Whether or not you simply acquired your first Mac or upgraded to a brand-new machine, it’s at all times useful to get began on the appropriate set of instruments. Listed below are the very first apps I often set up as quickly as I get a brand new Mac.
I monitor each single second I spend working. I’ve been doing it for years, and this has been important to assist me higher perceive precisely how a lot time every process class calls for. This permits me to higher plan my days when new initiatives come up or when one thing sudden comes up.
I landed on Toggl years in the past, earlier than that they had their very own iOS and Mac apps. Which is why I downloaded Timery, linked my Toggl account, and by no means seemed again. Timery’s menu bar and widgets let me rapidly choose from Favorites and Saved Timers, regulate begin and cease instances, and regulate the elapsed time of present duties.
In relation to time studies, your mileage might fluctuate, however Timery provides precisely what I have to verify every day, weekly, month-to-month, and even yearly graphs and charts. Timery additionally provides an iOS app, which works in sync with the Mac app. Regardless of Toggl’s current API limits, I haven’t observed any vital affect on my use of Timery, and I can’t advocate this mixture sufficient.
Whereas macOS has developed fairly significantly in its keyboard shortcuts function through the years, I nonetheless can’t give up TextExpander. Its help for variables alone makes TextExpander’s yearly subscription payment greater than price it for me, because it’s one of the simplest ways to rapidly reply to e-mails, fill out types, put together podcast outlines, pull sponsorship reads, and many others.
In the event you’re simply getting began with the Mac, take a look at the native macOS keyboard shortcuts function. However if you happen to really feel such as you want a extra customizable set of options than what Apple’s native options supply, TextExpander will certainly have your again.
Developer Gui Rambo’s AirBuddy was born as an AirPods companion for the Mac, but it surely has developed to incorporate shortcuts and automations for a number of Bluetooth-enabled units, together with non-Apple {hardware}, akin to my Logitech MX Grasp mouse.
From low battery alerts to keyboard shortcuts that permit me regulate Mac settings, together with enter choice even and toggling Evening Shift, AirBuddy simply makes my Mac really feel damaged after I’m not working it.
That is truly the primary app I set up, as quickly as I have to configure a brand new Mac.
Most of my automations reside on Keyboard Maestro, together with beginning a brand new QuickTime recording session every time I plug in a selected USB-C microphone, grabbing chapter timestamps and titles from Ulysses and dropping them as a number of Adobe Audition markers, and rapidly opening my clipboard historical past (which is now a local macOS software, however outdated habits die laborious).
Keyboard Maestro would possibly really feel a bit overwhelming at first, however if you happen to really feel such as you want a hand to get a deal with on every thing it will possibly do, I can’t advocate David Sparks’ Keyboard Maestro Discipline Information sufficient. Keyboard Maestro additionally has a vibrant group that’s at all times prepared to assist.
I’ve tried most elderly, new, basic, primary, and superior writing instruments and apps beneath the solar.
And whereas Drafts, Bear, Notion, Apple Notes, Obsidian, Evernote, iA Author, Scrivener, DEVONthink, and plenty of others supply very attention-grabbing instruments and options, Ulysses is the one one which has ever really clicked for me.
It will get out of the best way precisely as I count on it to, and lets me concentrate on the writing process at hand. It provides a helpful Dashboard, writing strategies, Markdown help, model customization, and my most popular method to work on it’s having it full display, and not using a single prime, aspect, or backside bar in sight.
What’s your Mac starter pack? Tell us within the feedback.
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