NAS Productivity: 6 Smart Tools to Maximize Your Device

Network-attached storage, as its name suggests, is essentially a storage space for all your data. It is a cloud alternative that resides in your home and is under your control. But what actually turns it into a smart, usable machine are the tools and apps you install on it. For my productivity suite, I use a ton of apps every day that make my experience so much better, and my life that much easier. Thanks to them, I have not only cut down on a lot of my subscriptionsbut my digital life also now feels a lot more put together.

Here are all the tools that make my NAS a solid productivity setup.

Synology Drive

Cloud, but closer home

My main NAS is a good-old Synology DS920+, and I have no intention of replacing it just yet. A significant reason is its numerous first-party tools that are actually easy to use. While Nextcloud may be excellent, I decided to stick with Synology Drive on my NAS just because of ease of use. I use it to sync folders between my laptop and the NAS, ensuring my important documents, photos, and clips are available everywhere.

It is a great Google Drive alternativethanks to an excellent desktop app that enables all these sync tasks. Another helpful feature Synology has picked up is a collaboration tool, letting you create shareable links, just like you do in Google Drive.

OnlyOffice

Your office apps are sorted, too

Google Docs spoiled me with real-time collaboration, which is its biggest strength. I used OnlyOffice to replicate that same functionality locally. Synology has its own office suite too, but I decided to go with OnlyOffice for its richer feature set and wider file format compatibility. It comes pretty close to the complete experience that mainstream alternatives offer.

I can finally collaborate with people even outside my home network for drafts and spreadsheets without having to awkwardly attach them in emails. Since it’s all local, version history stays with me and under my control. That goes against Google Workspace’s core business philosophy of mining your data for running ads.

Joplin notes

Note-taking as a second brain

I use my notes app for dumping random ideas, keeping track of my shopping list, packing list, and whatnot. So far, everything was scattered across Notion, Google Keep, Apple Notes, and even random Google Docs. But my workflow changed for the better when I hosted Joplin on my NAS.

The app is so feature-rich that I don’t miss anything that other apps offer. It has markdown, syncs across my devices, and makes searching effortless. I can pull up whatever random thought I dropped here weeks ago within seconds. With small app developers shutting down left, right, and center, I’m reassured that my data isn’t going anywhere, so I can focus on what actually matters: writing.

Cell

Don’t be surprised by this

Hearing about Jellyfin, your first question would naturally be: how does a media streaming app help with productivity? And the answer is once again that the tool itself doesn’t matter, but what you do with it does. In addition to storing movies and TV shows on my NAS, I use Jellyfin to stream podcasts, documentaries, and video essays that I actually want to watch and listen to.

This way, I am not at the mercy of YouTube’s algorithm, which throws me into a rabbit hole that is hard to escape. My server keeps everything organized, easily accessible, and ad-free. It saves me quite some time that I would otherwise spend mindlessly scrolling. That’s one of the reasons I install Jellyfin as soon as I upgrade to a new NAS.

Synology Photos

I use it for my work photos too

Synology Photos is a go-to tool for backing up my family photos across devices. However, I also use it to store and manage work photos — such as the product shots I take for reviews. They go in a separate folder inside Synology Photos for quick retrieval for editing on my laptop, and they live there forever, in case I need them in the future.

Besides product photos, I have reserved a corner of Synology Photos for safekeeping random but important items, such as receipts, charts from my online lessons, and old scans, among others. They don’t perpetually live in my PC’s downloads folder anymore, keeping things clutter-free.

Backups

Keeping my data safe

Backups aren’t that fun feature you want to use, but they are surely what you should be using. In extreme cases like losing your device or drive corruption, it’s these backups that at least keep your data safe for a quick restoration job. I use a bunch of services to keep all my devices backed up.

I use Time Machine for my Macwhich directly links to my NAS with no other tool needed in the middle. For my Windows machine, I rely on Synology’s own backup tool to keep a copy of my laptop on the NAS, since Windows’ own feature has proven useless.

Replace your cloud with something better

NAS can simply be used as storage if you want it to be. But it could also be much more — you can turn it into your superbly efficient cloud replacement or make a media server out of it that could even make Netflix jealous. For productivity, these apps help me stay on top of my game and go through my days far more efficiently than I did without them. You can give them a go or use one of their alternatives — whatever floats your boat.