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Living in the menu bar, Dropzone from Aptonic creates a single space to store, reference and edit files of all different kinds. Start by taking files and folders you access most regularly and store universal aliases that can be accessed from anywhere. Join Darcy as he explores advanced actions, dragging files from anywhere on your computer to create an email from, convert to a different format, and much more. Dropzone offers a non-invasive space to collect your most used shortcuts and tasks, no matter the project.

Dropzone requires macOS 11.0 or later.

It is available with your Setapp subscription.

14-day Dropzone 4 Pro trial included (with free download)((httpss://aptonic.com/dropzone/latest)

Every now and then a utility comes around that you didn't know you needed. We use tabs in various applications, such as Preview and Safari and when it comes to opening one, it's normal practice to just switch to the application and then manually switch to the tab you need. With TabTab, you can simply key in a shortcut to invoke it, and then search for the tab name. As long as the application is supported, it takes you to it. TabTab can also act as an alternative application launcher from the macOS default, so there's no reason not to give this gem of a utility a try. The free version limits tracking to the last 5 applications or tabs, whereas a TabTab Pro lifetime license ($24 USD) removes that limitation. It runs on Intel and Apple silicon Macs, macOS 14.0 or newer.

There are third-party tools you can buy on macOS that provide dedicated clipboard management, however if you use Alfred with a Powerpack license, you may not realise that you already have the excellent Clipboard History feature. Lee shows you in this video how he uses it daily to copy and paste text, images, and files between locations using keyboard shortcuts, of course. You also learn how Alfred Snippets integrate with Clipboard History to make typing even more efficient.

Alfred runs on macOS 10.14 (Mojave) and newer.

Every now and then an application comes along that captures the imagination with a novel approach and design and Godspeed is no exception. It's goal is to make you use the app exclusively from the keyboard, without the need to use a mouse or trackpad by utilising keyboard shortcuts and hotkeys. It may seem niche, but it's incredibly effective and the application doesn't hold back on features. It also has one of the fastest sync engines we've seen between macOS and iOS and in this video, Lee walks you through how to use it, and customise it to suit your own needs.

Many of us struggle with overusing our devices. Too much content streaming, social media, you name it. Today's app, "one sec" works with Siri Shortcuts to create space between when you open an app and actually being able to access it.  Covered in full detail in April of last year, "one sec" has since been updated with several new features, including allowing users to learn a language as a healthy alternative to overusing the aforementioned apps.  Join Darcy as he goes over these new features, which are sure to make your "one sec" experience even better, with additional and useful customising."one sec" requires iOS 15 or newer, macOS 12 or newer, and visionOS 1.0 or newer.

Rocket Typist is an app designed for text expansion, which simplifies typing using much shorter abbreviations of longer bits of text. It will surely boost your productivity, and ensures accuracy by avoiding typos and other common errors. Rocket Typist is part of Setapp, so if you’re looking to move away from other text expansion apps for a lower overall cost, this utility may just be for you.

Join Don in this episode to learn all about Rocket Typist and how it can streamline what you do each day using your Mac's keyboard.

Rocket Typist requires macOS 13 and iOS 16 or newer.

Rocket Typist Pro for iOS: $9.99

Rocket Typist Pro for macOS: $19.99

Muse is an easy-to-use project planning and creative app which brings together several types of assets into a flexible canvas-style workspace. You can combine photos, PDFs, and links to resources, along with notes and text blocks, all within Muse. Join Darcy as he delves into what Muse has to offer on the Mac by showing you its numerous features. It includes various templates you can use as a starting point, and it supports collaboration and sharing so you can work alongside friends and colleagues easily.

Muse will run on macOS 12 or newer; iPadOS 15 or newer. All pricing information is in the Resources section below.

In our weekly ScreenCastsONLINE Newsletter, Lee started adding a Quick Tip on the end; a couple of lines on that help you do something more efficiently on your Apple device, and that you may not have known about. As he's been collecting them, Lee realised that there is a lot you can do with the Option key! Whether quickly showing or hiding parts of the interface like the toolbar or sidebar, opening weblinks or accessing hidden functionality, the Option key can help you with many common tasks.

In this video, Lee runs through several of his favourites across a few apps, and of course, Finder.

This video was shot on macOS 15 Sequoia. If you are running your Mac on an earlier version, some graphical elements might look different.

There are lots of great calendar apps out there, but few of them actually help you find the time to take action on what's really important. Morgen attempts to do just that by giving you scheduling tools to wrangle your calendars and schedule time for the things that really matter. By acting as a bridge between your calendar and your task manager, Morgen can help you block time for the things that are on your to-do list.

Morgen will run on macOS Catalina 10.15 and newer.

You can find the pricing information in the Resources section of this page.

As part of his quest to get better with the Shortcuts application, as well as collect his thoughts more efficiently while on the move, Lee has implemented a workflow that uses Drafts, his text entry application of choice, to add information to a selection of lists in Apple Notes. This is made possible by the Shortcuts application which connects these two apps.

In this video, you learn how Lee created the shortcut, with Drafts playing a key role. He also shares a second shortcut that allows you to view any list in Apple Notes. That can be quite useful when you are on mobile and wish to quickly get to your information without searching through your notes.

The latest version of Drafts requires:

• iOS or iPadOS 15.6 or newer

• watchOS 8.5 or newer

• macOS 11.5 or newer

Moom has been a long-standing benchmark for stand-alone window management apps, and that standard has just risen substantially with the release of version 4.

In this episode Darcy goes over this upgrade, including a feature known as Palette which allows users to access near infinite window layout options simply by hovering their pointer over the macOS window management buttons. You can save custom app-specific layouts, trigger them with hotkeys, use chains to link your actions together, and much more.

Moom 4 requires macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer.

• A single licensee costs $15 USD

• You can upgrade from a previous version for $8.

The developers at Icon Factory had one goal in mind when planning Tot: Create a note-taking app that offers users exactly what they need, no more, no less. And that's exactly what's on offer here. Follow along with Darcy as he outlines the simplicity of Tot's design and functionality. While on the surface it may seem counterintuitive to only offer 7 spaces for notes, as well as limited formatting, Tot takes the overhead out of note-taking.  It gets out of your way, while opening the door for creating you work with Siri Shortcuts, iCloud syncing, Widgets, and a wealth of sharing options for when your ideas go from scratchpad to production.

Tot requires iOS 13.2 or later, macOS 10.14 or later, and watchOS 9 or newer.

• Tot for Mac is a free download on the App Store
• Tot Pocket (iOS and iPadOS) is $19.99 USD
• Tot Mini for Apple Watch costs $1.99 USD

I've been looking for a Read-It-Later service that works on all of my devices, and has excellent support for Shortcuts and automation and I've finally found it in GoodLinks. It's been growing steadily over the last couple of years and now has features that rival it's competitors. Easy to use, great to look at, it offers one of the best reading experiences I've seen and in this video, I'll show you how to set it up, add links to it from both Safari and Reeder, as well as organise your links.

For the adventurous amongst you, the end of the video covers Custom Actions, where you can send the links and associated metadata to other locations with the click of a button, as well as building Shortcuts to send your links to other key elements of your workflow.

GoodLinks requires iOS or iPadOS 15 or newer; macOS 12 or newer

The initial purchase costs $9.99 USD with optional feature upgrades for $4.99 per year after the first year.

The Vision Pro represents Apple's first foray into the world of Spatial Computing. Released in the US on February 2 2024, it wasn't until July 12 that Lee was able to get his hands on one, thanks to Apple releasing it in the UK. With an entry-level price of $3,500 USD, this is definitely not for the mass market. This new Apple device is sure to see revisions over the coming years as more developers have access, and create products for it so that we can determine the most popular use cases for Vision Pro. Even in its current state, Lee thought it would be nice to show what Vision Pro can do.

In this video, you see how to use the different menus, configure some of the Vision Pro-only settings, set up your Persona (and get on a FaceTime call), work with different environments, and more. You also get a quick peek into Lee's house as he walks around, showing off some examples of how the Vision Pro can be used day to day.

Shown in this video: Spigen's Klasden Pouch for Vision Pro

As a subscriber to Raycast Pro, you can also choose the AI Add-on option for accessing larger models directly in Raycast. While this increases the cost of Raycast Pro by a few dollars a month, it also gives you access to AI language models like GPT-4o & Llama 3 Sonar Large for less than the price of a subscription to even a single AI service.

In this short video, Mike gives you a demo of Raycast's AI Add-on including some examples so you can see it in action.

Raycast requires macOS 12 (Monterey) or newer

Raycast Pricing

Learn more about Raycast Pro

In today's show Darcy revisits a popular Spotlight replacement: Raycast. Since his last screencast covering this utility, many new features have been added. These include improved window layout and management tools, handy flight tracking and searchable screenshots and clipboard histories to name a few. The Pro version of Raycast adds AI integration with an inline chat bot that answers your questions and can also generate images from your text prompts, as well as other handy modules like inline translations. Join Darcy and learn how Raycast can enhance your Mac experience.

Raycast requires macOS 12 and newer.

Raycast Pro AI at your fingertips $8 per month or $96 annually

Team Pro AI for your whole team $12 per month per user

When Lee is at a client's office and anyone watches him type on his Mac, there is one feature that is guaranteed to be greeted with "Wow! How did you do that?" and that's text expansion. Today's video covers the application Lee uses for this: Typinator from Ergonis software. Using this application, you can key in a few characters that expand into something much larger. This can be something small, like a URL, or perhaps an email template or blocks of text. You can print the current date and time, calculate future or historic dates, as well as use variables to make calculations.

In this video, Lee gives you a walk-through of how to make the most of Typinator and wow your friends, family and colleagues.

Typinator 9 requires macOS 10.15 or newer.

A license costs 29.99 USD for a single user with up to two computers. All minor updates within the current major version are included.

Download the latest version of Typinator

Ever felt limited by Finder on Mac and wished there was a better alternative? Enter ForkLift. This app by Binarynights is a robust alternative with considerably more features. Darcy takes you through the updated user interface in version 4, shows navigation between panes and tabs, using key commands, how to use the batch syncing and batch renaming features, how to connect local servers and many cloud services right in the app, and more.

ForkLift 4 requires macOS 12 or later.

Lifetime purchases with 1 year of free updates:

Single user: $19.95

Family: $29.95 (All Macs in your household)

Small Business: $69.95 (Up to 5 Macs)

See pricing which includes 2 years of free updates

With Version 5, Alfred released its own built-in gallery that allows you to download workflows from a centralised location. Prior to this, workflows needed to be sourced from GitHub repositories and other locations on the Internet. They still can be retrieved that way, however having a one-stop shop for finding tools that make your day-to-day tasks on macOS easier is a great feature.In this short video, Lee guides you through browsing the new Alfred Gallery, and goes through installing useful workflows such as a Thesaurus, and Currency Converter.

• Alfred requires macOS 10.14 or newer

Alfred coverage on ScreenCastsONLINE

Alfred - App Store

Alfred - Product Page

The iPhone is a powerful computer in your pocket, but it can also be a portal to distraction.  By eliminating the badges and icons from your iPhone Home Screen, you can increase the likelihood of being able to follow through on your original intentions when you picked up your phone in the first place. In this tip video, Mike shares how he uses an app called Blank Spaces to protect his focus by crafting a purposefully minimalist iPhone Home Screen.