6 Productivity Apps You (Probably) Haven't Heard Of - with Ali Abdaal

Summary

In this video, sponsored by Hover, Matt and Ali Abdaal explore six lesser-known productivity apps to enhance daily workflows. They discuss built-in iOS keyboard replacements, Chrome's Tap Copy extension, the powerful Alfred app for Mac, Loom for screen recording, Airr for podcast note-taking, and AutoHotkey for Windows. The video concludes with the importance of personal websites and a special offer from Hover for domain names.

Takeaways

• 😀 The video is sponsored by Hover, a domain name provider with a streamlined checkout process.
• 📝 The video discusses lesser-known productivity apps used by the hosts, Matt and Ali, to improve their workflows.
• 🔠 Ali highlights the use of keyboard replacement on Apple devices for creating text shortcuts to frequently used phrases and links.
• 🔗 Matt introduces a Chrome extension called 'tab copy' for saving open tabs' URLs and organizing them in Notion.
• 🚀 The app Alfred is mentioned for its powerful search and app launching capabilities on Mac, enhancing productivity by reducing time spent on mundane tasks.
• 📹 Loom is recommended for quickly recording screens and sharing the recordings through a link, which integrates well with Notion.
• 🎙️ Airr, an iOS podcast app, is praised for its ability to save and transcribe key moments from podcasts, with integration to Readwise and Notion.
• 🤖 AutoHotkey is showcased as a Windows tool for creating custom scripts and keyboard shortcuts to automate repetitive tasks.
• 🏠 The importance of having a personal website as an online home base is emphasized, independent of platforms like YouTube.
• 🔗 Hover is recommended for securing domain names with a variety of extensions and easy setup for professional email or website integration.
• 👍 The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to like, subscribe, and explore additional resources provided by the hosts.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video?

The main topic of the video is to introduce and discuss six lesser-known productivity apps that the hosts, Matt and Ali, use to improve their workflows.

What is the first productivity tip mentioned in the video, and how does it work?

The first productivity tip is using keyboard replacement on Apple devices. Users can create custom shortcuts that expand into longer phrases or sentences, which sync across all devices.

What is the purpose of the 'Tap Copy' Chrome extension mentioned by Matt?

The 'Tap Copy' Chrome extension allows users to copy the URLs of all open tabs, along with their titles and meta-descriptions, to save for later reference or to organize in a note-taking system like Notion.

How does the Alfred app enhance productivity on a Mac?

Alfred enhances productivity by providing a powerful search and command interface that allows users to quickly open apps, search the web, and perform custom workflows, all with fewer keystrokes than the default macOS Spotlight.

What is Loom and how does it integrate with Notion?

Loom is an app that allows users to quickly record their screen and share it via a link. It integrates with Notion by automatically copying the recording URL to the clipboard, making it easy to embed in Notion pages for team documentation.

What is Airr and how does it help in saving and organizing podcast insights?

Airr is a podcast app for iOS that lets users save the best moments from podcasts as 'Airr quotes'. It transcribes these moments and allows users to title and categorize them for easy reference and organization.

How does the Readwise app integrate with Notion?

Readwise integrates with Notion by automatically importing highlights from Kindle, Instapaper, and Twitter into a library within Notion, allowing users to see all their highlights organized by book or source.

What is AutoHotkey and how does it help with text snippet replacement on Windows?

AutoHotkey is a Windows application that allows users to write scripts for keyboard shortcuts to automate tasks. It can be used for text snippet replacement, where typing a specific code expands to a longer pre-defined text.

What is the importance of having a personal website according to the video?

Having a personal website is important as it serves as an online home base that the owner controls 100%. It is not subject to the potential changes or disappearance of platforms like YouTube, providing a stable platform for online presence.

Why is Hover recommended for obtaining a domain name in the video?

Hover is recommended for obtaining a domain name due to its streamlined checkout process, a wide variety of over 400 domain extensions to choose from, and the ability to connect the domain to various website builders and online store platforms.

How can viewers benefit from the video's content?

Viewers can benefit from the video by discovering new productivity apps and techniques that can help them improve their workflows, save time, and better organize their digital tasks and notes.

Outlines

00:00

🤖 Discovering Lesser-Known Productivity Apps

In this segment, the host introduces a collaboration with Ali Abdaal, a doctor, YouTuber, and productivity expert, to explore six lesser-known productivity apps that can enhance daily workflows. The conversation emphasizes the importance of these apps for improving productivity beyond the well-known ones like Notion and Todoist. The host and Ali each bring three apps to the discussion, starting with a built-in feature on Apple devices for keyboard replacement, which allows for text shortcuts to streamline typing repetitive phrases.

05:01

🔧 Enhancing Productivity with Keyboard Replacement and Extensions

The second paragraph delves into the use of keyboard replacement on Apple devices to create custom shortcuts for frequently typed phrases, which sync across all devices. The host also introduces a Chrome extension called 'Tap Copy' that simplifies managing multiple open tabs by copying their URLs to a clipboard, facilitating organization in a note-taking system like Notion. Additionally, the paragraph introduces 'Alfred,' a powerful Mac app that enhances the default search functionality, allowing for quick app launches, web searches, and file access through custom workflows and clipboard management.

10:02

🎥 Streamlining Workflows with Loom, Airr, and AutoHotkey

This paragraph highlights the utility of 'Loom,' a tool for quickly recording screens and sharing the recordings via a link, which is particularly useful for team documentation and integrating with Notion. The host then discusses 'Airr,' an iOS podcast app that allows users to save and transcribe notable moments from podcasts, which can be organized and reviewed later. The paragraph concludes with 'AutoHotkey' for Windows, a tool for creating scripts that automate tasks and define keyboard shortcuts for increased efficiency in various applications.

15:03

🌐 The Importance of Personal Websites and Domain Names

In the final paragraph, the host discusses the significance of having a personal website as a stable online presence, independent of platforms like YouTube. He emphasizes the control and customization offered by personal websites and the importance of securing a domain name promptly through Hover, which offers a streamlined checkout process and a variety of domain extensions. The host also mentions the promotional offer for Hover and encourages viewers to subscribe and engage with the content, while also promoting his other channels and social media presence.

Keywords

💡Productivity apps

Productivity apps are software tools designed to help users work more efficiently. In the video, the theme revolves around lesser-known apps that can enhance workflow. Examples include Notion and Todoist, which are mentioned as well-known apps, while the video aims to introduce others that viewers might not be aware of.

💡Keyboard replacement

Keyboard replacement refers to a feature on Apple devices that allows users to create shortcuts for phrases or sentences they frequently type. In the video, it is used to automate the input of common responses or links, which saves time and increases efficiency in daily tasks.

💡Text replacement

Text replacement is a feature that substitutes a typed abbreviation with a longer piece of text. It is highlighted in the script as a method to streamline typing of repetitive information across devices, contributing to the overall productivity theme of the video.

💡Chrome extension

A Chrome extension is an add-on for the Google Chrome browser that enhances its functionality. In the context of the video, 'tap copy' is a Chrome extension that allows users to save and organize open tabs, which is relevant to the theme of managing digital workspaces more productively.

💡Alfred

Alfred is a productivity application for Mac OS that provides a variety of shortcuts and workflows to expedite tasks. The video discusses its use for quickly opening apps and performing searches, illustrating the broader concept of reducing time spent on routine computer interactions.

💡Loom

Loom is a screen recording tool that allows users to capture and share videos of their screens. In the video, it is mentioned for its ability to integrate with Notion, showing how it can be used for team documentation and process recording, which ties into the video's focus on improving workflow.

💡Airr

Airr is a podcast app for iOS that enables users to save and organize quotes or moments from podcasts. The video describes its use for capturing insights during listening, which aligns with the theme of harnessing digital tools for knowledge retention and productivity.

💡Readwise

Readwise is an app that helps in resurface highlights from various sources like Kindle, Instapaper, and Twitter. In the video, it is shown to integrate with Notion, allowing for the organization of reading highlights, which is pertinent to the video's theme of productivity and knowledge management.

💡AutoHotkey

AutoHotkey is a scripting language for Windows that allows users to create custom scripts for keyboard shortcuts and automation. The video mentions it as a tool for text snippet replacement and other automations, demonstrating the video's overarching message of leveraging technology for increased efficiency.

💡Domain name

A domain name is the address where an individual or business's website can be found on the internet. In the video, the importance of securing a domain name is discussed as a foundational step in establishing an online presence, which is part of the broader narrative on personal branding and digital organization.

💡Hover

Hover is a domain registration service that is highlighted in the video for its user-friendly process of acquiring domain names. The mention of Hover underscores the video's practical advice on setting up a personal website as a base for online activities.

Highlights

Ali Abdaal, a doctor, YouTuber, and productivity expert, shares lesser-known productivity apps used daily.

Six productivity apps are introduced that most people probably haven't heard of before.

Keyboard replacement feature in Apple devices can create custom text shortcuts for increased efficiency.

The Tap Copy Chrome extension helps manage and save open tabs with ease.

Alfred app for Mac offers powerful search and automation capabilities beyond the default Spotlight.

Alfred's custom workflows and clipboard saving feature enhance productivity.

Loom app allows quick screen recording and easy sharing through integration with tools like Notion.

Airr podcast app helps save and transcribe key moments from podcasts for later reference.

Readwise app integration with Notion provides a library for saved highlights from various sources.

AutoHotkey on Windows enables custom scripts for text snippet replacement and other shortcuts.

The importance of having a personal website as an online home base, independent of other platforms.

Hover is recommended for obtaining domain names with a streamlined checkout process and various extensions.

Thomas Frank's personal website serves as a central hub for his online presence and content.

Thomas Frank Explains channel offers Notion tutorials for effective use of the app.

The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to like, subscribe, and follow on social media.

Transcripts

- Thanks to Hover for sponsoring this video

and supporting my channel.

I talk a lot about productivity apps in this channel,

but for the most part,

the apps that I cover tend to be the more well-known ones,

Notion, Todoist.

So today I want to flip the script a little bit.

Today I'm going to be joined by my friend Ali Abdaal,

who is a doctor, a YouTuber,

and a productivity expert in his own right,

to talk about some of the lesser known productivity apps

that both of us use on a daily basis

to improve our respective workflows.

Here are six productivity apps that you

probably haven't heard of before.

What's up Ali?

- Hey Matt, I'm doing very well, thank you.

How are you?

- Good, doing well as well.

So what I wanted to do today is give people a glimpse

into some of the more maybe obscure

productivity apps that we use.

Maybe like little utilities,

things that just help us get things done

a little bit better, go that extra 10%.

So I brought three and you brought three as well, right?

- Absolutely.

The first one I want to mention isn't really an app.

It's something that's built into every Apple device.

So iOS, iPad OS, Mac OS.

And it's something that a lot of people don't know about

and that is keyboard replacement.

So if you go on your system preferences on your Mac

and you hit keyboard,

then under this text thing

what you can actually do is create these like little

keyboard replacement-y thingies for whatever you want.

So often I'll get a question from people being like,

hey, how do you study for exams?

And if I type in exclamation mark A-R

across any of my devices, so iPhone, iPad, Mac,

it will replace it with how to study for exams,

evidence-based revision tips,

and a link to my YouTube video.

If I type in exclamation desk set up across any device,

it will say my productivity desk set up 2019 or 2020 or,

and the link to the video.

Basically any important thing that

I find myself typing out more than once

I will turn into one of these keyboard replacement thingys

and it will just be synced across all my devices

and I think that's completely magical

and I think more people should do this.

In fact, if I show you my iPhone screen,

so I'm on my iPhone,

I'm going to go into settings

and it's got text replacement

and you'll see it's got all of the same ones

and it's synced across my Mac and across my iPhone so.

- Okay so the first step that I'm gonna share

is not actually a Windows specific app,

it's a Chrome extension.

So I don't know about you,

but I am absolutely terrible with tabs.

I'll just have like a million tabs open

and then I go like to shut my computer down

at the end of the night,

but I want a lot of these tabs.

Like, I want to know what they were at least.

So there's a little extension called tap copy,

and you can just click this little button here

and copy the URLs to all of your open tabs

and you can choose to have,

like expanded word will have the the title

and the meta-description,

compact is just the title or just the link.

So I'll copy all the tabs

and then I can just open up Notion

and I can go to my little dashboard

or my note taking system.

I'm just going to put them in my little daily tasks

scratch pad here, but just boom.

Every URL that I had open is now here.

- Wow.

- So I can finally close down my browser

at the end of the night, but not lose anything

because I know it's been tracked here in Notion.

- Have you ever needed to use this to resurface old tabs?

- Absolutely.

- Or is it more like a security blanket?

- Absolutely.

I use it all the time.

Actually I'll show you for the course that I'm building.

These are all of the links that I have

saved from my browser.

Just for like plugins for shopping carts

or CloudFlare optimizations or all kinds of stuff.

Like this is a project that's ongoing,

so I'll work on it a little bit every day,

but I don't want to lose this stuff

before I'm done using it.

As long as I have the URLs, I'm good to go.

- All right.

Next, we have an amazing Mac app

and this is one of the most powerful things about a Mac,

which is unfortunately not quite

built into the operating system.

And this is an app called Alfred.

And the cool thing about Alfred is you press

command and space

and then it brings up this box

that essentially lets you type anything.

The Windows equivalent is it's sort of like

hitting the Windows logo key

and on Mac sort of like using spotlight search,

but Alfred is just a lot more powerful

than the default built-in options.

So there's lots of things you can do with Alfred.

But the simple one is you can use it

to open any kind of app.

So let's say I wanna open Chrome.

I would hit command space bar

and I would just type in "chr" and I'd hit enter

and Chrome will open.

My whole philosophy around this,

and I'm sure you feel the same way,

is that when it comes to productivity,

like it's, you know, on a macro level,

it's important to do the right things

and then do those things right.

But then on a very micro level,

if you can just shave off milliseconds

of any interaction that you have with a computer,

that is really going to add up over the long term.

And so normally if I wanna open Chrome,

it would take me at least two seconds to go all the way

across my ultra wide monitor and click on it.

- Yep.

- Whereas with Alfred,

it's sort of done in less than a half a second.

- And there's like a lot more you can do with Alford, right?

Like it's not just launching apps.

You can actually do a Google search

or open a website pretty instantly.

- Yeah.

And that's what I,

that's what I like about it compared to

just usual Mac spotlight.

Mac spotlight lets you open apps, it's reasonable,

but let's say I want to search something on Google.

I can just type in whatever I want and hit enter

and it will just automatically realize

that I'm trying to search Google.

If I want to search Amazon,

I type in "ama" tab

and then I can search Amazon for whatever.

So it's kind of like my home base

for anything I want to do in the computer.

If I want to open a file,

I press space bar and then I can open any kind of file.

So if I know what, like a title for a video is called,

I can just type it in and then it'll,

I can open it in downloads

or I can open the file directly or whatever.

The other really cool thing is that it's got these custom

workflows that you can put into Alfred.

- Do you have any?

- Yeah, so the one I use is an integration with Fantastical.

- Okay.

- So Fantastical is my calendar app

and you can just type in "cal."

So meeting tomorrow at 2:00 PM in Oxford

and it will natural language processing that

and automatically say, see, it's added the location,

it's added meeting, it's added the time.

- That's awesome.

- And so this makes it super easy to input calendar events

as soon as like, you know, I find out about them.

The other really cool thing about Alfred

is the clipboard saving.

I don't know if you use this.

- Yes, I use the crap out of the clipboard saver.

- Yeah.

It's so helpful because like how many times

have you sort of copied something

and then overwritten it by copying something else?

But this gives you unlimited basically keyboard history.

- Yeah.

- It's quite handy.

- So the app that I want to talk about

is actually one that is not exclusive to Windows.

It is on both Mac OS and Windows.

So anybody using it or anybody on any OS can use it.

It's called Loom.

So I take a lot of screenshots

and a lot of screen casts

to essentially document what I'm doing,

but Loom lets you quickly record your screen

and then instantly gives you a link

you can copy and paste to share with somebody.

So I use the crap out of this

because it has a Notion integration.

So we have a knowledge base in our Notion workspace

and anytime I want to document a process really quickly

for somebody on my team, I can create a page for it

and then I will just do whatever I need to do

in a Loom recording and once I'm done,

it immediately copies the URL to my clipboard

and I can paste it right here into a Notion page.

- Yeah, that's really helpful.

I should do this a lot more for a team documentation

because I don't document anything right now

and I know it's really bad

and every time I do something, I think, oh,

I wish I'd recorded to Loom right now, but.

- Yeah, yeah, it's pretty helpful.

- All right, so the final app I want to talk about

is a podcast app,

which is unfortunately available for iOS only,

sorry Android heathens out there,

and that is called Airr, A-I-R-R.

Now Airr is amazing because Airr is a podcast app

that lets you save the best moments from podcasts

and they call them Airr quotes.

So the idea is that let's say you're listening to an episode

of "The Knowledge Project" where Derek Sivers

is being interviewed.

So obviously I'm listening to this at 2x speed

and anytime I come across something where I think, oh,

this is a really interesting sort of insight

or an interesting viewpoint,

I can hit the Airr quote button

and it will save the last 30 seconds of what I just heard

and for most of these kind of big podcasts,

they've got transcripts available for them.

So it will automatically transcribe

and figure out what Derek was saying

and therefore I've got a written record

of the bits from the podcast that I want to save.

And so right now I can title it.

So Derek thoughts on happiness

or whatever it was that he's talking about, I hit done.

And now whenever I want,

I can look at my Airr quotes

and I can see this library of quotes

that I've saved from various different podcasts.

So you can see I'm a big fan of the Tim Ferriss Show

and I've got tons and tons of quotes saved

from Naval Ravikant,

another one from Esther Perel,

loads from Seth Godin,

loads from Derek Sivers.

The other really cool thing about this

is that this actually integrates

with another app called Readwise,

which is what I use to help resurface my highlights

from Kindle and from Instapaper and from Twitter.

But the really cool thing is that Readwise

has an integration with Notion

where anytime I make any Kindle highlights,

so I've got 116 of those,

it will automatically import into this

really nice libraries thing in Notion

where I can see all my books.

- So all your highlights, they go into the correct book row?

- Absolutely.

So let's see, let's "Perennial Seller" by Ryan Holiday.

And here are highlights that I made like a few days ago.

- That is cool.

- While I was reading the book.

It's really awesome and more relevant to us,

it also works for podcasts.

So here is this episode of the Tim Ferriss Show

with Seth Godin

and these are all of the times where I pressed

the Airr quote button while listening to this episode.

And now if I want to revisit the stuff,

whether I'm making a video or an email newsletter

or even just to revisit stuff that

I found meaningful in the past,

I can read the transcript and it will give me a timestamp

which will take me to the Airr quote where I can listen.

- Okay, so for my last one,

we're gonna go a little bit back to a concept

you had talked about at the beginning of this video,

which was the whole text snippet replacement.

On Windows, there are many apps that can do this,

but the one that I use is called AutoHotkey.

And essentially you can write out scripts

that will let you define keyboard shortcuts,

do almost anything

and I honestly have only just barely scratched the surface.

So I've got a demo script here

and all of these are little scripts

that will do specific things.

So these are some of my keyboard snippets here.

I've anonymized some of the addresses,

but if I'm filling out a form

or if I'm maybe talking to somebody in Slack,

I can just put like H-A-D-R, hit space,

and it will automatically expand

to have that address in there

or if I'm going through

and like one of these is affiliate commissions,

I have to type this a million times

every time I'm doing my bookkeeping in zero

so I can just put A-C one space, affiliate commissions.

And that is probably the simplest thing you can do.

This one's fun.

So these are some clipboard replacement scripts.

So like I said earlier with Notion,

if I want to share a link to a Notion page,

if I click this and I copy the link

and I wanna share it in Slack,

by default it's gonna be this HTTPS version.

If I click that,

it opens in my browser where I don't want it.

I can edit this to have the Notion slash slash thing,

but it's on my clipboard.

So if I just hit control alt V,

which is the keyboard shortcut

I have defined here with these symbols.

So this means control, this means alt, and then V,

then it's automatically that Notion version link

and it will open up in my desktop app.

And then the last thing that I've done here

is I want a way to very quickly open folders

that I use all the time.

So this is like my main YouTube folder.

This is the Google Drive folder with all of the thumbnails

so I can access it if I'm traveling.

And these are just opening instantly

when I'm hitting a hot key.

So what I've done is defined a series of keyboard shortcuts.

So this is control alt shift four

that opens a specific file path,

but I don't want to hit control alt shift four,

because it's a really weird, awkward hand position.

So I've got a Corsair K95 keyboard

and that comes with this Corsair software

and I have multiple profiles on here.

So this one is called every day

and I've got actions defined.

So these are just macros of me hitting this short code

or this key, so control shift alt seven,

for example, is recorded here

and then it's just bound to one of these G keys on the side.

Well, thanks for joining me Ali.

If people wanna find you, where should they go?

- Thank you very much for having me.

My YouTube channel will be linked

in the video description, I'm sure.

And yeah, you can check out my stuff there.

Thanks for having me.

It's a real honor.

- Absolutely.

Now before we wrap this video up,

I want to clue you in on a couple more resources

that you might not know about

if you tend to watch Ali and myself

here on YouTube exclusively,

which are our respective websites.

Both Ali and I have personal websites

where we create content

and also let the world know about ourselves.

And I don't know about Ali,

but personally I view my personal website

as my online home base.

My biggest audience exists here on YouTube, yes,

but at any time YouTube could go away

or it could change in a way that I don't like

or that's disadvantageous to me.

And with my personal website,

that's not really a threat

because it's a platform that I control 100%.

I can do whatever I want with it

and I can make it the sort of home base

for all my online operations

and for that reason and for other reasons as well,

I think it's a great idea to start thinking about

building a personal website for yourself

if you haven't done so already.

And of course the first step to getting started

along this path is to get yourself

a domain name such as mine, which is thomasjfrank.com.

I was born a little bit too late to snag thomasfrank.com,

but I was at least able to get the one

with my middle initial.

But that's the thing about domain names.

Once somebody grabs it, if they don't let it expire,

that's kind of taken and you can't get it

which is why you want to get your domain name

as quickly as possible.

Even if you're not ready to start building that website,

get that domain name locked down

and go over to Hover to do it.

Hover is the best place on the internet

to get your hands on a domain name,

not least of which because they have

an extremely streamlined and hassle-free checkout process

where you can actually buy a domain in less than 30 seconds.

I have timed myself on this before when I bought thomas.lol

and I've also bought thomas.blog

and all sorts of other interesting ones.

And that's because Hover also has

over 400 domain extensions.

You've got your classic .com, .me,

which are great for a personal website,

but you've also got .lol, .limo, .blog.

There's tons to choose from.

And of course, once you have your domain on Hover,

you've got a ton of different options for how to use it.

You can build a professional email address

like [email protected]

or use their connect feature to hook it up

to a website builders or even online store builders.

So to lock down that domain name that you want

so no one else can take it

and to save 10% off your first purchase,

go over to hover.com/thomasfrank and sign up.

Big thanks as always to Hover for sponsoring this video

and thank you as well for watching it.

Hopefully you found something in this video

that can be a useful resource for you in the future.

And if you did enjoy it, hit that like button

and show the YouTube algorithm what's up

and get subscribed if you haven't done so already.

Beyond that, my new channel, Thomas Frank Explains,

has plenty of Notion tutorials going live

all the time on that so check that out

if you're interested in learning how

to use Notion more effectively.

Otherwise I'll have a couple of other videos here

on the screen right here

and right here that you can click on

or smash your face into your phone screen

for extra style points to watch.

Beyond that, maybe consider following me on Instagram

and Twitter at TomFrankly

or don't because as always, I'm not your dad.