Being a freelance writer working full-time from home, I put myself in charge of all data management — be it on the cloud or offline on hard drives and my NAS. While actual storage of data is one part of the story, what makes local storage on my NAS smart are the apps that derive so much value and convenience from my files. These apps are the ones that have made working from home so much more convenient without having access to the managed system that big corporations offer their employees.

Here are the apps that have turned my personal cloud into a capable private workspace.

Nextcloud

The all-in-one office

I don’t think my productivity system would be complete without Nextcloud on the list. It has turned my NAS into a proper cloud suite, just like I’d rent from Google or Microsoft. It started with file syncing, but I soon added my calendar too, while the OnlyOffice integration has been working well for document editing. It has everything — without a monthly subscription attached to it.

I can access everything from my phone, laptop, or tablet, and everything even syncs perfectly across devices — I’ve seen negligible sync errors. And it’s reassuring that all my sensitive work documents live on a system I control. It’s the next level of privacy, with peace of mind as a bonus.

Paperless-NGX

Turning your physical world digital

I have to deal with tons of paperwork — actual physical paper — from bills and tax papers to business invoices and receipts. I used to scan them with whatever app first came to mind: Apple Notes, Google Drive, or Microsoft Office Lens, leading to the kind of digital clutter that was no better than the physical one.

I moved everything over to Paperless-NGX painstakingly, just to create a system that works for me and not against me. Everything is now organized in its respective folders and remains searchable, even by the contents of the files. It works like my second brain — one meant to organize real-world chaos.

Syncthing

The invisible syncing genie

There’s something satisfying about opening your laptop and finding all your work files already there — synced as-is from your work machine without even thinking about it. What’s even better is that not a single external cloud service is involved; it all happens offline, right on your network.

Syncthing is the perfect tool for that. It works quietly in the background, keeping my NAS and both laptops in sync. I can edit a piece on my Mac and find it updated on my PC within seconds. A subscription service would put limits and be even slower by unnecessarily moving data over the internet when both devices are on the same local network.

Joplin

My notetaker

I can give you ten examples of note-taking apps that, after attracting a sizable user base, started to put arbitrary limits, went subscription-only, or offered a seriously limited free tier in one way or another. That’s when I turned to my NAS for my note-taking needs, and a Joplin server has been the perfect match for me.

Hosting it on my NAS was super easy, and it can sync my notes across devices just as easily. Since it’s Markdown-based, I’m not locked into the app and can switch to another one if something new strikes my fancy. That’s a far cry from a lot of mainstream note-taking apps that make it especially hard to export your data.

Tailscale

Remote access with safety

Accessing your NAS over the internet is always scary, with so many moving parts that even a single slip-up could expose it to attacks. While I can’t say that I’m completely at peace yet, Tailscale has eased a big chunk of my anxiety with its secure connection.

It creates a private, encrypted network between all my devices — including the NAS — so I can access my data from anywhere without dealing with port forwarding or VPNs. It makes my NAS behave like it’s right next to me, even if I’m halfway across the world. That’s incredibly freeing and lets me travel with ease.

Duplicati

A backup strategy that just works

Setting up a proper backup strategy is a task you always plan to do on the coming weekend — and that weekend never arrives. As simple as its name is, using Duplicati is just as uncomplicated. It lets you encrypt, compress, and back up your data automatically to whatever destination you pick. It could be a portable drive, a second NAS, or even the cloud.

What I like the most — and what has proven most useful — is versioning. I can roll back to an earlier state of my files if something breaks or gets deleted. It’s the sort of safety that lets me experiment more with my setup, with much more confidence and much less anxiety.

NAS for working from home

I reckon that bringing home a NAS is perhaps the best, most productive thing professionals can do for their home setup. It offers all-around help across areas like note-taking and backup, instead of functioning as simple drive storage that serves a single purpose. If you’ve got a NAS already, stop treating it like fancy storage — use the right kind of apps to turn it into your most capable coworker.

QNAP TS-464

Brand QNAP

CPU Intel Celeron N5095

Memory 8GB DDR4 (max. 8GB)

Drive Bays 4

Expansion 2x M.2 PCIe 3.0, 1x PCIe Gen 3 x2

Ports 2x 2.5 GbE, 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, 2x USB-A 2.0, 1x HDMI

QNAP’s TS-464 is an impressive four-bay NAS with a striking design, powerful internal specs, and IR support for a remote control. If you’re looking for the best-equipped NAS for running Plex (or other media solutions) without spending a small fortune, this is the NAS for you.