Instapaper: Tag it Now, Read it Later

November 6th, 2009 at 8:00 AM - TMO Quick Tip by Jeff Gamet

Keeping track of everything you want to read online can be a real pain, especially if you're trying to keep track of articles and blog posts on the go. Instapaper solve that problem, and it's easy to use, too.

You'll need a free Instapaper account to get started. Just point your Web browser to the Instapaper Web site and sign up. Next, drag the Read Later bookmarklet from the Instapaper Web page to your Web browser bookmark bar.

Add the Instapaper bookmarklet to your browser for quick tagging.

To tag a Web page for later reading, just click the Read Later bookmarklet in your bookmark bar. The Web page will appear in your Instapaper Read Later list. To see your Instapaper Web page list, head back over to the Instapaper Web site.

It's easy to build up a list of articles that's impractical to scroll through, so Instapaper lets you add folders for organization. Your folders appear on the left side of your Read Later list, and you can put individual links into specific folders by clicking their Move button.

If you sync your bookmarks with your iPhone or iPod touch, you don't need to do anything extra to take advantage of Instapaper when you're on the go. The Instapaper app, however, offers a great interface for viewing your tagged links.

Folder view (left) and Read Later list (right) in the Instapaper app.

The free version of the Instapaper app works just fine, but the US$4.99 version lets you work with your Instapaper folders and includes several customization options.

Instapaper has become a must-have service for me because I'm always finding articles and blog posts I want to remember to read later. I can use it on my Mac and iPhone, and several iPhone Twitter apps support the service, too.