“ Productivity ” is one of the biggest — and best — software categories in the Mac App Store . But we cerebrate the twelve apps below — which array from oecumenical - use time - recoverer such as Alfred and MenuPop tosui generisspecialists such as Vitamin - R — are definitely deserving a look .
Alfred 0.8
rocket launcher rank from basic ( Spotlight ) to powerful and complex ( apps like Butler , Launchbar , and Quicksilver ) . If you want one that can do more than Spotlight , but is n’t as complex as those others , Alfred ( ) could be it . As with those other rocket launcher , you call forth Alfred with a keyboard shortcut , then type a few letters into the resulting textbook boxful . Alfred give back a list of apps ( or single file ) whose names match that strand . You select the one you want and press Return , and it opens . In addition to applications and files , Alfred can place and open Mail messages , Address Book contacts , iCal calendar ingress , Safari bookmarker , and more ; you’re able to also utilise it to broach Web lookup and some system actions ( such as starting the screensaver ) . Alfred itself is free , but an $ 19 Powerpack add - on provides more functionality , including a clipboard manager and an iTunes controller.—Dan Millerfree ; Powerpack , $ 19;Running with crayon
Art Text 2.2
Art Text ( ) allow you quickly switch from boring Helvetica to something interesting , without the deadening redaction steps that some other composition apps ( include Adobe Illustrator ) require . While Art Text would be good for graphics pro who only now and then need to make custom inscription , it ’s really for the residue of us who do n’t need a full - on character program . For object lesson , baptismal font are unionize by categories — including Fun , Modern , and Traditional — so you do n’t need to know the name of one to come up it . Templates cultivate the same way of life — you could choose a style you wish visually . The program get with peck of templet , but also has tools for building your own . ( And , no , we do n’t know why Art Text is filed under Productivity rather of Graphics & Design in the App Store — but it is.)—John Brandon$20;Belight software package
Desktop Curtain 2.1
If you require to cover what ’s on your Mac ’s screen — to give a presentment , to take a screenshot , or just to focus on one app at a time — Desktop Curtain ( ) bid a nicely elastic solution . With it , you’re able to peg down the backcloth ( image or strong color ) . you’re able to also customize the way it displays ( as a normal window , screen background cover , or traditional background background ) and how it works with Exposé and Spaces . But what really pass water Desktop Curtain special is its simplicity : you’re able to hide your background instantly via the Dock , the carte barroom , or a keyboard shortcut.—Dan Frakes$2;Many Tricks
DropCopy 1.68
DropCopy ( ) is a nifty utility that simplifies the sending of files to and from Macs on your local web . When plunge , DropCopy displays a small fall zone ( on your screen background or blow on top of other windows ) . When you embroil a file or folder onto it , a menu pops up showing the epithet of other users on your local internet who are running the program . Release the file(s ) on another substance abuser ’s name and , after the recipient give approving , the files are copy to their system ( in whatever pamphlet the exploiter has designated ) . you may also copy files to destinations outside your local web ( by providing the IP computer address ) and to SFTP servers . It ’s a lot mere than stock OS X file sharing.—Kirk McElhearnfree for up to three computer ; Pro version that runs on up to ten devices share one Apple ID , $ 10 ; limitless internet site licence , $ 25;10base - liothyronine interactive
Evernote 1.4.7
Evernote ( ) is a catch - all app : With it , you could catch all kinds of info — including apparent - text notes , Web pages , PDFs , and uploaded audio or video — which you could then tag , sort , and search . In addition to the Mac app , there are World Wide Web , Windows , iPhone , Palm , Windows Mobile , and BlackBerry clients . Evernote ’s cool trick is agnise the text in persona : Take a photo of a document , a prescription drug label , a book cover , or the comparable , and once the range is uploaded to Evernote ’s servers , the text in the simulacrum will be fully searchable.—Jeffery Battersbyfree;Evernote
Fresh 1.2.1
It is n’t severe to find lately used written document and programme : You ’ll regain lists of them in the Apple card and the File computer menu of most apps . But because these card are tucked away , many Mac users snub them . Ironic Software ’s Fresh ( ) bring in recent point more accessible and lease you do more with them . When you shift to Fresh , two large , horizontal green bars seem on screen . In the bar on top , Fresh show recently used item . In the legal profession below , you may for good park items you use a lot . you could spread an item in either bar by double - clicking on it . If you hold the cursor over an point ’s name , Fresh will expose its full course . Drag an item to another pamphlet to move it , or drag it to another volume to replicate it ; controller - cluck the detail , and you’re able to do even more.—Dan Frakes$6;Ironic package
smart show you both recently used files and apps and files , booklet , and apps you park in it permanently .
Home Inventory 2.1
If you care about your poppycock , Home Inventory ( ) can help you catalogue it . It gives you a situation to list your possessions and record their makes , models , and serial numbers ; you’re able to also attach photographs , date - stamped notes , receipts , files , and warrantee information . It comes with six establish - in reports , including a reportage analytic thinking ( to blob interruption in your insurance policies ) and a moving list ( to ensure everything catch from one home to the next ) . you could also create reports of your own.—Stuart Gripman$10;Binary Formations
LittleSnapper 1.5.1
LittleSnapper ( ) picks up where Mac OS X ’s built - in screen - gaining control prick leave off . With it , you’re able to take better screenshots , archive them , and upload them to the Web . As with other screenshot tools , LittleSnapper can capture the whole sieve or just a specific window or area ; it can also take time shots and capture entire Web pages . It includes canonical editing tools for cropping , highlight , blurring , and annotating , as well as tools for tagging , evaluation , and otherwise classifying screenshots.—Aayush Arya$25;Realmac Software
MenuPop 1.01
If you ’ve acquire a large show — or multiple displays — the carte bar may be a flake unmanageable to get to . MenuPop ( ) fixes that by putting the menu bar ’s menu flop under your mouse cursor in hierarchical form ; you then make the menu bar appear via a keyboard crosscut . you may prefer to show keyboard crosscut for command , change the menu font sizing , and display substitute menu command that normally require a modifier key.—Dan Frakes$5;Binary Bakery Software
Soulver 2.0.2
You ’d be forgive for think that the only differences among the various calculator program for Mac OS X are in the mathematical functions they offer and the layout of their buttons . Soulver ( ) gives the prevarication to that assumption . Although it lets you input traditional numerical equations—365 x 24 x 60 , say — Soulver also allows you to use something approaching natural terminology . For instance , if you ’re trying to visualise out the price of a $ 199 product that ’s on sale for 15 percent off , you could just typewrite 15 % off $ 199 ; to exchange currentness , you could type $ 50 in Yen . To convert time , type 5 minutes 18 seconds in seconds . A handy Total display exhibit the total of all the current windowpane ’s answers . Soulver also allows you to make temporary variables ( x=73 ) and insert datum from editable tables of stocks , currencies , and lasting variable star . In other words , Soulver is anything but just another calculator.—Dan Frakes$25;Acqualia Software
TypeIt4Me 5.0
TypeIt4Me ( ) is one of many utilities , like TextExpander and Typinator , that have you attribute shortcut keys to scrap of schoolbook that you typecast all the time — your speech sound number or e - post address , for case . When you typecast the shortcut , TypeIt4Me stick in the schoolbook ( which the program refers to as a clipping ) . Clippings can hold unmistakable or rich textual matter , as well as epitome ; and you’re able to configure clipping to include thing like date or the current contents of OS X ’s Clipboard . TypeIt4Me has its own autocorrect tool , which is available in any app you could insert a trim into ; the utility also has something called AutoCue , which let you insert intermission into snippets so that you could typecast in varying textual matter . TypeIt4Me has been around for a very long time , and with reason : It ’s a really useful tool that does exactly what it promises to.—Kirk McElhearn$20;Ettore Software
Vitamin-R 1.18
Vitamin - R ( ) cultivate on the assumption that procrastination resultant role from a compounding of vague finish and limited focus . To remediate that , you narrate the app what you need to do with a specific piece of sentence — Write a review of Vitamin - R , say . Next , you set the amount of time you want to drop on the project . Then you get to work . As you do so , Vitamin - R ’s carte du jour detail displays a little timer ; it discourage you ( with the sound of a ticking clock or a vocalisation posit how much time you have left ) when the ending of allotted time is near . When time runs out , you could arrest , continue , or rate your focussing for the current session . If you determine yourself wandering from job to web browser to Twitter to iChat and back , Vitamin - R will help stop your wandering.—Jeffery Battersby$20;Frank Reiff
Fresh shows you both recently used files and apps and files, folders, and apps you park in it permanently.
