Hello everyone! Once again, today’s post isn’t about watches but is more geeky.
I have recently re-switched to Mac OsX, after one year of Windows use in my work environment. This brief experience with Windows made me question the common belief according to which Apple computers are best suited for design professionals and individual use, while Windows based machines are better fits for office work.
This may be somehow true when looking at the « out of the box » setup of Mac computers, as it doesn’t offer many useable productivity tools, other than the usual Pages, Keynotes and Numbers suite. The Notes, Calendar and Tasks applications are also relatively basic compared to what the Office suite proposes.
This being said, the Office suite also works perfectly on Macs, while the OsX gestures, stability of Mac computers and intuition of the OsX system make for strong improvements in any workflow. In addition, some application developers worked hard to answer the few gaps that exist between OsX and Windows in an office environment.
Strangely enough, most of these applications are not available directly from the Apple store, and therefore require some geekiness to be discovered. I therefore found it useful to list some of my favorite ones here.
Setapp – General Mac applications
What is Setapp?
Let’s start with the basic: Setapp. To resume, this is the Netflix of OsX apps. For a cost of 9.99 USD per month (less for yearly subscriptions), one gains access to more than 150 tools and applications. Like with Netflix, no one will ever find interest in all 150, but quite a few of them are great. Most of the apps presented here are part of the Setapp package – on top of being available individually at a cost of course-. Categories of apps range from lifestyle to personal financing, through project management, productivity, creativity, hacks for Mac, etc…
Who is Setapp for?
I don’t think a yearly subscription is needed nor financially interesting to most people. Many of the applications present on Setapp can be purchased for good versus a reasonable one-time payment, even though some very interesting subscription based applications are also present. But unless you use the majority of the proposed apps – and there are way too many for me-, it’s difficult to justify a yearly fee of 120 USD.
Why is Setapp cool?
This being said, it’s a great application to subscribe to for a month or two only, enough to check all the proposed applications out, make your list of keepers, and purchase them for good before resigning the Setapp subscription. If you’re interested, you can get the application from this link: https://setapp.com.
Ulysses – An exquisite writing experience
The next application is my favorite of the bunch, an absolute must have, and the one I am writing this post from: Ulysses.
What is Ulysses?
There are only a couple of serious applications to mention when it comes to writing long texts, be them books, blog posts, manifests, or anything that requires structure, research and concentration. Word is fine for shorter documents such as contracts, but does not cut it for more serious writing. The references for this are Scrivener and Ulysses.
Who is Ulysses for?
Ulysses is an application specifically made for writers of all and any kind of long texts. Based on this, creativity is your limit!
Why is Ulysses awesome?
I have both Scrivener and Ulysses on my computer. While I enjoy Scrivener for being a very powerful tool, I hardly open it anymore since trying Ulysses and its more user friendly interface.
The overall presentation makes me « dive » in documents better, and the markdown based writing helps me keep concentrated on my content. The menus for managing projects take some time to get used to, but are very intuitive after that. I can’t recommend this application enough to everyone who enjoys writing.
While a yearly subscription costs an expensive 50 Euros, it’s totally worth it, and one can try it for free during one month before purchasing it. You can download it from the App Store, or find it directly included in the Setapp subscription following the link provided above.
uBar
What is uBar?
Warning: Mac environment talibans, please pass your way directly to the next software; this one will make you raise eyebrows but I find it super useful for my workflow. uBar was designed as a dock replacement for your Mac, but I like using it as an additional dock that sits at the bottom of my screen, while my regular Mac doc hides/appears on its right side.
Who is uBar for?
uBar will be of great benefit to the workflow of people who use their Macs in the office, and who are not allergic to everything remotely related to the Windows environment.
While the OsX ecosystem is ideal for people who joggle between 2-3 apps at a time, it has limitations if, like me, you have to constantly switch between Outlook, Word, Excel, Preview, and Safari for web searches, just to mention these. The Windows dock that sits at the bottom of PCs is much better suited than the OS X dock for complex multi-tasking. uBar can help you overcome this, by adding a Windowslike tool at the bottom of your screen.
Why is uBar super-useful
There are two reasons that make the Apple dock limited for multi-tasking. One is that it doesn’t manage the « open apps » well – they are difficult to see and access when numerous-, and the other is that it lacks some useful shortcuts. uBar brings these to the table in a design that’s familiar with Windows 10:
- A menu for quick access to main applications and folders, in a « Windows Start » menu fashion (I don’t use it much as Spotlight is faster to find and open apps, but can be useful for people who recently switched from Windows)
- Shortcuts to access the desktop, the trash box, volume settings in a click. The volumes setting is useless on older Macs with dedicated keyboard volume keys, but great to use on newer Macs with magic bar where volume control is far less intuitive.
- Great management of open apps using tabs like under Windows
- Shows the full day, date and time (thank you!!)
Cherry on the cake: you can chose between replacing your Apple dock with uBar (meaning installing uBar then hiding the dock), or using both at the same time, as uBar can be placed on any side of your screen, like the dock. I personally use both at the same time, with uBar always on display below my screen, and the dock hiding when not used on the right side.
uBar4 doesn’t come cheap and can be purchased for good versus a one-time payment of 30 USD on this website: https://brawersoftware.com/products/ubar No small money, but highly recommended for complex workflows. It’s also present in the Setapp subscription package.
CleanMyMac
What is CleanMyMac?
CleanMyMac is a utility for your OsX system. Its main purpose is to do HDD maintenance such as freeing space, uninstalling software, looking for malware, etc…
Who is CleanMyMac for?
There are free options that can do most of what CleanMyMac can do out there in the wild web. So if you’re a geek, are close to your wallet and have the required patience, you probably don’t need CleanMyMac. What this application does however is:
- Proposing a variety of tools in a single place, otherwise disseminated throughout several freewares
- Offering this with an awesome and super-intuitive user interface
If you like to keep things clean and simple, and don’t mind paying for something well designed, it’s hard to pass on CleanMyMac.
Why is CleanMyMac so useful?
The disk utility provided in the OsX preferences is a good but very basic utility, and the Mac ecosystem lacks some of the even most basic and useful options like « uninstalling » an app. The native way is to move the application icon to the trash bin, which effectively deletes the main software file, but leaves related small files in different places of your system. CleanMyMac offers an uninstaller, but also:
- A « system optimiser », which frees some space on your HDD getting rid of unneeded files (saved me 6 gigabytes in one month so far)
- A RAM optimiser
- A secured trash box shredder, so that your deleted files can’t be easily restored by someone afterwards
- A malware cleaner
- A browsing and chat history cleaner
- A task manager, including managing the apps that launch at startup
- An app update tracker (tells you which apps can be updated, and can update them in a click) – An extension manager
- A file manager
The application can be downloaded from the App Store for a yearly subscription of 39.99 Euros, or is included in the Setapp subscription package.
Swish
What is Swish?
Swich is a basic application that adds useful gestures to one’s touchpad, when using them on any application’s menu bar
Who is Swish for
Frankly speaking, anyone. It’s the kind of very basic application that adds some workflow improvements that should be natively included in OsX in the first place.
Why is Swish so useful?
Because the gestures it adds are super useful in an everyday workflow. A few examples:
- Swiping up with two fingers anywhere on a menu bar switches it to full screen, which is far more intuitive than aiming for the tiny full screen button.
- Swiping down with two fingers on the menu bar reduces the application to the background. Again, far more intuitive than aiming for the tiny related button on the left of the menu bar
- Swiping left with two fingers automatically makes the application cover the left half part of the screen, enabling to work on 2 applications at the same time in less than a second
- Swiping right does the same, for the right half part of the screen – in order to resize the second application one wants to work on simultaneously.
All in one, Swish is a very useful little tweak that adds super intuitive gestures to the touchpad. For my needs (I only split my screen between 2 apps max, and toggle through the rest), this application is much better than magnet as it takes less space, and I find it more intuitive . It also does things that Magnet doesn’t do, such as having an app go full screen, or hiding it in the dock.
Swish is available with Setapp, or can bu purchased for 5 euros here: [] https:// highlyopinionated.co/swish/ A free 10 days trial is available.
Default Folder X
What is Default Folder x?
Default Folder X is yet another Mac utility that should be natively present in Max OsX, but isn’t. This application enables you to easily access some folders and documents directly from the Finder when saving documents or attaching them to another application (mail, Facebook, Whatsapp, etc…). It also add a shortcut in the OsX toolbar for quick access to one’s most used files and applications.
Who is Default Folder X for?
Absolutely anyone who uses a Mac, as good file management is an essential aspect of any efficient workflow.
How does Default Folder X improve one’s workflow?
Compared to Windows, Mac OsX has a relatively poor file management system. The Finder dialogue box that opens when saving or attaching documents doesn’t automatically open on the last used folder, last used documents, nor does it provide shortcuts to most used folders or recent files. All these are things that Default Folder does, and the result is a considerable reduction of file management related tasks. Added up on a whole month’s workflow, these small seconds count, and Default Folder X quickly became an essential part of my workflow I couldn’t live without.
Default Folder X is available on Setapp, or can be purchased for 37,95 Euros on the link https://www.stclairsoft.com A free trial of 30 days is available.
Sidenotes
What is Sidenotes?
Sidenotes is, as its name suggest, a small application that allows you to have notepads for quick note taking on the side of your screen. The notepads hide when not being used, and reappear when needed in the exact same way the dock does.
Who is Sidenotes for?
Sidenotes is for people who often have to take notes on the go, in example during meetings or phone calls, or even just to write quick ideas while working on any document.
What makes Sidenotes different from other note taking applications?
Sidenotes is a basic note taking application, with an evenly basic note management system. As such, it’s not designed to replace but rather complement power user’s main note taking application -such as Evernote or OneNote-. Sidenotes is faster to open and type in with its clean menu and markdown compatibility, while OneNote and EverNote are better for filing and managing large numbers of notes.
This being said, Sidenotes is more than sufficient for average users who can use it as a standalone.
Sidenotes is available on Setapp, or can be downloaded via the App Store for 20 euros.
Cleanshot
What is Cleanshot?
Cleanshot is a powered-up screenshot taking utility for Max OsX.
Who is Cleanshot for?
Cleanshot is for any power user that has regular use of screenshots in his/her workflow. In fact, this utility will make people use screenshots more often.
Why is Cleanshot useful?
Natively, OsX doesn’t offer many options for screenshots, other than capturing the full screen or parts of it. These aren’t very user friendly either, as they can only be accessed using keyboard shortcuts, something not everyone masters.
Cleanshot adds a relevant menu in the OsX menu bar, making the screenshot exercise much more user-friendly. It also offers some useful power-user options such as capturing the whole screen, capturing parts of it, setting a timer for screenshots, making “scrolling captures”, in example to capture web posts or PDF documents that are longer than one page, capturing a specific window, or recording the screen for a set time in a video file. Not only does this application make taking screenshots easier, it also considerably widens the screenshots possibilities, and therefore the use one can make of them.
Cleanshot is included in the Setapp subscription, or can be purchased as a standalone for 29 USD following this link: https://cleanshot.com/
Paste
What is Paste
Paste is a powered-up copy-paste utility for Mac OsX
Who is Paste for
Everyone, as we all use copy-paste. This utility will make us use them even more!
Why is Paste useful?
Natively, Max OsX keeps one copy-paste in memory at a time. Paste keeps them all in memory, adding one after another. This makes it easy to access previously saved data, even if days earlier. Most used things can also be used as snippets, which is useful to save email signatures, often used sentences or descriptions, and have them always easily at hand. Of course, the saved copies can easily be individually deleted at any time, so that sensitive data doesn’t stay there for long.
Paste is a very useful tool, but its main drawback is that it’s based on a subscription plan of 9,99 Euros per year through the App Store, so it’s only worth it for power users. It’s also included in the Setapp subscription pack, which is how I’m personally using it so far.
Affinity Photo
What is Affinity?
Most of you know this already, but if you have spent the last couple of years on the moon, Affinity is a very powerful photo editing application, and a direct contender to Adobe Lightroom.
Who is Affinity for
People who are into photography but not at a professional level, and who therefore don’t need the Adobe suite and don’t want to spend the heavy $$$ on a yearly subscription base to access it. With Affinity, one gets most of the tools present in Lightroom and Photoshop, for a much lighter one-time payment.
Why is Affinity so great
Because it offers all that photography hobbyists need, for a fraction of the price of Adobe softwares. The ui is also super intuitive, one doesn’t need to be an engineer or space pilot to use it. Last, once you pay for it, you own it for life. I permanently turned away from Lightroom the day Adobe adopted a yearly subscription based system, and Affinity came as a blessing in terms of replacements at just the right time.
Affinity Photo can be purchased for a one time payment of 55 euros on the App Store, or directly from the Affinity website: https://affinity.serif.com/fr/photo/ #buy
Small Toys for Grown Men 