A well-liked web clipping application known as “Clipboard” was acquired a couple of weeks back which resulted in the discontinuation of the service on 30th June, 2013. It is a common phenomenon that users start panicking when an online service is bought as they start apprehending the fact that it will be closed by the new possessors. The users start to backup all the stuff and hunt for other worthy alternatives to switch to. It’s because of all the past experiences with the most popular being the Posterous acquisition.
Since the announcement of the demise of Clipboard, a new Hamburg-based startup, Keeeb, has become the center of attraction for all the Clipboard users as they have started working to make the most out of Clipboard’s imminent closure. If you are a former Clipboard user looking for a replacement, Keeeb might be just what you need.
Keeeb is a very useful online utility that allows users to save web clippings from any website using a bookmarklet. All you have to do is select any element such as text, images, videos, etc. and it will save it to your Keeeb profile. Keeeb also allows users to select personalized domains such as a personalized Keeeb URL, i.e. keeeb.com/user. Most importantly, Keeeb allows users to easily import their backup from Clipboard and Snipit.
Registration
The first step for you is to sign up for an account on Keeeb. All you need to do is to specify your personal details such as your Name, Email and password. If you want, you can even sign up using your Facebook, Google or Twitter accounts as well.
Using Keeeb
After the registration, it will ask you to drag Keeeb bookmarklet in your browser’s bookmarks bar which will be used to save web clippings. If you don’t want to use the bookmarklet in your browser, Keeeb has a dedicated Google Chrome extension that adds a Keeeb icon in the extensions area.
Now, visit any website you want to save the web clipping from and click on the bookmarklet from your browser’s bar. This will show you Keeeb toolbar which then requires you have to highlight all the items and click on Save. It will automatically save your clippings to your Keeeb account. You can manually select the folder or what they call it, Keeeb page where you can save your clippings.
In order to view the saved clippings, go to your Keeeb dashboard and click on My Pages which will then show you all the pages you have created.
Open any page and it will show you all the clippings you have saved.
From there, you can move/copy the clippings or Keeebs (what they call them) to other pages, share them via Email, Facebook or Twitter, and add comments as well. You can also invite your friends and other team members to save Keeebs on the same page as well.
You can even take notes in your Keeeb account by just clicking on Add Note icon from any page and save notes.
Viewing Keeebs from Other Users
Keeeb is like a social network. It also allows users to view what others are keebing and save them on their pages. If you decide to make your page public, the stuff you save on your Keeeb account will be visible to other Keeeb users as well. Just go to the Discover tab and you might find something worth saving.
What I don’t Like
Despite the fact that Keeeb did manage to make the most out of the closure of Clipboard, but they still need to fix some things for a smooth user experience. When I installed Keeeb bookmarklet, it didn’t work for me on the first go. I had to click on the bookmarklet multiple times for it to load Keeeb on the website. After which it worked without any problems. But when I gave it a deeper look, I think it did meet my expectations.
Secondly, they do allow users to import their data from Clipboard and Snip.it but there is no feature that can help users backup there Keeeb data. I was in touch with one of the support guys, and they did say that it will be released soon. After Posterous, the first thing I check before trying any new service is the export feature.
Conclusion
Despite of all the drawbacks, I must say that Keeeb did impress me with its functionality and usage. It has a simple and easy to use user interface. I am expecting that they will launch the export feature as soon as possible because without it, many people will be reluctant to switch to Keeeb as Clipboard alternative.
If want to know more about what to do if your favorite service gets bought, check out Matthew’s article here.