15 Essential Mac Apps I Use Every Day

Summary

In this video, the creator shares a comprehensive guide to 15 essential applications and utilities that enhance productivity on a Mac. From unique clipboard managers like PaySpot to advanced screen recording tools such as CleanShot X, and file organization with Hazel, each app offers unique functionalities to streamline workflows. The video also explores color management with Pastel, remote access via Screens Connect, and audio manipulation through Audio Hijack and Loopback. Additionally, it covers content creation aids like Creator's Best Friend for Final Cut and Fantastical for calendar management, alongside practical utilities for text expansion, podcasting, file transferring, and more. Highlighting the integration of these tools into daily tasks, the video aims to enlighten viewers on maximizing their Mac's efficiency, inviting them to discover new applications and share their favorites.

Takeaways

• 🖥️ The video showcases 15 useful Mac applications and utilities for productivity, recording audio, managing clipboards, and more.
• 📋 PaySpot is a clipboard manager that saves up to 1000 clippings and offers features like filtering, iCloud sync, and keyboard shortcuts.
• 📸 CleanShot X is a powerful screen recorder and capture tool, useful for creating tutorials and sharing images during events.
• 🧹 Hazel is an app that automates file management by creating rules to move or delete files based on specific criteria.
• 🎨 Pastel is a color palette manager that allows users to save and access color palettes, identify dominant colors from images, and sync between devices.
• 🔗 Screens Connect enables remote control of Macs from iOS devices, even when not on the same network, using SSH tunneling.
• 🎙️ Audio Hijack is a flexible audio recording and routing tool that can capture audio from various sources, apply effects, and even live stream.
• 🔄 Loopback, made by the same company as Audio Hijack, is a powerful tool for routing audio between applications and devices.
• 📆 Fantastical is a highly recommended calendar app with a menu bar presence, offering advanced features and integrations.
• 📜 Text Expander is used for creating text snippets and automations, including quickly generating ChatGPT prompts for video transcriptions.

Q & A

What is PaySpot and how does it enhance productivity on a Mac?

PaySpot is a clipboard manager that lives in the menu bar of a Mac. It automatically saves every item copied to the clipboard, allowing users to save up to 1000 clippings. It offers features like filtering by file size, enabling iCloud sync across Macs, setting keyboard shortcuts for pasting recent clippings, and blacklisting apps like keychain or one password to protect sensitive data.

How does CleanShot X differ from other screen recording tools?

CleanShot X is favored for its comprehensive features tailored for screen recording and capturing on a Mac. It uniquely integrates into the menu bar, provides real-time recording duration, and offers advanced options like capturing images quickly during events for social media sharing. It's essential for users who make screen recordings or tutorial-style videos.

What unique feature does Hazel offer for managing files on a Mac?

Hazel offers automated file organization by creating rules for moving files between folders. A standout feature is the 'App Sweep', which, when an app is deleted, helps in finding and removing all associated files scattered across the Mac's library and application support folders, ensuring a thorough cleanup.

How can Pastel improve workflow for those working with color palettes?

Pastel is an app that allows users to save and manage color palettes for brands or personal use, supporting hex and RGB values. Its unique feature includes analyzing images to identify dominant colors, which can then be saved into palettes, facilitating consistent color use across projects. It also syncs across iPhone and iPad apps.

What functionality does Screens Connect provide?

Screens Connect is a utility that, once installed on a Mac, enables users to remotely access their Mac from an iPhone or iPad through the Screens app. This functionality is useful for accessing files, applications, or even performing tasks on the Mac from anywhere, provided there's an internet connection.

How does Audio Hijack enhance audio recording and streaming on a Mac?

Audio Hijack offers flexible audio recording options, allowing users to capture audio from different sources like microphones, applications, or system audio into uncompressed WAV files. It features device input, level monitoring, and live streaming capabilities, making it versatile for professional audio production and monitoring.

What does Creator's Best Friend offer to video editors using Final Cut?

Creator's Best Friend simplifies the process of adding chapters to YouTube videos edited in Final Cut by allowing users to export marker data as an XML file. The utility parses this file to generate chapter timestamps and titles, which can be copied to the video description, streamlining the chapter creation process.

How does Fantastical enhance calendar management?

Fantastical is a calendar application that integrates into the Mac's menu bar, offering advanced features for scheduling and event management. It stands out for its user-friendly interface and powerful integration capabilities, making it a preferred choice for managing personal and professional schedules.

What benefits does TextExpander provide for generating content?

TextExpander allows users to create snippets for frequently used text or complex formats, enabling quick insertion with a short command. It's particularly useful for generating consistent ChatGPT prompts, YouTube titles, descriptions, and tags, enhancing productivity by reducing repetitive typing.

Describe the functionality of Forecast for podcasters.

Forecast is a free app that enables podcasters to add chapters and custom chapter artwork to their episodes. It automatically detects existing chapters and artwork but also allows for the manual addition of new chapters with timestamps and images, improving the listener's experience with well-organized content.

Outlines

00:00

🖥️ Essential Mac Apps for Enhanced Productivity

This segment introduces a curated list of 15 essential applications and utilities for Mac users aiming to boost productivity. It covers a diverse range of tools from a clipboard manager named PaySpot, which archives up to 1000 clipboard entries, to CleanShot X for advanced screen recording capabilities. Hazel, for automated file management, and Pastel for managing color palettes, are highlighted as indispensable for creative and organizational tasks. The utility Screens Connect is noted for remote desktop access, facilitating work from various locations. Additionally, Audio Hijack is recommended for its flexibility in audio recording and session management, demonstrating the creator's commitment to enhancing user experience across various tasks, from content creation to system organization.

05:03

📹 Content Creation Tools and Utilities

This section delves into tools specifically designed for content creators, emphasizing workflow optimization. Creator's Best Friend is introduced for efficiently managing YouTube chapter markers directly from Final Cut Pro, streamlining the video editing process. Fantastical is praised as an exceptional calendar app, vital for scheduling and time management. TextExpander's role in expediting repetitive typing tasks, especially for generating quick responses or prompts, is highlighted as a game-changer for productivity. Forecast, a podcasting tool by Marco Arment, is recommended for adding chapters and custom artwork to podcasts, underscoring its utility in professional content creation. Additionally, Transloader is noted for its convenience in transferring links or files across devices, enhancing the flexibility of content management across platforms.

10:04

🎚️ Advanced Productivity Apps and Mac Utilities

The final section introduces advanced utilities and applications that cater to niche but critical productivity needs. Companion, designed for Blackmagic ATEM switchers and Stream Deck, is lauded for its ability to streamline video production workflows. The spotlight shines on the underrated yet powerful capabilities of Spotlight for searching and shortcuts for automating repetitive tasks, showcasing their integral role in efficient Mac usage. This segment not only highlights lesser-known utilities but also encourages exploring Mac's built-in features to maximize productivity and streamline content creation processes.

Keywords

💡Clipboard Manager

A clipboard manager is a utility application that keeps track of the items you copy to your computer's clipboard. It allows you to access and paste previously copied items, making it easier to reuse text, images, or other data. In the video, the speaker mentions using 'PaySpot,' a clipboard manager that lives in the menu bar and saves up to 1000 clippings, allowing them to quickly access and paste previously copied content.

💡Screen Recorder

A screen recorder is a software application that captures video or images of your computer's screen activity. It allows you to record your desktop, specific windows, or portions of the screen to create tutorial videos, presentations, or share your work with others. In the video, the speaker uses 'CleanShot X,' a screen recording tool that runs in the menu bar, enabling them to quickly capture images or record the screen during events like Apple keynotes.

💡Automation

Automation refers to the process of using software or tools to perform tasks or workflows automatically, reducing the need for manual intervention. In the video, the speaker discusses using 'Hazel,' an automation utility that runs in the background and allows them to create rules for moving files based on specific criteria, such as file names or extensions. For example, the speaker sets up a rule to automatically move screenshots from the desktop to a dedicated folder.

💡Color Palette

A color palette is a collection of colors that work well together, often used in design, branding, or art projects. The video mentions 'Pastel,' an application that allows users to save and manage color palettes, copy hex or RGB values, and even extract dominant colors from images. This tool helps designers and artists streamline their workflow when working with color schemes and branding.

💡Remote Access

Remote access refers to the ability to control or access a computer or device from a different location over a network connection. In the video, the speaker discusses 'Screens Connect,' a utility that allows them to remotely control their Macs from an iPhone or iPad, whether on the same network or remotely. This feature enables the user to access and operate their computer from a mobile device, providing flexibility and convenience.

💡Audio Routing

Audio routing is the process of directing audio signals from various sources to different outputs or destinations. In the video, the speaker mentions 'Audio Hijack' and 'Loopback,' two applications that allow them to route audio between different devices, applications, and outputs on their Mac. For example, Audio Hijack can record audio from specific applications or devices, while Loopback can merge audio sources and route them to multiple outputs, providing flexibility for audio workflows.

💡Chapter Markers

Chapter markers are timestamps or labels used to divide videos or podcasts into sections or chapters. The video discusses a utility called 'Creator's Best Friend,' which helps the speaker expedite the process of creating chapter markers in Final Cut Pro. By exporting an XML file from Final Cut Pro, the utility generates chapter timestamps and titles that can be easily copied and pasted into the video or podcast description, enabling users to navigate and access specific sections of the content.

💡Text Expansion

Text expansion, also known as text replacement or abbreviation expansion, is a feature that allows users to create shortcut abbreviations that automatically expand into longer words, phrases, or predefined text snippets. In the video, the speaker uses 'TextExpander' to create shortcuts for common prompts when interacting with ChatGPT, allowing them to quickly paste predefined prompts and transcripts with a few keystrokes.

💡Podcast Chapters

Podcast chapters are a feature that allows podcast creators to divide their episodes into sections, similar to chapters in a book. The video introduces 'Forecast,' a free application that enables users to import podcasts and add timestamps, titles, and custom artwork for each chapter. This tool simplifies the process of creating and managing podcast chapters, providing listeners with a more structured and engaging listening experience.

💡File Sharing

File sharing refers to the process of transferring or exchanging files between devices or platforms. In the video, the speaker mentions 'Transloader,' an application that runs on their iPhone and Macs, allowing them to send links or files from one device to another. Depending on the type of file or link, Transloader can execute specific actions or rules on the receiving device, enabling seamless file sharing and automation across different platforms.

Highlights

PaySpot is a clipboard manager that lives in the menu bar of your Mac and saves up to 1000 clippings, allowing you to filter, sync across Macs, and set keyboard shortcuts.

CleanShot X is a screen recorder that allows you to capture images and record tutorial-style videos.

Hazel is an app that runs in the background and allows you to create rules for moving files, and can also remove all files associated with an uninstalled app.

Pastel is a must-have app for working with color palettes and branding, allowing you to save color palettes and import colors from images.

Screens Connect is a utility that allows you to remotely control your Mac from your iPhone or iPad, whether you're on the same network or remotely.

Audio Hijack is a flexible audio recording app that allows you to build sessions, record audio from devices or applications, and even live stream audio.

Loopback is a powerful application for routing audio across your Mac, allowing you to merge different sources into a single output.

Creator's Best Friend is a utility that helps expedite the chapter process in Final Cut by exporting an XML file with chapter timestamps and titles that can be added to your YouTube description.

Fantastical is a calendar application that lives in the menu bar, and is the best calendar application for Mac.

Text Expander is a utility that allows you to create snippets for quick chat GPT prompts, generating ideas, titles, and descriptions.

Forecast is a free app that allows you to add chapters and custom chapter artwork to your podcast episodes.

Transloader is an application that runs on your iPhone and Mac, allowing you to send links and files between devices and set up different rules and actions based on the type of file.

Companion is a utility that works with Blackmagic ATEM switchers and the Stream Deck, allowing you to program Stream Deck buttons to switch between cameras and enable picture-in-picture.

Spotlight is a powerful tool for finding files, contacts, travel information, and more on your Mac.

Shortcuts is a utility that lives in the menu bar and allows you to create shortcuts for various tasks, such as formatting show notes, accessing iCloud passwords, and converting HTML to rich text.

Transcripts

I still get most of my work done on a Mac.

And in this video,

I wanna share with you 15 applications and utilities

that I use to get things done.

Whether it's recording audio,

productivity apps that run in the background

like clipboard managers.

I'm gonna go through a lot of the apps

currently running in my menu bar.

And I could be wrong,

but I bet there's at least a few you have never heard of.

And if I miss your favorite Mac app,

leave them in the comments below.

Subscribe, let's jump into it.

First up is PaySpot.

This is a clipboard manager

that lives in the menu bar of your Mac.

And every time you copy something to your clipboard,

it saves it up here.

All of your past clippings,

able to save up to 1000 clippings

and has other options like filtering

over a certain file size.

You can enable iCloud sync across your Macs.

You can set keyboard shortcuts

so you can quickly paste your last 10 clippings.

And you can also blacklist certain maps

like key chain or one password.

So your sensitive data is never saved in PaySpot.

Now, number two, I'm using this right now is CleanShot X.

CleanShot X is my favorite screen recorder.

You can see right now it's running in my menu bar

telling me I've been recording for over eight minutes.

Clean Shot offers way-

I use this during Apple events to quickly capture images from the keynote so I can share

it on social media.

And if you do a lot of screen recordings or tutorial style videos, Clean Shot X is a must

have.

Number 3 is Hazel, this little broom icon here in the menu bar.

Hazel runs in the background and you can create rules for moving files back and forth.

And one of my favorite features of Hazel is when you delete

an app that wasn't installed via the Mac App Store.

You can choose to enable app sweep and even multi-user sweep.

And it will find all of those files in your Mac library, in the application support,

and we'll make sure to remove every file associated with that app.

For instance, maybe I want to create a rule that every time I take a screenshot,

those images are moved to this folder called screenshots.

Like an add a folder for Hazel to watch.

Here, I'm going to have it watching my desktop and then I'll create a new rule.

And I'm going to have two parts to this rule.

Contain screenshot and the other rule is the file extension is .png.

And if those two rules are met,

I want Hazel to move the file to the folder that I've now called screenshots.

I'll save this rule.

And now anytime I take a screenshot, you see, I just took a screenshot.

It appears down here in the bottom, right?

You can see it gets saved to my desktop and Hazel just moved it to my screenshots

folder because it followed both of those rules.

The word screenshot is in the file name and it ends in .png.

Number four is an app called

Pastel. If you work with any kind of color palettes or branding,

Pastel is a must-have. You can save color palettes, whether it's for a brand or just colors you refer to often,

and they're saved here and you can copy the hex value, RGB value, and a lot more. Plus, Pastel also

has an iPhone and iPad app, so you can build the same collections and they sync between your devices.

And a really cool feature is you can take any image, drag it into Pastel, and it will identify

the dominant colors, and you can import those colors into a palette. And now you have those

as hex and RGB values from an--

Number five, this is both a utility on the Mac

and an app on my iPhone, and that is Screens Connect.

Once you install this utility on your Mac

and you set it up, you might have to have

some custom settings depending on your network or router.

But once it's installed on your Mac,

I can have the Screens app on my iPhone or my iPad

and then remote into any of my Macs,

whether I'm at home on the network or remotely,

then I can control my Mac right here from my phone.

There's lots of VNC apps out there,

but I've been using Screens Connect for a long time.

You can use SSH tunneling. I love audio hijack because it's super flexible, lots of different options for building sessions,

right now I have a device input, a level monitoring block, and a recorder that this is creating an uncompressed WAV file, and those levels can actually be here in the menu bar,

so even if I'm on a different space, it's not the only one. And I love audio hijack because it's super flexible, lots of different options for building sessions,

right now I have a device input, a level monitoring block, and a recorder that this is creating an uncompressed WAV file,

and those levels can actually be here in the menu bar, so even if I'm on a different space, it's not the only one. You can also use SSH tunneling,

which is super flexible, lots of different options for building sessions, and also if you're on a different space, it's not the only one.

If you're on a different space here on my Mac, I can still keep an eye on my levels.

Plus, there's lots of powerful tools, like even live streaming your audio right from audio hijack, applying things like an EQ, boosting the volume,

and you can also record audio directly from an application on your Mac, as well as audio devices or system audio.

Oftentimes, I'll just trigger one of my audio hijack sessions from the menu bar, here I can see that my BT video session is currently running,

I've been recording for almost 17 minutes, and you can see I have sessions from my podcast, if I'm doing a riverside video,

and all of that is quickly accessible from that menu bar icon. They did not sponsor this video, but they did sponsor primary technology,

and so I'll put that link in promo code in the description if you want a discount. And the makers of audio hijack also makes an application called Loopback, and Loopback is a super powerful

application for routing audio across your Mac, especially if you're working with things like video switchers plus audio interfaces,

and you're wanting to route that audio to multiple outputs, merge different sources into a single output.

Loopback is an incredibly powerful tool, and when you combine Loopback with audio hijack, you're basically unstoppable.

for Final Cut that has helped me expedite my chapter process. Now when I'm making a video in Final Cut, I add markers whenever I want a chapter

marker. This way I can put that in the YouTube description. Whenever I create a

marker, I change it to the chapter style marker, label that chapter, and then once

I'm done editing my video, I can go up, export an XML file. This takes just a few

seconds, and this utility called Creator's Best Friend, it lives right up

here in Final Cut, or you can open just a standalone application. Then you can

click the XML file you just exported, and right here I have chapter timestamps and

titles. I can quickly copy this to my clipboard, put it in my YouTube video

description, and my chapters are done. I also add regular markers, non-chapter

markers, where I want to link videos for when I upload it to YouTube, and so you

can browse both the chapter markers, copy those to clipboard, or view other

markers. This way you can reference where you want to link those videos. Number

nine, you already know it's Fantastical. Fantastical lives right up here in my

menu bar at all times it's simply the best

calendar application I did an entire video just featuring fantastic al i'll link it above down in

the description and i'll know exactly where to put that flag in youtube because I used creator's

best friend with the marker anyway it all comes together if you want to learn more about fantastic

al you can check out that video here number 10 is a long-standing mac utility which is text

expander I use text expander for a lot of things one of the most recent use cases is for quick chat

gpt prompts so let's say I transcribe one of my videos I copy it to my clipboard then I have a

a text expander snippet.

And I do semicolon vgpt for video GPT, and it automatically pastes my prompt asking for a YouTube title, description, and tags.

And then if I had the entire transcript on my clipboard already, it'll put that automatically after the prompt with a quick text expander snippet.

And I have a bunch of these I use in chat GPT to quickly generate ideas, titles, and descriptions, and a bunch of things.

Next, if you're a podcaster and you want to be able to add chapters and custom chapter artwork throughout your episodes,

"Forecast" is a free app from Marco Armin, I'll put a link

Here I imported the latest episode of primary technology and it automatically brought in my

timestamps and custom chapter artwork. But if you didn't already have chapters,

you can hit the plus button down here, timestamp for when you want the chapter to change,

title that chapter, and then even upload an image, then you can have that nice custom

chapter artwork throughout your podcast. No matter where you edit it, you can put it together in

Forecast. Now this next app I can't speak too much about, just because what I use it for, it's...

I don't want to say too much. But anyway, Transloader is an application that I run

on my iPhone, and it's also running on all of my Macs here in the menu bar.

And basically what Transloader does is I can take any link, even if it's just from the share sheet,

here I am in YouTube, I can go to More, and you'll see Transloader is an option.

When I tap that app, I can then send it to any of my other Macs, like my Mac Studio.

I'll go to my Transloader app, you see it's sending that link to my Mac,

and then depending on the kind of link you're sending to your Mac,

you can set up different rules and actions, like if the file extension is X,

with a certain app, or even run a shortcut based on the link or file that you've sent to your Mac.

I'll have to let you imagine the possibilities you can do with Transloader,

or you can check out beard.fm because I have a video on it there.

Number 13 is a utility that runs in the background.

This is called Companion, specifically for Blackmagic ATEM switchers and the Stream Deck.

Companion is made by Bitfocus. You access it via IP address.

It can look a little complicated, but basically you can add Stream Deck surfaces.

Here I have my Stream Deck and my Stream Deck pedal.

And then I can program things on my Stream Deck like switching between cameras and I

can press the button on my Stream Deck and it switches my ATEM Mini Pro live.

I can even switch to a camera and then program picture-in-picture to activate all from my

Stream Deck.

Now yes, I could just move my ATEM Mini Pro to this side of the desk, although that would

take a lot of rewiring.

What I really like using it for is the Stream Deck pedal that I also have connected to my

Mac and now I can press the pedal and look, no hands.

You can see my video preview here.

I can switch between picture and picture.

and camera 1 and camera 2 with my foot.

I can even switch cameras and enable picture and picture

all from the Stream Deck pedal thanks to companion.

Alright, and the last two are not necessarily apps you install or have to download

but Spotlight, I use it all the time.

I've literally been using it to launch some of the apps in this video

and Spotlight is actually incredibly powerful not only to find contact information, files on your Mac

but also flight and travel information, weather and other locations, and a ton more.

I have an entire video on all

the powerful features of Spotlight both on your Mac and your iPhone. I'll link it above or in the

description. And of course, number 15, I have to include shortcuts. Shortcuts lives right here in

the menu bar for me and I have lots of shortcuts I use pretty often like Apple Frames for screenshots,

formatting primary technology show notes, even just accessing iCloud passwords because we don't

have a standalone app, quickly convert HTML to rich text, and I have shortcuts for formatting

the YouTube video descriptions both from my channel and Riverside. If you have followed my

channel at all you know I'm a huge shortcuts guy so if you want to learn

definitely subscribe to the channel hit that like button but I'll put a playlist

right up here from shortcuts 101 all the way to advanced automations and I did a

recent video on automations and shortcuts to help you save your iPhone

battery life I'll link that below and apparently YouTube thinks you really

love this video so you should check it out thanks for watching I'll catch you