The holy grail of productivity. Being able to perform the maximum number of tasks with the minimum number of clicks, having everything at your fingertips, just one step away. This is what I achieved with these two applications for macOS, Rectangle and Raycast. Both are free, although the first allows donations and the second has a “Pro” mode.
And both exist so that working or simply navigating between applications and searching for things in the system is much easier, much more agile and intuitive. Apple, take note as you did with “Diario”.
RectangleApp, shortcuts between windows to forget about the Magic Mouse
If you work on a Macbook with a small screen, you already know what’s going on. And even more so those who have several applications open at the same time, out of necessity, and have to switch from one to the other without stopping. Managing Windows on macOS is still a headache: if some eat others, you cannot adjust them to a predetermined width, some on the side, others above, others below… and if you have also installed an external monitor, management can be quite troublesome. Although I recognize that macOS Sonoma has taken some steps in the right direction.
Rectangle solves this problem on the fly. This app exists so we can move. Resize any window using only keyboard shortcuts. Allows over 30 adjustments without having to touch the mouse or touchpad. A worthy successor to Spectacle Mac, but better. Actually, When you pin one, you are allowed to choose another additional window to fill the free screen space., as if you were on an iPad, without having to swipe, in an automated way. A blessing, truly.
Raycast, the all-in-one Spotlight
What is Raycast? Well, for many, it is the best application that exists on Mac. Let’s say that from time to time you use Mac Spotlight. So far it is a universal search engine to find files or applications that you have on your internal disk. However, sometimes this function is not enough and you would like to be able to translate a sentence or perform an arithmetic operation directly from this bar. Well, that’s what Raycast does, integrates extensions created by both the developer and the community so that every time you use Spotlight you can find whatever you’re looking for.
And when we say something, it’s not a grandiloquent way of speaking. Raycast is actually a launcher capable of giving you access to your notes or reminders to edit them, your travels with Apple Maps, clipboard history, you can ask it to create tasks, install applications… After all, Raycast is activated with the usual keyboard commands (cmd + option), so with this simple shortcut, without changing anything in the macOS interface, you gain additional immediacy.
To use Raycast, simply download the app, open it from your apps folder (telling Apple that it’s a secure app, as always) and grant it permissions to use it when using Spotlight, as an assigned command. But of course, the real power of this service lies in its “Pro” mode, which includes Raycast AI, an added layer of power when using a version of ChatGPT 3.5 built into your system. The app learns from you and determines what your favorite apps and needs are, so you have them at your fingertips. It allows you, for example, to run and edit Todoist from anywhere on your computer.
This edition prime It also allows you to modify many parameters and settings of the service. I use it to calculate everything from simple sums to currency exchanges, and I don’t need anything else either.. If this is your case, the free version will be very useful to you.
In general, it is an application that I can no longer consider other than “essential”, which synchronizes with iCloud to have the same if you work with several Macs, which allows you to create your own organization, install certificates and lots of extra features for the most control freaks. In short, for a minimum load —It weighs 123 MB and its presence is negligible in the performance of the device.— I guarantee a much more agile way of working.
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