new iMac Pro

In our last post, we will explore some apps that are a bit fun but definitely functional.  Sometimes I find it a struggle to get things done.  Or I go about executing a task in a really convoluted way.  There are better ways to do things, which is why I’m bringing you these posts.  We don’t always do this, but we need to be able to work smarter.  Working harder isn’t always the solution.kaomoji

Kaomoji for Mac: Access Kaomoji’s Right from Your Menu Bar

Do you love emojis?  Do you want a better and easier way to send them?  If so, you need to check out Kaomoji.  It’s a simple Mac application that lets you directly copy random and popular kaomojis/emojis.  This all happens straight from your status bar, which makes this app super incredible.

CleanMyDrive 2: A Lightweight Drive Manager for Mac

CleanMyDrive 2 is an app that is always at hand. It’s just a lightweight interface that takes up little space and practically no system resources. It works for you around the clock so you have easy access to all your drives.  You can easily drag and drop files directly into any drive.  You can also check disk stats and automatically clean hidden junk from external drives. Not only do you get to see how much space is taken up on each drive, but also what’s on them. CleanMyDrive 2 shows the storage bar for each of your external drives. Just like Mac’s native bar for the internal drive, you get to see types of files and how much they hog.

clean my mac

CleanMyMac 3: Clean, Optimize and Maintain Your Mac

Clean, optimize, and maintain your Mac with the all-new CleanMyMac 3. It scans every inch of your system, removes gigabytes of junk in just two clicks, and monitors the health of your Mac. CleanMyMac 3 shows you what to clean, you just have to choose when. It scans everything on your Mac, including your Mac’s system, iTunes, Mail, Photos, Trash bins, and even old folders that have been secretly avoiding you. Plus, it knows exactly what can be safely cleaned from your Mac and what can’t.

bitbar

BitBar: Put the Output From Any Script in Your Mac OS X Menu Bar

The BitBar app lets you put the output from any script or program right in your Mac OS X menu bar. And it’s completely free. An impressive number of plugins have already been contributed by a wide range of developers.

RescueTime: Analytics on Your Daily Habits and Productivity

With so many distractions and possibilities in your digital life, it’s easy for your brain to be scattered.  RescueTime helps you understand your daily habits so you can focus and be more productive.  RescueTime runs securely in the background on your computer and mobile devices.  It tracks time spent on applications and websites, giving you an accurate picture of your day.  It will also give you detailed reports and data based on your activity.

Dash: Instant Offline Access to 130 + API Documentation Sets

Dash is an API Documentation Browser and Code Snippet Manager. Dash stores snippets of code and instantly searches offline documentation sets for 200+ APIs.  Dash comes with 200+ offline documentation sets. You can choose which documentation sets to download and Dash will take care of the rest, making sure they are kept up to date. You can also generate your own docsets, request docsets or download docsets from third-party sources.

Rocket: Slack Style Emoji Everywhere on Your Mac

Basically, Rocket lets you use Slack-style emojis everywhere else on your Mac.  It’s kind of that simple.  It’s free, and you can access every emoji through the shortcut window.  Pick your favorite skin tone to suit your needs.  You can scroll and search your way through every emoji in the Search and Browse window.  In addition, you can send and store GIFs, images, and memes.  This is a fun app.  Not an overly helpful one, but I did promise some fun apps in this list.

BetterTouchTool: Free OS X App to Configure Custom Gestures for Your Trackpad

BetterTouchTool is a great, feature-packed app that allows you to configure many gestures for your Trackpad.  It also allows you to configure actions for keyboard shortcuts, normal mice buttons, and the Apple Remote. In addition to this, it has an iOS companion App (BTT Remote) which can also be configured to control your Mac the way you want.  BetterTouchTool is super versatile. Through the combination of being able to trigger arbitrary keyboard shortcuts and more than 100 predefined actions, you can control almost every aspect of your Mac.

escape2

Escape: Track All Your Unnecessary Trips to Distracting Websites

I love this app, but it also scares me.  Every time you open something distracting – like a social networking site, the app will tell you how many minutes you’ve already spent there this week.  It also allows you to “budget” your time.  For example – you can set it to 15 minutes per day on Facebook or Twitter.  Escape will let you know if you’ve gone over that time or how much allotted time you have left.  This is kind of a genius app if you ask me.

Paste: Smart Clipboard History and Snippet Manager for Mac

Paste is a smart cloud clipboard history and snippets manager for Mac. It keeps everything you copy and lets you use it again and again whenever you need it on all your devices.  You can extend the system’s clipboard capacity and get back the stuff that you’ve previously copied.  Not only that, but you can organize your frequently used items and access them quickly.

screenie

Screenie: Drag Screenshots Right From Your Menu Bar

Like with some of the other apps, there isn’t a lot to say about Screenie.  Screenie is the ultimate menubar image manager. With this app, you can revolutionize your workflow and change the way you access your images.  It lets you save all of your images in one place.  Kind of like “Photos”, but with a handy shortcut in the menu bar.

Hazel: The Ultimate File Automator for Mac

Hazel is a file and folder automation tool from Noodlesoft.  Hazel adds abilities similar to email rules and filters to the Mac filesystem. A major frustration of previous versions of Hazel has been figuring out whether you’re wielding its immense power properly. There are so many file attributes that can be used as rule criteria, and the number of combinations multiplies quickly. Criteria can be combined with Boolean logic (all of these or any of these) and those combinations can be nested; that’s just within a rule, and the precedence order of rules matters too!

One thought on “macOS Tools To Help Make You (and your Mac) More Productive (Part 3)”

Comments are closed.