![]() You just press your designated keyboard shortcut (I use Command+Space), type a few letters of the thing you want to open or the task you want to perform, and then press return to perform that action (or press one of several other keys to perform advanced actions). Website): When it comes to app-launching, file-managing, data-accessing, do-everything utilities, LaunchBar is a favorite around the Macworld offices-particularly in my office. It’s a feature that’s tough to explain quickly, but it can dramatically improve your productivity if you frequently type text that’s largely the same, but includes small sections, or names, or numbers, or prices, that change each time. Among myriad new features and improvements, version 4 adds a feature called fill-ins, which are complex snippets that present fields you can fill in, or options you can choose, on the fly. For example, whenever I type addy, that abbreviation is replaced with my home address. ![]() Website): Text Expander has long been our favorite text-expansion utility-a tool that lets you create snippets, short or long, of frequently typed text, and then quickly paste any snippet by typing the corresponding abbreviation that you specify. The interface is clean and uncluttered, and when you need to collaborate, you can export to those same formats. Highland uses theįountain syntax to store formatted scripts in plain-text files, and it can even import text-based PDF and FDX (Final Draft) files and translate them into Fountain text with the original formatting intact. Highland takes the opposite approach: It’s a minimalist text editor with just the features a screenwriter needs. Website): Many script-writing apps are essentially glorified word processors with unnecessary features removed or hidden. Version 6 includes a bunch of useful new trigger options that make Keyboard Maestro even more powerful, and new features and interface improvements make macros more accessible to people who wouldn’t otherwise utter the word “macro.” Highland Website): These days, Keyboard Maestro is the premier macro utility for OS X, letting you create simple actions or complex tasks and execute them based on a variety of possible triggers. ![]() Searching is fast, the app lets you quickly send notes to other text editors, and your data syncs via Simplenote or Dropbox. Launch the app, and you see two fields: a unified text field on top for naming new notes or searching old ones, and a text-entry field below for entering and editing your notes-you just start typing. What makes nvAlt stand out is that the app makes it dead simple to create and search plain-text notes. Website): It’s not tough to find an inexpensive text-editing or note-taking app for OS X. The latest version adds switchable syntax-coloring schemes, code folding, quick navigation within documents, versioning with comparisons, and more. But if you want a fantastic app for writing, editing, and processing plain text-and you don’t need the the advanced features of the $50īBEdit, TextWrangler’s big sibling-this app gives you most of the tools most people will ever need, for free. Website): If you want a full-fledged word processor, complete with styles, text formatting, and page-layout features, look elsewhere. Here are 13 apps you should take a look at to see if they’ll fit in-and improve- your routines. These aren’t necessarily the highest-rated Gems of the past year-they’re the apps we’ve covered in Mac Gems that either did something especially innovative offered exceptional value or simply earned a place in my (or another editor’s) daily workflows. While our Eddy-award winners are anointed after a weeks-long process of deliberation involved the entire Macworld editorial staff, the Gems of the year are my personal picks. But here in the Mac Gems department, we also like to separately recognize the best inexpensive Mac apps we’ve reviewed over the past year.Īs the editor who coordinates the Mac Gems section, and who spends lots of time searching for great, inexpensive Mac software, I see a lot of Mac apps each year. Macworld Editors’ Choice awards to the best overall Mac- and Apple-focused products. ![]() As the end of the calendar year nears, Macworld editors have been busy picking our favorite products of 2013.
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