So, how Haystack uses Haystack? 12 Tips!

1.Desktop app

We use the web app as a desktop app. We barely ever open Haystack as a tab. 

Are you new to Haystack? Watch this video on how to get started with the web and desktop app.

2. One team

The entire Haystack team uses just one shared “team”.

3. Team thumbnail

We added a “thumbnail” for our team, to differentiate it from other personal teams we have. Of course we also add thumbnails for our other personal teams. 

4. Team stacks

We use stacks that represent meetings, teams and projects e.g. “Weekly standup”, “Development”, “Slack integration”, “New joiners” and each team has a daily stack e.g. “Product – daily”

5. People 

Everyone saves things in “People” based on the person they received it from in their home e.g. “Sam Fridman”. We find that one of the things we can recall the quickest is who shared it with us. 

6. Needles in multiple stacks

Some of our content – we call them needles – is spread out over multiple stacks. For instance our Lookout studio reports are in both “Marketing”, “Research” and “Product – daily”

7. Categories over stacks

We use categories instead of creating too many stacks.

8. Descriptive names

We try to give long descriptive names to content to help with quick search. We always include the domain, name of the file or link, related labels, and the word Haystack to easily differentiate it from other content in the home feed e.g. “Figma – Haystack, Master, 2023, Design, UX”. Also, check out this post we wrote about how to save things effectively so you can actually recall them.  

9. Chrome extension is a must

Everyone has the Chrome extension installed!!!

Watch this video on how to use our Chrome extension.

10. Chrome extension keyboard shortcut

We set the Ctrl/Cmnd+H shortcut to launch the Haystack Chrome extension. It’s just way quicker than clicking on the little extension icon. Here is some help on how to do it

11. Chrome over App

1. We typically use the Chrome extension for…
   1. Quick search, finding something that is either open or we just used it this week.
   2. Opening all links from a stack such as stacks that are called “Daily” are the other most.
   3. And, saving entire sessions. Note, that we don’t save sessions to our team stack

12. App over Chrome

1. We use the application for… 
   1. Sorting and categorizing
   2. When it feels quicker to find something browsing than searching for it
   3. And, sometimes when it just feels more convenient to browse on a larger surface

Hope these tips will save you just as much time as they save for us!