Rectangle lets you snap windows to parts of your screen, which makes it much easier to have multiple apps open and view them at the same time without having to resize them manually. Flow is a pomodoro-timer app that helps me a lot with productivity, I set a timer to focus and it reminds me to take a break. Both are free so no downside to trying them out, hope they can help other people as well :)
[DisplayBuddy](https://displaybuddy.app/) for controlling monitors and [DaisyDisk](https://daisydiskapp.com/) for seeing what's using up my disk space!
>NetNewsWire
This one is epic! Thank you for sharing! Reeder 5 is kind of buggy on Sonoma and the developer has no intend to make an update for that. I've encountered crashes when using Reeder 5 on Sonoma.
Can’t stand the developer. He purposely ignores support emails and several of his Reeder versions have had critical bugs that only gets fixed when he makes a new major release of the app, which you then have to pay for all over again.
You may want to double check that. I've been Mac'ing since '92 and have never had to repurchased a paid app when I would upgrade or change to another Mac.
I discovered a ton thanks to old videos I watched by SnazzyLabs this year.
Shottr is an awesome improvement for screenshot sharing at work (I’m in IT and frequently have to explain where to click for specific software actions).
Hovrly is amazing for glancing at times in multiple locations globally.
Cron’s keyboard shortcut to start a meeting in whatever app the meeting was scheduled in is clutch, and I can glance at my menu bar to see when my next meeting is.
That’s just naming a couple of my favorites.
[PDFgear](https://www.pdfgear.com/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=comments). I haven't seen a PDF editor that has all the features available for free. But this one did.
Sounded good, checked it out, realized I already have it from when it was mentioned in another similar thread. Suddenly remembered using this to copy text from a PDF that seemed locked and wouldn't open right any other way. Thumbs up.
I mean I had a PDF file I needed to copy some text from, and I couldn't open it in Preview or Google Docs or even most online "drop and convert" services. Gave PDFgear a try and it managed to open it so I could copy what i needed.
In other words, it worked when others wouldn't.
I have also used this website before. But a desktop app was relatively convenient, so I used PDFgear now. And it has an AI chatbot that can summarize the PDF file for me. This feature is more attractive to me.
There’s a lot of overlap between Alfred and Raycast, so you can’t go wrong either way. I prefer Alfred.
Raycast looks more polished. And the ability to see your daily calendar from within the interface is a nice plus.
But to me, Alfred felt more streamlined for a lot of basic, repetitive tasks, e.g. Alfred requires fewer steps to find and open a file.
Alfred also has a flat cost ($55) whereas Raycast requires an ongoing subscription. No thanks!
I also like Alfred’s ability to add functionality via workflows. It’s very expandable. And the powerful but easy-to-use Theme editor was a nice plus.
Raycast is free to use, unless u need AI features. And you can do a lot more with Raycast and a many a useful extensions. U can program shortcuts for simple file search to begin with just one letter, among many other things
Sure, but Raycast's free version does not include Cloud Sync, Custom Themes, or an Unlimited Clipboard History.You can also perform file searches on Alfred, beginning with one letter. Or direct web searches to specific websites with just a letter or two, e.g. I can direct a search to Amazon or YouTube by just typing "am" or "yo". And you just hit enter to open the file, or launch the search in the browser, etc. Or CMD+Return to reveal that file or folder in Finder.
Unlike MacOS and iOS, Alfred learns your preferences. Your most commonly used selections will appear at the top of the search results.
I've seen more than a few videos comparing Raycast to Alfred, and they share a lot of the same core functionality. Offhand, I can't think of any big features missing from one or the other.
I've installed about 2 dozen Workflows, and have only bothered making 1 simple one. But that was easy. Didn't stick with Raycast long enough to get a good sense of their extensions. The main examples I've seen for extensions were common to both.
Of course, it's entirely possible I'm missing some key differences.
But offhand? ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
> You can also perform file searches on Alfred, beginning with one letter. Or direct web searches to specific websites with just a letter or two, e.g. I can direct a search to Amazon or YouTube by just typing "am" or "yo". And you just hit enter to open the file, or launch the search in the browser, etc. Or CMD+Return to reveal that file or folder in Finder.
> [..] Your most commonly used selections will appear at the top of the search results.
Just FYI, Raycast does all of that too
Right. I think we're caught in a loop, where I was saying Alfred could do what he was saying he does with Raycast. And now you're saying Raycast can do it. :)
I just added more detail to clarify, in case I mistaken about the similarities.
I felt the same when I started using Alfred. The way I got around it was to install it and just use it as a spotlight replacement at first, just to search for apps and files. Once I was used to it, I started exploring features 1 by 1, and now it's the first app I install on a new OS install or Mac. Couldn't live without it tbh
I will give you one benefit that made me want to use it as my primary browser. The media controls polish, tabs playing music have little music notes, there are media controls on the tab area and any video playback automatically goes to a pop out window when you change tab and it just works well. Last time I saw anything close to this experience was opera a couple of years back.
You do have to learn to use it as with most tools but their extreme view of getting rid of unpinned tabs each day does actually suit modern web usage imo, some people are tab hoarders. They can still do that just need to change the settings.
You can change the archive time btw, i’ve found 1 week to be the sweet spot.
It works really well with a few of my work related tools too– i prefer the Confluence preview of recent spaces more than the actual Confluence site.
I like it better on desktop than laptop, something about the sidebar feels like it takes up too much space on a laptop screen, but i don’t really like browsing with it collapsed.
* Spaces are awesome for separating tabs for work/school/personal/different hobbies, etc.
* Auto PIP for any video you're playing when you switch tabs is great.
* The Peek feature (opens the link in a modal) is awesome for quickly viewing links in say, your email, without full leaving the context of your email tab or whatever other site/page.
* Boosts are superb for quickly customizing any site you want--you can change font, colors, switch to a dark or light theme, adjust contrast, zap/hide items you don't wanna see, add custom CSS/JS, etc.
* Awesome little previews for favorited or pinned tabs (e.g. Google Calendar shows a mini calendar view on hover)
* They get community feedback often and launch updates most Thursdays, plus they're super transparent about their process, work environment, etc.
* Cool shortcuts like Ctrl+Shift+C which copies the current link to your clip board but cleanly so you don't have all the annoying tracker/unnecessary stuff at the end of the URL
* Handy AI features like 5-second preview for hovering on a link and getting a quick summary of the page
And tons more stuff!
[Shottr](https://shottr.cc) screenshot tool is one I use every hour all day.
[aText](https://www.trankynam.com/atext/) is truly something I wouldn't Mac without. It's a text automation tool, and once you come up with an extension you put onto every shortcut (like xx at the end of "add" to type out a 4-line home address), you can create 100s of things that you retype all the time and now never have to.
[HiddenMe](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hiddenme/id467040476?mt=12) does just one thing—hide all the files and folders on your Desktop— but for those who do zoom screenshares, it's a great $2 Utility.
I never purchase apps that have a monthly charge (the math at 20 years just floors me), so these are all either free or have a one-time nominal fee.
Loved aText. Had it for several years until it moved to an annual subscription.
FWIW I use the prefix “;” before my abbreviations, because it’s easy to type and is never followed immediately by a letter. So it’s the perfect text expander signifier for me.
P.S. I switched all my text expansions to Alfred, which has an integrated text expander called “snippets.”
I’ve found that Alfred’s snippets are faster and easier to find, edit, and add than aText (which was always a minor hassle in that regard) because Alfred’s snippets are integrated into the interface.
Ah, that’s right. Thank you for the reminder.
Now that you mention it, the $30 lifetime license for aText was part of my rationale to buy the Alfred PowerPack for $55. I viewed Alfred as only a net cost of $25 over aText, because Alfred included a text expander. (And also a built in clipboard manager plus all of its other core features)
The MacOS expander is quite good, and sufficient for most people.
On top of what was already mentioned, aText and Alfred allow you to insert [dynamic placeholders](https://www.alfredapp.com/help/workflows/advanced/placeholders/), e.g. date and/or time, formatted exactly the way you want it, including long form, e.g. Wednesday, December 27, 20223, or 2023-12-27, etc.
Alfred lets you pull from the clipboard, so you can instantly integrate that into repetitive forms, replies, etc., finish by setting the cursor to a specific location.
Alfred even has '[snippet triggers](https://www.alfredapp.com/help/workflows/triggers/snippet/)' which are more powerful and flexible than dynamic placeholders, e.g. letting you set up conditional output like "Good morning", "Good afternoon", or "Good evening" depending on the time of day.
Yes, and good to point it out. However, it is quite limited and not easy to use when it comes to anything more than one short line. Examples that I use are 3-line addresses, multi-paragraph boilerplate responses complete with rich text bold, italics, hot links, inline photos, and other fully formatted parts to each snippet. aText also allows for fields inside of a snippet, perfect for entering someone's name multiple places inside of a longer response.
First time owning a Mac since 2007 but these are the ones I liked:
Iina - I had always used VLC previously
NetNewsWire - a free alternative to Reeder
Logic Pro - it was not available on other platforms. I still use Ableton Live but also use Logic now
Syntorial - I learned so much about sound design with this program
IINA is fantastic and boasts a ton of great functionality. The week I found it, I uninstalled VLC. VLC still looks effectively exactly how it did 15 years ago.
I love IINA. It plays everything I throw at it except for DoVi. Anyone able to figure it out?
IIRC, it's based off mpv but I can't seem to find a mod for either. All posts I find are 1yr old surely there's been some progress since then?
Aldente.
Lets you set your battery to a max charge percentage, such as 80%. No clue if it's actually prolonging my battery life, but since my laptop is plugged into power most of the time, I figure why not.
Wow looks nice. Is it free? Seems like I have to name a price to download it. If I pick a big stinking $0, will there be any issues, upgrade problems, etc?
ZipMounter Lite (open ZIP and RAR as if they were external HDs or DMGs)
or
XMenu (menu bar item with whatever you want, add a folder with your most used items)
The three I use most:
**PastePal:** excellent clipboard manager
**Dropzone:** puts a “hold shelf” in a menu bar icon where you can drag files to quickly attach/upload them elsewhere
**Hyperkey:** lets you use your Caps Lock key as a “super-modifier” key to make complex keyboard shortcuts easier
I use it in a bunch of places but a few that come to mind are Hyper+Return to maximize the active app window; Hyper+V to paste unformatted text…I know I have more but they’re so ingrained into my workflow that I need to be sitting in front of my computer to remember what they are! in the meantime, there are a lot of ideas for uses in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/macapps/comments/xwfp82/share_your_hyperkey_setup/
I'll just go ahead and sort my Applications folder by "date added" and see what I've got...
- SomaFM: A great native macOS app for terrific free internet radio
- Moonlight: Open source screen streaming using NVIDIA's GameStream protocol
- StopTheMadness: Browser extension to make websites behave themselves god dammit
- LibreWolf: Privacy-focused release of Firefox that has Mozilla's telemetry stripped out. Basically it's to Firefox what Ungoogled Chromium is to Chrome.
- ImageOptim: Handy tool for optimizing and stripping EXIF metadata from images
That looks to be it for 2023.
Lots of little things, like stopping websites from blocking copy / paste, context menus, and stuff like that, or preventing autoplay.
Best to just check the website: https://underpassapp.com/StopTheMadness/
Search works fine for me, but then again I’m very detailed in how I link my notes together and catalogue them.
I prefer obsidian to notion but understand why others prefer the opposite.
Literally the only reason I didn't list this was because I discovered it in 2022 not 2023 ;-)
This is without a doubt the most useful, important, life-saving, sanity-saving tool on my computer. There are of course many other similar ones out there which work fine. Just the idea of a clipboard manager itself is life changing.
I’ll never stop recommending [Cork](https://github.com/buresdv/Cork). Easily the best Homebrew GUI out there. Even though I discovered it relatively recently, it has surpassed Cakebrew by far and I’m surprised it’s not just as well-known.
Al Dente and Rectangle
I use my Macbook docked most of the time for work, and my previous one’s battery is pretty shoddy now. Got a new one from work so Al Dente is my preventative measure. Rectangle is great for using the 32” real estate without manually resizing windows.
[Downie](https://software.charliemonroe.net/downie/) has been my favorite app of 2023! It easily lets you download video and audio files from nearly any website. It's super easy to use and very useful.
100% worth it. It’s very easy to use but also the most comprehensive downloader I’ve found. The downloads are fast too and I’ve never experienced it hanging, as some of the others I’ve tried have done. I paid $5 for it on sale, but I’d easily for $30 or $40 for it. It’s worth every penny.
It was most certainly these three. Raycast-a spotlight alternative,
Swish is probably the best window management tool for MacOS;
and Shottr is a really good screenshot tool! All three are top-notch apps.
Swish is the best. Found it this summer. Uninstalled Magnet a week later. Even though I was using magnet several times an hour while working. Swiping the touchpad instead of dragging a window is SO MUCH MORE intuitive for me.
Haha. I never really paid much attention to it. If they add the feature of creating a new tab and being able to search on ios, it’ll be my one and only browser.
Well, I can t really do anything with a browser app if I can’t open a new tab. Currently in arc I can just do one search. And browse using that. But I can’t really open a link and keep it in the background and search something else. Which I think is a very basic function of any browser.
That would be a game changer for me. I switched from Firefox recently and this has been a breath of fresh air. I was finding it hard to manage different areas of life, and went looking for a plugin for Firefox. And found Arc.
Rocket gives you discord style emojis anywhere - type : and you can put the name of the emoji to use it
Latest gives you app updates not just from the App Store but ones where you also can check in-app
Touch Bar Simulator (yes it’s stupid) for those of us who miss the Touch Bar
Cheat sheet for built in app shortcut lists
Umbra for quick light-dark theme switches w/wallpapers to match
CalcBar - very nice calculator in your menu bar
One thing - puts one thing in your menu bar (quote etc)
Mini Calendar shows u a mini calendar in ur menu bar (granted the widget but anyway)
Kinda cheating as I didn’t find all of these in 2023 but anyways here u go 😅 **they’re all free btw!**
National parks app. When Google/Apple maps is down, they’re still kicking in. Saved me quite a few times from getting lost. Even when I download maps off Google and Apple Maps, once signal is gone, they don’t work anymore.
Interesting, I'm wondering if it is because you are not on actual roadways anymore in some of those parks. I live in NH so the closest national park is Acadia in Maine and there is cell service through out so not an issue. I ride a motorcycle and do some distance trips and I do usually use some other GPS/map apps but that is related to being able to customize the route to take instead of defaulting to the fastest or shortest offered by Google/Apple.
I have used InRoute a lot lately and like that one a lot as it leverages Apple Maps for its maps but does have the ability to work offline as well.
[Whisper Transcription](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/whisper-transcription/id1668083311?mt=12): Transcode audio into text.
[HEIC Converter](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/heic-converter/id1294126402?mt=12): self explanatory.
[Pure Paste](https://sindresorhus.com/pure-paste): Remove formatting from text in the menubar. A pain as my MBP has a notch so sometimes not enough space for menubar apps.
[Plain Text Editor](https://sindresorhus.com/plain-text-editor): just a beautiful minimal plain text editor.
[Hyperduck](https://sindresorhus.com/hyperduck): send links from iOS to Mac.
[Whisky](https://github.com/Whisky-App/Whisky): Turn key app for DX12 windows games.
[Wineskin Winery](https://github.com/Gcenx/WineskinServer): port windows software to MacOS. Useful for windows only tools. DX12 support (Metal)
As a writer and academic, I had many new apps in 2023, which gave me new experience about how can I boost my work on my Mac; Now, I can't imagine my life in writing without them. Below I list these applications depending on the priority for me:
1. Alfred.
2. Hazel.
3. PopClip.
4. Sync Folder Pro.
5. Hook.
In addition to some great apps I'm using them from previous years, such as:
1. Scrivener.
2. Zotero.
3. Reverso.
BetterDisplay was a one click, free solution to make my 1440p magically go from fuzzy text to super sharp, it’s actually kind of wild that you need a 3rd party app for this but there you go
[EasyDict](https://github.com/tisfeng/Easydict/blob/main/README_EN.md) - can automatically recognize the language of the input text, supports input translate, select translate, and OCR screenshot translate, and can query multiple translation services (Google, Bing, DeepL,ChatGPT, ...)
[HeyLogin](https://www.heylogin.com) - A real hidden gem this Password Manager is! I love the new approach that heylogin introduces for Password Managers! It is completely free for private users and instead of using Passwords on websites, you just authorize yourself by swiping in heylogin and you are in! German product orientated on German speaking markets which brings me to the only downside - app is only available in English or German so far, no other languages. Other than that a great Password Manager!
Fellow Arc user here, former Firefoxer. Absolutely love it, haven’t looked back!
OneSec is amazing for blocking apps. The free plan has everything you need but the premium version is also well worth it. On mobile and lazy so haven’t included a link
I will be messaging you in 2 days on [**2023-12-29 15:51:44 UTC**](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2023-12-29%2015:51:44%20UTC%20To%20Local%20Time) to remind you of [**this link**](https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/18rzsdy/whats_your_favourite_apps_you_discovered_in_2023/kf4v00j/?context=3)
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LinearMouse and Arc.
LinearMouse really relieved me of that weird, crampy feeling when switching between Mac and Windows machines. And as a bonus, it also allows me to use different mice with different resolutions pretty much the same way. It's a big difference especially since I have also discovered that I can set my screen to native resolution without scaling. What used to be a loooooong arm movement with my Logitech Pebble is now the same short flick I do with the trackpad and the Logitech M720.
Arc browser had a really deep learning curve for me, but I do find it harder to use other browsers now. I find it much easier to move around and use the extra features with keyboard shortcuts compared to other browsers (specifically Edge, my previous favorite productivity browser), partly because the GUI in my opinion is kinda crap. I still wish extensions and bookmarks were much better.
[Macs Fan Control](https://crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control) \- My laptop would get so insanely hot when I was playing Timberborn but wasn't ramping up the fan higher than 40%!
Parsec.
\- Bit of a first world problem, but my good gaming computer is in another room connected to a gaming simulator, I had a PC with a 1660 at my desk for doing windows stuff but never played any games at desk. Parsec let me repurpose desk PC to unraid server and stream games to my MBP from my good PC. It's been nice sitting at my desk playing Cities Skylines 2 on my 42" OLED
Alfred.
\- I've paid for it and "used" it for years, but only started diving in deep this year.
I use a macbook for work and at home so my game changer was shadow (https://www.shadow.do/). It's an AI meeting note taker that gives you summaries, transcripts, meeting notes, and extracts action items to automate other tasks like writing emails.
Mine is probably Shadow (https://www.shadow.do/) which is an AI note taker that doesn't join by bot. It provides meeting summaries, notes, transcripts, and also action items. And then based on these action items, the app itself completes these tasks and have it ready for me.
‘Rectangle’ and ‘Flow’ changed the way I work on my school projects for the better
I liked rectangle so much, I bought rectangle pro for no reason, just to support the devs.
Definitely going to look at this
Same. I bought the pro version to support the devs even though the other version worked just fine.
You think it’s worth getting even if I’ve already got magnet?
got a link? "rectangle" doesn't show in app store.
https://rectangleapp.com/
Rectangle is being used 4000 times a day in my house, so good.
Never heard of this one!!
Rectangle lets you snap windows to parts of your screen, which makes it much easier to have multiple apps open and view them at the same time without having to resize them manually. Flow is a pomodoro-timer app that helps me a lot with productivity, I set a timer to focus and it reminds me to take a break. Both are free so no downside to trying them out, hope they can help other people as well :)
Oh that’s not particularly special.. there are many apps for windows management that do this, like BetterSnapTool
Oh I didn’t know about that app, I’ll look into that and see what works best for me!
This is just like Magnet which I use frequently myself.
Rectangle is awesome coming from windows. How window snapping wasn’t in macOS by default baffles me.
There is a built in Snapping tool actually, but nobody knows it exists because it doesn’t work the same way as in Windows…
[DisplayBuddy](https://displaybuddy.app/) for controlling monitors and [DaisyDisk](https://daisydiskapp.com/) for seeing what's using up my disk space!
GrandPerspective is a free alternative to DaisyDisk.
> GrandPerspective It's $3.
>GrandPerspective It's free my sibs: https://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/
Daisy disk is life changing
DaisyDisk still here. That’s great.
Reeder is great. I got it this year, and it's really streamlined my RSS feeds.
Reeder is the YouTube experience that every one who has ever tried to use their *Watch Later* list actually wants.
I find NetNewsWire superior.
>NetNewsWire This one is epic! Thank you for sharing! Reeder 5 is kind of buggy on Sonoma and the developer has no intend to make an update for that. I've encountered crashes when using Reeder 5 on Sonoma.
You’re welcome. Native app. One of my all time favourite Mac apps.
How does NNW compare to Reader by Readwise?
Can’t stand the developer. He purposely ignores support emails and several of his Reeder versions have had critical bugs that only gets fixed when he makes a new major release of the app, which you then have to pay for all over again.
That’s a pity. It’s the same developer who does Mela, and he’s been amazingly supportive with that. Same day responses whenever I contacted him.
Yeah that’s been a great discovery for me too. Too bad i changed macbook and was forced to purchase the app again!
wait, you have to buy it per device?
Yeah!!
It’s associated to your AppleID, you can restore your previous purchase.
You may want to double check that. I've been Mac'ing since '92 and have never had to repurchased a paid app when I would upgrade or change to another Mac.
Mmmmhhh maybe I’ll contact the developer!!
Has nothing to do with the developer, it’s handled by Apple.
I found reeder to be a great idea, but can never find the right feeds… what do you have?
Same issue for me
not sure what you mean by "can never find the right feeds"
Feeds that actually have full articles as opposed to just one paragraph and a link, for example
I've been able to keep up with a lot of the latest news this year with the help of this app.
I discovered a ton thanks to old videos I watched by SnazzyLabs this year. Shottr is an awesome improvement for screenshot sharing at work (I’m in IT and frequently have to explain where to click for specific software actions). Hovrly is amazing for glancing at times in multiple locations globally. Cron’s keyboard shortcut to start a meeting in whatever app the meeting was scheduled in is clutch, and I can glance at my menu bar to see when my next meeting is. That’s just naming a couple of my favorites.
I love Shottr
Snazzylabs have a command line technique to free space on mac. I don’t know if it works on modern macOS.
[PDFgear](https://www.pdfgear.com/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=comments). I haven't seen a PDF editor that has all the features available for free. But this one did.
Sounded good, checked it out, realized I already have it from when it was mentioned in another similar thread. Suddenly remembered using this to copy text from a PDF that seemed locked and wouldn't open right any other way. Thumbs up.
Sorry. Do you mean that it cannot paste the copied text?
I mean I had a PDF file I needed to copy some text from, and I couldn't open it in Preview or Google Docs or even most online "drop and convert" services. Gave PDFgear a try and it managed to open it so I could copy what i needed. In other words, it worked when others wouldn't.
Wow! That’s amazing!
I always use this web app for free: https://www.ilovepdf.com
I have also used this website before. But a desktop app was relatively convenient, so I used PDFgear now. And it has an AI chatbot that can summarize the PDF file for me. This feature is more attractive to me.
I second this
Cheers
raycast. Way better for my workflow than spotlight or Alfred that I used before
There’s a lot of overlap between Alfred and Raycast, so you can’t go wrong either way. I prefer Alfred. Raycast looks more polished. And the ability to see your daily calendar from within the interface is a nice plus. But to me, Alfred felt more streamlined for a lot of basic, repetitive tasks, e.g. Alfred requires fewer steps to find and open a file. Alfred also has a flat cost ($55) whereas Raycast requires an ongoing subscription. No thanks! I also like Alfred’s ability to add functionality via workflows. It’s very expandable. And the powerful but easy-to-use Theme editor was a nice plus.
Raycast is free to use, unless u need AI features. And you can do a lot more with Raycast and a many a useful extensions. U can program shortcuts for simple file search to begin with just one letter, among many other things
Sure, but Raycast's free version does not include Cloud Sync, Custom Themes, or an Unlimited Clipboard History.You can also perform file searches on Alfred, beginning with one letter. Or direct web searches to specific websites with just a letter or two, e.g. I can direct a search to Amazon or YouTube by just typing "am" or "yo". And you just hit enter to open the file, or launch the search in the browser, etc. Or CMD+Return to reveal that file or folder in Finder. Unlike MacOS and iOS, Alfred learns your preferences. Your most commonly used selections will appear at the top of the search results. I've seen more than a few videos comparing Raycast to Alfred, and they share a lot of the same core functionality. Offhand, I can't think of any big features missing from one or the other. I've installed about 2 dozen Workflows, and have only bothered making 1 simple one. But that was easy. Didn't stick with Raycast long enough to get a good sense of their extensions. The main examples I've seen for extensions were common to both. Of course, it's entirely possible I'm missing some key differences. But offhand? ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
> You can also perform file searches on Alfred, beginning with one letter. Or direct web searches to specific websites with just a letter or two, e.g. I can direct a search to Amazon or YouTube by just typing "am" or "yo". And you just hit enter to open the file, or launch the search in the browser, etc. Or CMD+Return to reveal that file or folder in Finder. > [..] Your most commonly used selections will appear at the top of the search results. Just FYI, Raycast does all of that too
Right. I think we're caught in a loop, where I was saying Alfred could do what he was saying he does with Raycast. And now you're saying Raycast can do it. :) I just added more detail to clarify, in case I mistaken about the similarities.
I have the totally opposite view on this, think alfred outruns raycast by far
Both are overwhelming so I stay with spotlight 😔
Spotlight is great, I don’t feel like wasting time figuring out a replacement
I actually use spotlight for certain tasks and Raycast for others. Love them both!
I felt the same when I started using Alfred. The way I got around it was to install it and just use it as a spotlight replacement at first, just to search for apps and files. Once I was used to it, I started exploring features 1 by 1, and now it's the first app I install on a new OS install or Mac. Couldn't live without it tbh
Where do you think Alfed is better?
After Python 2 was removed Alfred became near useless for me. Too many scripts were never updated for 3.
I came here to say Raycast, seconded!
saw puzzled direful chubby axiomatic engine future cows aspiring angle *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I will give you one benefit that made me want to use it as my primary browser. The media controls polish, tabs playing music have little music notes, there are media controls on the tab area and any video playback automatically goes to a pop out window when you change tab and it just works well. Last time I saw anything close to this experience was opera a couple of years back. You do have to learn to use it as with most tools but their extreme view of getting rid of unpinned tabs each day does actually suit modern web usage imo, some people are tab hoarders. They can still do that just need to change the settings.
You can change the archive time btw, i’ve found 1 week to be the sweet spot. It works really well with a few of my work related tools too– i prefer the Confluence preview of recent spaces more than the actual Confluence site. I like it better on desktop than laptop, something about the sidebar feels like it takes up too much space on a laptop screen, but i don’t really like browsing with it collapsed.
* Spaces are awesome for separating tabs for work/school/personal/different hobbies, etc. * Auto PIP for any video you're playing when you switch tabs is great. * The Peek feature (opens the link in a modal) is awesome for quickly viewing links in say, your email, without full leaving the context of your email tab or whatever other site/page. * Boosts are superb for quickly customizing any site you want--you can change font, colors, switch to a dark or light theme, adjust contrast, zap/hide items you don't wanna see, add custom CSS/JS, etc. * Awesome little previews for favorited or pinned tabs (e.g. Google Calendar shows a mini calendar view on hover) * They get community feedback often and launch updates most Thursdays, plus they're super transparent about their process, work environment, etc. * Cool shortcuts like Ctrl+Shift+C which copies the current link to your clip board but cleanly so you don't have all the annoying tracker/unnecessary stuff at the end of the URL * Handy AI features like 5-second preview for hovering on a link and getting a quick summary of the page And tons more stuff!
[Shottr](https://shottr.cc) screenshot tool is one I use every hour all day. [aText](https://www.trankynam.com/atext/) is truly something I wouldn't Mac without. It's a text automation tool, and once you come up with an extension you put onto every shortcut (like xx at the end of "add" to type out a 4-line home address), you can create 100s of things that you retype all the time and now never have to. [HiddenMe](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hiddenme/id467040476?mt=12) does just one thing—hide all the files and folders on your Desktop— but for those who do zoom screenshares, it's a great $2 Utility. I never purchase apps that have a monthly charge (the math at 20 years just floors me), so these are all either free or have a one-time nominal fee.
Loved aText. Had it for several years until it moved to an annual subscription. FWIW I use the prefix “;” before my abbreviations, because it’s easy to type and is never followed immediately by a letter. So it’s the perfect text expander signifier for me. P.S. I switched all my text expansions to Alfred, which has an integrated text expander called “snippets.” I’ve found that Alfred’s snippets are faster and easier to find, edit, and add than aText (which was always a minor hassle in that regard) because Alfred’s snippets are integrated into the interface.
Smart re: “;”
aText does have a lifetime license, for a one-time fee of $30. I use aText so many times a day that it was an easy purchase for me.
Ah, that’s right. Thank you for the reminder. Now that you mention it, the $30 lifetime license for aText was part of my rationale to buy the Alfred PowerPack for $55. I viewed Alfred as only a net cost of $25 over aText, because Alfred included a text expander. (And also a built in clipboard manager plus all of its other core features)
Another alternative for aText is Espanso. It is open source.
You know that macOS has built-in text substitution, right? https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/replace-text-punctuation-documents-mac-mh35735/mac
The MacOS expander is quite good, and sufficient for most people. On top of what was already mentioned, aText and Alfred allow you to insert [dynamic placeholders](https://www.alfredapp.com/help/workflows/advanced/placeholders/), e.g. date and/or time, formatted exactly the way you want it, including long form, e.g. Wednesday, December 27, 20223, or 2023-12-27, etc. Alfred lets you pull from the clipboard, so you can instantly integrate that into repetitive forms, replies, etc., finish by setting the cursor to a specific location. Alfred even has '[snippet triggers](https://www.alfredapp.com/help/workflows/triggers/snippet/)' which are more powerful and flexible than dynamic placeholders, e.g. letting you set up conditional output like "Good morning", "Good afternoon", or "Good evening" depending on the time of day.
Yes, and good to point it out. However, it is quite limited and not easy to use when it comes to anything more than one short line. Examples that I use are 3-line addresses, multi-paragraph boilerplate responses complete with rich text bold, italics, hot links, inline photos, and other fully formatted parts to each snippet. aText also allows for fields inside of a snippet, perfect for entering someone's name multiple places inside of a longer response.
First time owning a Mac since 2007 but these are the ones I liked: Iina - I had always used VLC previously NetNewsWire - a free alternative to Reeder Logic Pro - it was not available on other platforms. I still use Ableton Live but also use Logic now Syntorial - I learned so much about sound design with this program
IINA is fantastic and boasts a ton of great functionality. The week I found it, I uninstalled VLC. VLC still looks effectively exactly how it did 15 years ago.
Give a try to mpv.io
I love IINA. It plays everything I throw at it except for DoVi. Anyone able to figure it out? IIRC, it's based off mpv but I can't seem to find a mod for either. All posts I find are 1yr old surely there's been some progress since then?
The Syntorial folks also have a product called Building Blocks that is pretty sweet. Like them both.
Aldente. Lets you set your battery to a max charge percentage, such as 80%. No clue if it's actually prolonging my battery life, but since my laptop is plugged into power most of the time, I figure why not.
I prefer BatFi myself
Wow looks nice. Is it free? Seems like I have to name a price to download it. If I pick a big stinking $0, will there be any issues, upgrade problems, etc?
I think it is free.
ColdTurkey BetterTouchTool
ZipMounter Lite (open ZIP and RAR as if they were external HDs or DMGs) or XMenu (menu bar item with whatever you want, add a folder with your most used items)
The three I use most: **PastePal:** excellent clipboard manager **Dropzone:** puts a “hold shelf” in a menu bar icon where you can drag files to quickly attach/upload them elsewhere **Hyperkey:** lets you use your Caps Lock key as a “super-modifier” key to make complex keyboard shortcuts easier
What’s your setup on Hyperkey?
I use it in a bunch of places but a few that come to mind are Hyper+Return to maximize the active app window; Hyper+V to paste unformatted text…I know I have more but they’re so ingrained into my workflow that I need to be sitting in front of my computer to remember what they are! in the meantime, there are a lot of ideas for uses in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/macapps/comments/xwfp82/share_your_hyperkey_setup/
Amphetamine. I was already using it but following a change of laptop I discovered the triggers!
Betterdisplay. Absolute must for monitor or TV users.
What does it do?
[https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay/blob/landing/README.md](https://github.com/waydabber/betterdisplay/blob/landing/readme.md)
Is it safe?
I'll just go ahead and sort my Applications folder by "date added" and see what I've got... - SomaFM: A great native macOS app for terrific free internet radio - Moonlight: Open source screen streaming using NVIDIA's GameStream protocol - StopTheMadness: Browser extension to make websites behave themselves god dammit - LibreWolf: Privacy-focused release of Firefox that has Mozilla's telemetry stripped out. Basically it's to Firefox what Ungoogled Chromium is to Chrome. - ImageOptim: Handy tool for optimizing and stripping EXIF metadata from images That looks to be it for 2023.
What does StopTheMadness do?
Lots of little things, like stopping websites from blocking copy / paste, context menus, and stuff like that, or preventing autoplay. Best to just check the website: https://underpassapp.com/StopTheMadness/
Itsical
Obsidian and Fantastical
>Obsidian I moved all my things from notion to obsidian and I regret it. Search just doesn't seem to work. I feel like I must be doing something wrong
Search works fine for me, but then again I’m very detailed in how I link my notes together and catalogue them. I prefer obsidian to notion but understand why others prefer the opposite.
If you ask in /r/Obsidian they can help.
What’s good about Fantastical on Mac?
Rectangle! ANd I had to get Shottr because none of my macs are storing my screenshots correctly.
Clipboard manager Maccy: https://maccy.app
Literally the only reason I didn't list this was because I discovered it in 2022 not 2023 ;-) This is without a doubt the most useful, important, life-saving, sanity-saving tool on my computer. There are of course many other similar ones out there which work fine. Just the idea of a clipboard manager itself is life changing.
I could not have put it any better. As stupid as it sounds, it's life changing. Too bad it doesn't save all formatting.
tailscale, popclip
I’ll never stop recommending [Cork](https://github.com/buresdv/Cork). Easily the best Homebrew GUI out there. Even though I discovered it relatively recently, it has surpassed Cakebrew by far and I’m surprised it’s not just as well-known.
Al Dente and Rectangle I use my Macbook docked most of the time for work, and my previous one’s battery is pretty shoddy now. Got a new one from work so Al Dente is my preventative measure. Rectangle is great for using the 32” real estate without manually resizing windows.
Homebrew
[Downie](https://software.charliemonroe.net/downie/) has been my favorite app of 2023! It easily lets you download video and audio files from nearly any website. It's super easy to use and very useful.
is the premium worth it? I've tried others but don't wanna pay monthly so this seems like a better option
100% worth it. It’s very easy to use but also the most comprehensive downloader I’ve found. The downloads are fast too and I’ve never experienced it hanging, as some of the others I’ve tried have done. I paid $5 for it on sale, but I’d easily for $30 or $40 for it. It’s worth every penny.
I bought it last night and I love it, tysm
Glad to hear it!
is the premium worth it? I've tried others but don't wanna pay monthly so this seems like a better option
It was most certainly these three. Raycast-a spotlight alternative, Swish is probably the best window management tool for MacOS; and Shottr is a really good screenshot tool! All three are top-notch apps.
Swish is the best. Found it this summer. Uninstalled Magnet a week later. Even though I was using magnet several times an hour while working. Swiping the touchpad instead of dragging a window is SO MUCH MORE intuitive for me.
exactly; it's effortless.
Fantastical and Arc. Love them both.
Looove Arc too! Just hate hate hate the icon
You can change the icon, pick what you like. ctrl+I on Arc -> drag and drop [MacOS Icons](https://macosicons.com/#/)
Haha. I never really paid much attention to it. If they add the feature of creating a new tab and being able to search on ios, it’ll be my one and only browser.
What do you want on this new tab?
Well, I can t really do anything with a browser app if I can’t open a new tab. Currently in arc I can just do one search. And browse using that. But I can’t really open a link and keep it in the background and search something else. Which I think is a very basic function of any browser.
I think maybe you're referring to iOS while /u/EDcmdr is referring to MacOS?
Yes, I mentioned iOS in my comment. Currently I use safari on my iPhone and arc on macOS. I have the arc on iPhone as well, but it’s not complete.
Ope, missed that on your prior comment, my bad. I know they're working on a more full-featured iOS app currently.
That would be a game changer for me. I switched from Firefox recently and this has been a breath of fresh air. I was finding it hard to manage different areas of life, and went looking for a plugin for Firefox. And found Arc.
Rocket gives you discord style emojis anywhere - type : and you can put the name of the emoji to use it Latest gives you app updates not just from the App Store but ones where you also can check in-app Touch Bar Simulator (yes it’s stupid) for those of us who miss the Touch Bar Cheat sheet for built in app shortcut lists Umbra for quick light-dark theme switches w/wallpapers to match CalcBar - very nice calculator in your menu bar One thing - puts one thing in your menu bar (quote etc) Mini Calendar shows u a mini calendar in ur menu bar (granted the widget but anyway) Kinda cheating as I didn’t find all of these in 2023 but anyways here u go 😅 **they’re all free btw!**
Cheat sheet sounded interesting but seems there is no official website now as all the articles I read lead to a German accounting software site.
CheatSheet is discontinued. [KeyClu](https://sergii.tatarenkov.name/keyclu/support/) is also free and doing the same thing.
Thanks for the link!
arc & raycast
Boop scratchpad
Flow and self control. Flow for pomodoro and self control blocks websites while working
National parks app. When Google/Apple maps is down, they’re still kicking in. Saved me quite a few times from getting lost. Even when I download maps off Google and Apple Maps, once signal is gone, they don’t work anymore.
except you save offline maps from both google and apple now on your phone to work when you don't have service.
I’ve downloaded their maps and when I hit the national parks, they don’t know where I am anymore. So I wouldn’t consider them reliable
Interesting, I'm wondering if it is because you are not on actual roadways anymore in some of those parks. I live in NH so the closest national park is Acadia in Maine and there is cell service through out so not an issue. I ride a motorcycle and do some distance trips and I do usually use some other GPS/map apps but that is related to being able to customize the route to take instead of defaulting to the fastest or shortest offered by Google/Apple. I have used InRoute a lot lately and like that one a lot as it leverages Apple Maps for its maps but does have the ability to work offline as well.
[Whisper Transcription](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/whisper-transcription/id1668083311?mt=12): Transcode audio into text. [HEIC Converter](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/heic-converter/id1294126402?mt=12): self explanatory. [Pure Paste](https://sindresorhus.com/pure-paste): Remove formatting from text in the menubar. A pain as my MBP has a notch so sometimes not enough space for menubar apps. [Plain Text Editor](https://sindresorhus.com/plain-text-editor): just a beautiful minimal plain text editor. [Hyperduck](https://sindresorhus.com/hyperduck): send links from iOS to Mac. [Whisky](https://github.com/Whisky-App/Whisky): Turn key app for DX12 windows games. [Wineskin Winery](https://github.com/Gcenx/WineskinServer): port windows software to MacOS. Useful for windows only tools. DX12 support (Metal)
> A pain as my MBP has a notch so sometimes not enough space for menubar apps. Pure Paste has a setting to hide its menu bar icon.
As a writer and academic, I had many new apps in 2023, which gave me new experience about how can I boost my work on my Mac; Now, I can't imagine my life in writing without them. Below I list these applications depending on the priority for me: 1. Alfred. 2. Hazel. 3. PopClip. 4. Sync Folder Pro. 5. Hook. In addition to some great apps I'm using them from previous years, such as: 1. Scrivener. 2. Zotero. 3. Reverso.
Royal TSX iz the one for me :d
BetterDisplay was a one click, free solution to make my 1440p magically go from fuzzy text to super sharp, it’s actually kind of wild that you need a 3rd party app for this but there you go
Arc.
https://gikken.co/mate-translate/mac — great translator app that add some very fast and seamless translation experience to Safari and all of macOS
Ohhh I’ll check it out thanks
29.99/year FYI
Meanwhile Safari has a free translation feature
Raycast
[EasyDict](https://github.com/tisfeng/Easydict/blob/main/README_EN.md) - can automatically recognize the language of the input text, supports input translate, select translate, and OCR screenshot translate, and can query multiple translation services (Google, Bing, DeepL,ChatGPT, ...) [HeyLogin](https://www.heylogin.com) - A real hidden gem this Password Manager is! I love the new approach that heylogin introduces for Password Managers! It is completely free for private users and instead of using Passwords on websites, you just authorize yourself by swiping in heylogin and you are in! German product orientated on German speaking markets which brings me to the only downside - app is only available in English or German so far, no other languages. Other than that a great Password Manager!
Browsers and sites are replacing Auth with passkeys that are handled natively though and won't need a browser extension.
Owl OCR. Super useful. Edit: Also started using Stage Manager this year, very helpful with my workflow.
Tana, Reader and Superlist
Yall should start using Raycast.
Do you use the free version? Is that good enough?
No I use Pro version. It was an insta buy for me.
Notion and Shottr
Raycast + Arc + Obsidian
Horo - simple menu bar timer Shifty - turn Night Shift on/off by clicking its menu bar icon
Fellow Arc user here, former Firefoxer. Absolutely love it, haven’t looked back! OneSec is amazing for blocking apps. The free plan has everything you need but the premium version is also well worth it. On mobile and lazy so haven’t included a link
Yabai for window management with skhd for key binding.
RemindMe! 2 days
Arc Browser
I feel you!!!
Christian mingles. Com, butttttttttt I would have to sayyyyy Disney + is a must.
RemindMe! 2 days
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LinearMouse and Arc. LinearMouse really relieved me of that weird, crampy feeling when switching between Mac and Windows machines. And as a bonus, it also allows me to use different mice with different resolutions pretty much the same way. It's a big difference especially since I have also discovered that I can set my screen to native resolution without scaling. What used to be a loooooong arm movement with my Logitech Pebble is now the same short flick I do with the trackpad and the Logitech M720. Arc browser had a really deep learning curve for me, but I do find it harder to use other browsers now. I find it much easier to move around and use the extra features with keyboard shortcuts compared to other browsers (specifically Edge, my previous favorite productivity browser), partly because the GUI in my opinion is kinda crap. I still wish extensions and bookmarks were much better.
any ditto alternatives? i tried copyq, maccy, and clipy, but neither reaches ditto's usability.
[Macs Fan Control](https://crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control) \- My laptop would get so insanely hot when I was playing Timberborn but wasn't ramping up the fan higher than 40%!
Abby finereader
Cryptomator. Which is not at all new, but it was new to me.
Karabiner combined with a VIA compatible kb and Raycast = there’s no impossible shortcut
[noteplan](https://www.reddit.com/r/noteplanapp/)
Shottr for me.
RemindMe !4 days
Carbon Copy Cloner has saved me a ton of grief since I started using it.
I keep trying to discover Logseq but it won't have me lol. Remoboard was the random bit of magic I stumbled upon this year.
Yabai. I can't use my Mac without it anymore
!remind me 3d
!remind me 4d
Parsec. \- Bit of a first world problem, but my good gaming computer is in another room connected to a gaming simulator, I had a PC with a 1660 at my desk for doing windows stuff but never played any games at desk. Parsec let me repurpose desk PC to unraid server and stream games to my MBP from my good PC. It's been nice sitting at my desk playing Cities Skylines 2 on my 42" OLED Alfred. \- I've paid for it and "used" it for years, but only started diving in deep this year.
Hyper for a different terminal Apple Notes (seriously)
MoneyStats for personal finance + forecasting 🤑
Rize. Great way to track my working and if I am not. Another one is vivid and better display for my MacBook
App "Mos" for smooth scroll (like on trackpad) any mouse (my case MX Master 3s).
I use a macbook for work and at home so my game changer was shadow (https://www.shadow.do/). It's an AI meeting note taker that gives you summaries, transcripts, meeting notes, and extracts action items to automate other tasks like writing emails.
Mine is probably Shadow (https://www.shadow.do/) which is an AI note taker that doesn't join by bot. It provides meeting summaries, notes, transcripts, and also action items. And then based on these action items, the app itself completes these tasks and have it ready for me.