in!)

How I used Edvo to create a basic sorting system

My end goal was to create a system that looked somewhat like a mindmap, where ideas could interlink. But getting to that stage takes time and I didn’t want to overwhelm myself so I began organizing using the bucket method.

I made four big categories: personal, work, learning, and school. Then I started going through each open webpage, tagging it with one relevant theme – meal ideas and banking went into personal, excel sheets and email went into work. 

As I was tagging and closing tabs, I remembered some ways I intended to use that resource and quickly jotted down whatever I was thinking as a bullet point. 

It was a messy system, but at least I got to see everything remotely connected at a glance. Here is an early stage screenshot of my Edvo space (with the “personal” tag):

‍After I created my sorting system, I added more tags

After I had my big ideas in place, I started sorting them into more niche areas by adding supplemental tags, almost like going through a child’s toy basket and separating the crayons from the sports equipment.

Initially it was really tempting to go haywire and sort items really specifically, but I found that it helps to keep tags intentional and most importantly, memorable.

For example, I divided my personal tags into a few different categories: recipes, finance, rent, and exercise schedule.

This created unique spaces for each new tag. 

How I customized my Edvo space to make it easy to use

This bit takes slightly longer but was also where I unlocked a lot of value from Edvo. By cross tagging, re-sizing, and flipping open websites in a way that I understand best, I was essentially writing in the margins of a virtual notebook and personalizing it.

For example, I arranged my space in such a way that the webpages I reach for most often were firmly centered, then worked my way outwards with less importance. I also kept the workspace note in a prominent place and started jotting down my to-do’s there.

Here is a screengrab of a page where I keep track of learning resources:

Using Edvo, I found myself much less distracted and anxious while working online. I could have one Edvo workspace open with every relevant site for whatever I was working on – and no other tabs!

More importantly, seeing everything in one space allowed me to take away more from the content I interacted with. 

Having my life set up within Edvo workspaces has made me feel clearer and less distracted – and my productivity has increased because of it.