Why Can't I Download Anything On My Mac UPDATED

Why Can't I Download Anything On My Mac

I'll be the first to admit that I don't usually like "list posts." Notwithstanding, when it comes to different apps to streamline my productivity, I definitely nerd out a footling bit. 🤓 I've spent hundreds of hours diving into betas, trials, etc. If an app saves me money or 20 clicks a 24-hour interval, I'm all for it! It'southward as well simply fun trying new software to run across how the developer approaches a trouble.

Another reason for this post is that visitors, friends, and even family are always asking me which apps I use for specific tasks. So to go on from repeating myself over and over, I've compiled a listing of what I think are the best Mac apps. I've also included some of the tweaks and settings I alter whenever I get a new Mac or reinstall macOS.

Hopefully, you'll find an awesome new Mac app or setting in this listing that volition help make your life easier!

  • Mac apps
  • Mac tweaks

Best Mac apps to make your life easier

I switched to Macs dorsum in 2018 afterwards using PCs exclusively for over 20 years. In 2013 I received the Microsoft MVP Laurels in the Windows Expert-Information technology Pro category. Then for most of my life, I've been knee-deep (more well-nigh) in the Microsoft world of Active Directory, SharePoint, Exchange, etc. Just Mac finally won me over.

The Mac apps below (listed in alphabetical social club) consist of costless and premium apps straight from the developer's website and apps from the Mac App Store.

While I always effort to back up developers where I tin, I practice prefer purchasing from the Mac App Store. This makes information technology super convenient to reinstall apps later down the road and saves a lot of time. For those of you lot who don't know, Apple takes a cut of the sale (xxx%) from developers when yous use the App Store.

M1: Optimized for Apple Silicon.
Rosetta ii: Not optimized still for Apple Silicon, but still runs via Rosetta 2.

  • 1Password (M1)
  • Affinity Designer (M1)
  • Alfred (M1)
  • Amphetamine (M1)
  • Backblaze (M1)
  • Bartender (M1)
  • Dato (M1)
  • ForkLift (M1)
  • Google Chrome (M1)
  • Grammarly (M1)
  • Hazel (M1)
  • IINA (M1)
  • Loom (M1)
  • Mimestream (M1)
  • NordVPN (M1)
  • Plex Media Server (Rosetta 2)
  • Rectangle (M1)
  • Slack (M1)
  • Snagit (M1)
  • Spotify (M1)
  • Sublime Merge (M1)
  • Sublime Text (M1)
  • The Unarchiver (M1)
  • Trello (Rosetta two)
  • Ulysses (M1)
  • Yoink (M1)

Some of these apps are also available for PC (Windows).

1Password (premium, M1 optimized)

Most people these days are using some type of countersign manager. Why is this important? Offset off, it helps to forbid from having to write them downwards anywhere. And 2nd,you should never use the same password twice, ever.

I have used 1Password for years now and love it. The Mac App is beautiful, along with nighttime way. Information technology besides supports one-time passwords, which means y'all tin can use it as a Google Authenticator alternative. This is important to me equally it ways I spend less time grabbing my phone.

Tip: I-time passwords, forth with an authenticator app, are always safer than SMS.

1Password'due south personal plan costs $2.99 a month (billed annually). They besides have a family plan available, which tin exist handy. Many of us know how difficult information technology is to become our parents to apply all-time practices when it comes to online security. 😉

1Password 7 dark mode on Mac
1Password 7 nighttime fashion on Mac (Image source: 1Password)

If y'all prefer something local that'southward not on the cloud; I also recommend the gratis MacPass app.

Affinity Designer (premium, M1 optimized)

Analogousness Designer is a vector graphics program developed past Serif for macOS. They also have a Windows version. I have used Affinity Designer for 4+ years to create all of the images you come across on this weblog, as well as my other sites.

I previously used Adobe Creative Deject. But running a small business organisation and having to pay for everything myself, was but too expensive. The Artistic Cloud costs $50+/month, and if I were to get Illustrator by itself, information technology would cost me $20+/calendar month. Affinity Designer is by far the best Adobe Illustrator alternative I've ever establish.

Affinity Designer
Affinity Designer

The best office about Affinity Designer is that information technology only costs $49.99. And it'south not a subscription, this is just a one-time purchase, and you lot get all the updates forever. It's available from the developer's website and the Mac App Shop.

Tip: For saving images for the spider web, the best color profile for Mac is sRGB IEC61966-2.one. In Analogousness Designer, y'all can find this under the "More" push button when you get to consign an image.

Mac sRGB IEC61966-2.1 color profile
Mac sRGB IEC61966-2.1 color profile

I also have a few Affinity Designer tutorials I'm working on. I recently published i on how to easily cut a shape out of another shape.

Alfred (free and premium, M1 optimized)

The Alfred Mac app is all about productivity! If y'all've always heard of a tool called TextExpander, this is that on steroids. You tin utilize it to speed up all sorts of tasks that you do regularly on the Mac.

I example, I use a lot of emojis when I'm writing and sharing on social media. I have hotkeys (or snippets equally Alfred calls them) so that I tin easily insert emojis every bit I write. For example, I can blazon :grinning: and information technology volition automatically catechumen into 😄. This works beyond the entire OS and other apps, it isn't just a browser extension.

Alfred Mac App
Alfred Mac App

You tin can employ Snippets for all sorts of things, such every bit oftentimes used sayings in an email or even to insert symbols. For example, when I'yard writing a tutorial and instructing someone how to navigate down a carte, I e'er use the → HTML symbol. Instead of looking that up each time, I simply use a snippet :htmlrightarrow:.

Mac has keyboard text shortcuts built into the Os. All the same, I've institute that these don't piece of work in every app, whereas snippets with the Alfred app practise.

In that location is both a gratuitous and premium version. The premium version though, is what actually gives you lot the most power. Information technology even has a 1Password integration. The premium version starts at £25.00, or you can become the lifetime version at £45.00. I ever prefer lifetime purchases if it's something of value to me. This way, I never have to worry near it again.

Another thing I use all the time is the reckoner integration. Mac has this ability out of the box with Spotlight, but Alfred takes information technology a niggling farther. Yous tin hit "Pick + Spacebar" on your Mac to launch a search box. Enter in a calculation and hitting enter. It will immediately copy it to your clipboard. I never have to use my mouse to do any math calculations. Quick and easy!

Calculations with Alfred Mac app
Calculations with Alfred Mac app

Amphetamine (free, M1 optimized)

Amphetamine is an awesome petty app that can keep your Mac awake. Information technology even works with Macbooks and keeps them awake when the chapeau is closed.

Why would you desire to do this? Here are a couple of ways I've used the app:

  • Maybe you are taking a break to piece of work out or catch a seize with teeth to eat, only you lot don't want Slack to go inactive. Yes, this is a piffling sneaky. But if you take your phone with you, it'south OK to move around a bit. Later all, that's the beauty of remote work. This lets your coworkers know yous are still bachelor, you simply might not exist at your desk.
  • I use Plex as a media server. It works dandy to stream currently cached content one time my Mac goes asleep. But grabbing new stuff relies on my Mac being awake. Amphetamine helps keep my Mac on during weekend rampage sessions.
  • Sometimes, I'll keep working in the evenings, but move to my couch in front of the TV. 🛋️ I'll play a few rounds of Xbox and work in between queueing for games. I apply Amphetamine to keep my laptop from going to sleep or turning off the display. This way I can go right dorsum to typing after I crush someone in Overwatch.
Amphetamine
Amphetamine

The programmer of this app is probably one of the virtually agile I've seen in the App store! He'south constantly pushing out new features and fixing bugs.

Backblaze (premium, M1 optimized)

Since I live in the Apple ecosystem and love it, I employ iCloud syncing across all of my devices. Notwithstanding, syncing and backups are ii very different things. iCloud is excellent, and I've only e'er had one result with information technology (iCloud syncing while traveling).

Beingness that I work on so many content-related projects, I'k always a little paranoid about what would happen if I lost everything.

That's where Backblaze comes into play. Backblaze is an automatic solution to fill-in your Mac or PC. You can literally have it up and going in a affair of a few minutes, and it'due south a set it and forget it type of deal.

Backblaze
Backblaze

Annotation: Depending on how much data you have, the first backup might take a while.

Backblaze keeps old file versions and deleted files for 30-days. The cost of Backblaze is $6/calendar month, but y'all can save money by purchasing a yearly or 2-year program. With a two-yr plan, you'll salvage $34.00. If you are worried about xxx days beingness too brusque, you tin besides extend the history to unlimited versions for an additional $2/month.

What I do is I but run Backblaze on my Mac mini. My MacBook Pro already syncs changes with iCloud (which become copied to my Mac mini), so at that place is no need to backup both. This helps me sleep a little easier at night, knowing I have an offsite backup of everything.

Bartender (premium, M1 optimized)

Bartender is an crawly piffling app that helps you organize your Mac menu bar. Without it, my bill of fare bar would exist in complete anarchy.

Before Bartender

Here is how my menu bar would look without Bartender. As you can meet, information technology's quite distracting with all the icons.

Mac menu bar without Bartender
Mac menu bar without Bartender

After Bartender

Here is how my menu bar looks with Bartender installed. Information technology's much cleaner. I also like how I can put the icons in the order that I want. Quick reveal and item spacing are two other features I actually like.

Mac menu bar with Bartender
Mac menu bar with Bartender

In that location are complimentary apps that exercise the same type of matter, but I've constitute that Bartender is an splendid app, doesn't hurt my Mac's performance, and the developer is very active. Information technology costs $xv.00.

Dato (premium, M1 optimized)

Dato is an crawly picayune Mac App that enables a amend carte du jour bar clock than the one that comes with macOS. This was a big pet peeve of mine when I first started using my Mac. I didn't empathise why I couldn't change the default clock to show the mean solar day, month, and fourth dimension. With Dato, you tin do this in a matter of seconds.

Dato Mac app
Dato Mac app

The app is just a 1-time cost of $2.99. The programmer is very agile and is continuously calculation new piffling features and integrations. For example, you lot can open calendar events from Google Calendar straight in Google Calendar. Or utilize the Zoom integration for meetings.

This is a must-accept Mac app!

And if you like tweaking your menu bar, Bartender is another Mac app you should check out.

ForkLift (premium, M1 optimized)

I've tried a dozen FTP clients over the years. But my favorite is by far ForkLift. Its dark manner looks cute on macOS, and out of the box works great with local file editing and syncing back changes to the server. Information technology'south as well actually fast! With other FTP clients like FileZilla, you lot get a filibuster when connecting to the server. At that place is none of that with ForkLift, just click and get.

ForkLift Mac app
ForkLift Mac app

You can endeavor ForkLift for complimentary, and a unmarried-user license starts at $29.95.

Google Chrome (costless, M1 optimized)

I'1000 one of those people that continuously bounciness around trying to run across if a new browser has managed to conquer the infamous Google Chrome. But equally of 2020, I'm still using Google Chrome as my main browser.

Google Chrome Mac app
Google Chrome Mac app

I do take to give a shout-out to Brave, as I well-nigh made a full motion over to it. It's encarmine fast, and their native ad-blocking functionality is the best I've always seen. Since information technology'due south based on the Chromium browser, being able to go along using all your favorite extensions gives it a competitive edge.

Even so, Brave has a huge problem. They haven't been able to get sync working from day 1. In fact, Dauntless pulled the sync functionality altogether from a recent release due to the fact there were so many bugs with it.

I don't demand a lot of things, but my bookmarks are one affair I rely on heavily in my browser. I bounciness a lot betwixt my Mac mini and my MacBook Pro. I need access to my bookmarks 24/7. Therefore, I'yard still rolling with Google Chrome. If you are curious, I use uBlock Origin for an ad blocker, as it doesn't hurt Chrome'southward performance.

I accept an upcoming mail on all the Google Chrome extensions and flags I love and use. Stay tuned for that.

Grammarly (free and premium, M1 optimized)

I've been producing content for well over a decade, but that doesn't mean I'1000 ever perfect at writing. In fact, as things go hectic, my writing tends to get a picayune sloppy. It too depends on the time I'm writing. If I happen to be in a good rhythm and writing late into the night/early forenoon, my grammar will gradually get worse as I get tired.

That'south where Grammarly saves the twenty-four hours. I don't use Grammarly to learn how to write; instead, I use it primarily to mistake-bank check my content.

Grammarly Mac app
Grammarly Mac app

There is both a free and premium version of Grammarly. The premium version gives yous vocabulary enhancements, additional writing style checks, plagiarism detection, and a few other things. It starts at $12.00/month, or yous can pay for a year at $139.95.

There are a few different ways you tin use Grammarly.

  1. You can use the Grammarly Desktop app. This is fully optimized for Apple Silicon (M1) and works at the Os level. The cool thing virtually this is that it now works in all apps similar Mimestream, Ulysses, etc.
  2. At that place is a gratuitous Google Chrome extension.
  3. I also create a Chrome spider web app (seen above) with Grammarly when I desire to write a few quick paragraphs.

There are other alternatives out there, just Grammarly is in my opinion, one of the all-time.

Hazel (premium, M1 optimized)

Hazel is a pocket-sized, lightweight system app for the Mac. There are a lot of things you tin can do with this, merely I use it to go along my desktop clean. I always relieve temporary files to the desktop. Don't inquire why; it'due south but a bad habit I've adult. With Hazel, I tin automatically clean up my Mac's desktop on a regular schedule.

If y'all want to ready the same rule I'one thousand using, hither are the settings:

  • Ifall of the following weather are met
  • "Date Last Modified" "is not in the last"2 "days"

Do the following to the matched file or binder:

  • "Movement" to folder: "Trash."
Hazel Mac app
Hazel Mac app

The unmarried license costs $32.00. But this license allows y'all to use Hazel on up to two machines. So if you are on a Mac mini and a MacBook Pro, yous tin can replicate this productivity hack beyond both as I do.

Another great niggling trick is you tin use Hazel to automatically convert downloaded WebP files to PNG.

IINA (gratuitous, M1 optimized)

IINA is a free and open-source media player for macOS. Information technology has dark mode and looks beautiful if you compare it side by side with other alternatives such equally VLC. It'south only about two years old, and I have been using it since its early on beta days. Another great feature is picture-in-picture which I use daily.

IINA
IINA

Loom (costless and premium, M1 optimized)

I'm not a video editor and don't want to be one. Working on a multitude of different projects, I need tools that are easy and fast to use. Loom is past far ane of the easiest means to record your screen (and yourself if you want).

I utilize Loom for a couple of projects correct now, mainly consisting of reviews and tutorials. You can download your videos to .MP4 format in a matter of seconds to and so upload to YouTube.

Loom Mac app
Loom Mac app (Image source: Loom)

In that location is both a free and pro version. The pro version allows y'all to record upwardly to 4K quality on the Mac, and y'all tin access an unlimited number of videos.

Mimestream (free while in beta, M1 optimized)

I'm a heavy user of Gmail (technically G Suite) for both my personal and business emails. It's something that just works all the time and helps me stay on peak of everything. All the same, I e'er have too many tabs open, so I prefer a native and defended electronic mail customer. That's where Mimestream comes into play.

Tip: If you are in the United states of america, email me for a special 20% off promo code for your entire first year of G Suite.

Mimestream Mac app
Mimestream Mac app

I've literally tried every alternative Gmail and email client out in that location including Spark, Airmail, Canary, Polymail, Boxy Suite, Kiwi for Gmail, Wavebox, Missive, Postbox, macOS Mail, and Mailspring. They were all missing certain features I needed. I was using Mailplane for a while, but this is no longer bachelor. Mimestream now checks all these boxes.

Why is Mimestream so groovy? Here's why:

  • It's a native macOS app that is optimized for Apple Silicon processors (M1). It'south insanely fast!
  • Information technology has the nigh cute night mode I've seen to date for an electronic mail customer. In fact, I would get as far equally saying it'due south the most well-designed Mac app I have installed, menses.
  • Being a native app, I tin pivot it to my dock and don't have to keep Gmail open in my browser.
  • You lot tin can add multiple Gmail accounts easily and toggle between them or come across everything at one time.
  • You tin add the "Send and Archive" 1-click push. This is something I can't live without.
  • With the new native OS updates from Grammarly, it at present works for grammar checking in Mimestream. 🥳
  • You can set it as your default email client, and it works with mailto links.
  • Neil Jhaveri, the developer, spent 7+ years working on Apple's Mail client. So there is nobody that knows this space better. He'southward very responsive and has added/fixed a few things that I reported.
  • Mimestream is simply focused on Gmail and does everything with Google's APIs. Whereas some other clients likewise try supporting SMTP, etc. Mimestream is focused on doing one affair actually well.

Trust me; if y'all're a Gmail or G Suite user,this one app will modify your life. Right at present, it's completely free while in beta.

NordVPN (premium, M1 optimized)

Whenever I'm traveling or fifty-fifty only sitting in a coffee store, I always burn down up my VPN (virtual private network) app. A VPN hides your IP accost and encrypts all the data you send or receive. This is especially of import when you are connecting over a public hotspot, say in Starbucks, or a hotel room Wifi. It will assist proceed anyone from intercepting your private information.

There are a lot of different VPN apps out there, and to be honest, virtually of them are pretty similar. I've been using NordVPN for years. The speed is bang-up, I love the UI of the apps, and have never had any issues with it. I've used it successfully all over the United States, Republic of hungary, and Kingdom of spain.

NordVPN Mac app
NordVPN app (Image source: NordVPN)

NordVPN works on pretty much all platforms, including macOS, iOS, Windows, Linux, and Android. You can install it on upwards to 6 devices.

Y'all can grab a 3-year plan for $125.00 (around $3.49/month). They besides accept a 30-day coin-back guarantee. I always advise giving information technology a endeavour first to brand sure it volition piece of work with your setup.

Plex Media Server (free, Rosetta 2)

If you practice anything with an amusement system in your house, there is no meliorate app out there than Plex Media Server. I've used Plex for over eight years, and information technology simply keeps getting improve. Information technology'due south completely gratis, and it makes it super easy to stream content from your Mac to your Goggle box or another device like Apple TV.

Equally their catchphrase says, "Stream Smarter."

Plex Media Server
Plex Media Server

Rectangle (free, M1 optimized)

Rectangle is a must-take app that allows you to easily rearrange your windows with hotkeys and snapping. If you're coming from a PC (Windows), this makes the transition to a Mac a lot easier. Information technology'due south completely free, open source, and the developer is very active.

Rectangle Mac app
Rectangle Mac app

Slack (complimentary and premium, M1 optimized)

I've worked from home since 2015, so using apps with a squad for communicating is kind of second nature at this point. I've tried a couple, and Slack is notwithstanding by far, my favorite. Right at present, it's but myself and my brother, but Slack makes it super like shooting fish in a barrel to chat about tasks we are working on. Video calling is also super slick.

Slack Mac app
Slack Mac app

Hither are a couple of handy Slack apps/integrations/plugins:

  • Slack for Gmail: Easily bring an email into a Slack aqueduct to start a conversation near it.
  • updown.io: Go notifications near downtime on your websites correct into Slack. Check out my review of the updown.io tool.
  • Slack for EDD: Get notifications about new sales from Easy Digital Downloads store.
  • RSS feeds for Slack: Fix channels with subscriptions to specified RSS feeds.

I'm a massive fan of the Monokai theme. I've created a few Slack themes y'all can use.

Monokai Octagon Light Slack theme

#1E1F2C,#191E2A,#282A3A,#FFCC66,#282A3A,#E8E8E8,#A9CC49,#FF964F

Monokai Octagon Dark Slack theme

#1B1D21,#23262B,#282B30,#FFCC66,#282B30,#E8E8E8,#A9CC49,#FF964F

Snagit (premium, M1 optimized)

Taking screenshots is almost a way of life in my piece of work. No matter what type of content I'1000 producing, I'1000 always taking screenshots. I've tried probably xxx+ different screenshot tools over the years—way more than I'm proud to admit.

For the past couple of years, I've been using Snagit. It's by far the near powerful and customizable screenshot solution I've found. Things like changing the size, colour, etc. of your arrows are important for branding.

The color of my screenshots is very important. Some tiptop-rated screenshot tools I've tried in the past don't convert images to the sRGB color profile. This results in dull-looking colors. Snagit does this for y'all automatically! Your screenshots will ever look the same regardless of the monitor, computer, or Bone you're using.

Snagit
Snagit

Snagit does everything right. The developers are very active and continuously improving the app. A few features I utilize every day and like:

  • Contempo library of snapshots. I'm constantly grabbing screenshots from a few hours before.
  • Customizations of things like arrows for screenshots. You can change the opacity, color, width, style, start size, and end size. You tin can also relieve commonly used settings. So I have palettes for my different brands.
  • Standard features such blur, text tool, cropping, steps, etc.
  • Scrolling screenshot capture.
  • Neat GIF and MP4 video capture.
  • Ability to prepare presets and alter your shortcut keys.

Spotify (gratis and premium, M1 optimized)

Over the years, I've used Apple tree Music, Google Play Music, and even Amazon. Simply I always come back to Spotify. In terms of generating new recommendations, Spotify is, in my opinion, the best. The Spotify Mac app is awesome and works bang-up beyond all devices and platforms.

Spotify Mac app
Spotify Mac app

Working from home, I have Spotify running almost 24/7. In 2019, I listened to 23,035 minutes of music. Synthwave especially helps me write and gets my artistic juices flowing.

Spotify wrapped
Spotify Wrapped

If you are using Spotify premium, you lot will want to change the default quality settings. Become to "Preferences → Music Quality" and modify the stream quality to "Very High."

Make sure to besides check out my blog mail service on how to go a Spotify premium yearly subscription and save $32.

Sublime Merge (costless and premium, M1 optimized)

If yous are a developer and looking for a good Git client, wait no further than Sublime Merge. I previously used GitHub Desktop, which worked fine, but Sublime Merge is and so much better. It features a snappy UI, three-mode merge tool, side-by-side diffs, syntax highlighting, and more.

Sublime Merge Mac app
Sublime Merge

There is both a free and premium version. In fact, you tin can evaluate it for free forever. A premium license costs $99.00, which comes with iii years of updates and support. Licenses are per-user, then y'all tin employ one license on all the computers you own.

Sublime Text (free and premium, M1 optimized)

There are a lot of excellent text and code editors out in that location, and in my opinion, it's best to simply find the one that works best for your workflow.

I've used Notepad++ (dorsum when I was on a PC), Cantlet, Visual Studio Lawmaking, etc. But none of these are perfect. The UI of Notepad++ was never great, and Atom has some operation issues on Mac. It'due south not meant to exist a text editor that you leave open, and the developers take acknowledged that.

Therefore, I ever come dorsum to using Sublime Text.

Sublime Text
Sublime Text

There are iii things I dear about it.

  1. You can have 100 tabs open and leave it open and running for months, and it will never slow your computer down.
  2. The UI of Sublime is fantastic. I extend it with the Monokai Pro colour scheme. Call back, I also customized a Slack theme around this same color palette that you can employ.
  3. If you are already using Sublime Merge, billowy betwixt the 2 apps feels natural and smooth.

Just like with Sublime Merge, Sublime Text has a free evaluation version and a premium version that costs $fourscore.00. I proudly support the developers of both of these apps.

The Unarchiver (free, M1 optimized)

The Unarchiver is a small-scale and lightweight Mac app to open up any type of archive file, such as RAR, Zippo, Tar, 7z, etc. It'southward a lot more powerful than the native macOS utility. And it'southward completely free!

The Unarchiver
The Unarchiver Mac app

Trello (free and premium, Rosetta ii)

My daily workflow, regardless of the job, e'er consists of trying to get as many tasks washed as possible. Whenever I have an idea for a new content piece or task, I immediately write it down, and then I don't forget it. Where do I keep track of all this? One give-and-take: Trello.

Trello is an excellent little app that allows y'all to organize your projects and tasks with Kanban boards (typically meaning you work from left to correct). I've tried many alternatives; Notion, ClickUp, Redbooth, Basecamp, Asana, Monday.com, Todoist, and more. Run across my deep dive into project management software.

The reason I e'er come back to Trello is because of the beautify in its simplicity. I've found myself wasting time in similar apps, using all their nifty features, when all I should be doing is working on my job.

Trello Mac app
Trello Mac app (Epitome source: Trello)

The free version of Trello lets you lot have an unlimited number of boards, cards, and lists. If yous demand things like ability-ups, templates, etc. you will want to use the premium version starting at $ix.99 per user per month.

Here are a few ability-ups I use:

  • Custom Fields: Put search volume data on each topic/card.
  • Slack: Send Trello cards to a Slack channel or DM.
  • Confluence Cloud: Attach Confluence Deject pages to Trello cards.
  • Menu Repeater: Put regular tasks on echo. Slap-up for weekly newsletters.

There is, still, one fiddling annoying matter with the Mac app, and that is the default Trello icon. Look beneath. Detect anything just slightly off?

Mac icons next to the horrible default Trello icon
Mac icons side by side to the horrible default Trello icon

That'south correct. The default Trello icon on the Mac is slanted, and there is no way to alter it. I know I'm a footling OCD, but this is just a weird design decision. Not a single icon on my Mac is slanted, so this looks out of place.

Thankfully I'yard not the simply one that thinks so! Rob Scholten created this amazing Trello replacement icon y'all can download for free.

To supplant the icon on your Mac, scan to your applications folder. Right-click on "Trello" and click "Become Info." Then drag the trello.icns file on top of the Trello icon at the very top. You will then need to close Trello, remove it from your Dock, and open information technology again from the Applications folder.

Hither is what it looks like with the new Trello icon.

Mac icons next to the new Trello icon
Mac icons next to the new Trello icon

Note: Whenever Trello pushes out an update, they override the icon. So go on the icon file handy to replace information technology.

Ulysses (premium, M1 optimized)

Ulysses is 1 of my favorite and near used Mac apps for distraction-free writing. In fact, I wrote this unabridged blog post in Ulysses. It looks groovy, feels amazing, and makes writing fun again! I've tried other alternatives such as Bear and AI Writer. They are good, but Ulysses has more customization.

Don't get me incorrect, I like the new WordPress block editor, but I move my content in there when I'chiliad all washed. The great thing is that there is no extra junk added when copy-pasting straight from Ulysses into the WordPress editor. And with Grammarly'south new updates, information technology besides works for grammar checking inside of Ulysses.

Ulysses Mac writing app
Ulysses Mac writing app

Ulysses is a premium app and costs $49.99 per yr. If yous're using the app every day, it's a good investment. I've used Ulysses for hundreds if not thousands of hours. It's really well supported, regularly updated, and supports automatic syncing across all of your devices. I ofttimes bounce effectually devices and have never one time had an issue.

A few other features I like in Ulysses:

  • Dark way is beautiful and it supports system fonts.
  • Available offline.
  • Different icons for organizing sections and groups.
  • Various file export options such as HTML, DOCX, PDF, etc.
  • Themes are completely customizable.
  • Links look not bad and you lot tin can add together captions on images.
  • Easy export to WordPress.

Make sure to check out my in-depth review of Ulysses.

For documentation in regards to my business, I as well heavily use Confluence. They don't accept a Mac app yet, but at that place is an effect opened to assemble interest: CONFCLOUD-68826 . If you are a Confluence and Mac user, make certain to throw it a vote. 😉

Yoink (premium, M1 optimized)

Yoink is a neat little Mac app that acts as a temporary shelf for your files. It basically takes drag and driblet to the next level. Here's how it works.

  1. Drag the file you desire to move or re-create to Yoink on the side of your monitor.
  2. Navigate to where y'all want to re-create/move the file.
  3. Elevate the file out of Yoink to where information technology's supposed to go.

Yoink + Affinity Designer is a great combination. The app costs $7.99.

There is one affair you lot will want to modify. In the app settings under behavior, alter the default to "when dragging to the edge of the screen." You tin can also add together ignored applications which comes in very handy on laptop screens where it might trigger by accident.

Yoink Mac app
Yoink Mac app

There is another app called Paste which is like to this, but it doesn't work when dragging certain file type types across, such as .SVG files. This is a deal-breaker for me, I just need all file types to work. Yoink is great at this!

Mac and app tweaks

Beneath is a list of settings I apply to configure my Macs on a fresh install. I thought sharing these might aid out a few folks. Obviously some of these are going to exist based on your personal preference, but peradventure y'all'll detect a few settings y'all didn't know existed.

MacOS tweaks

The very first thing I practice is turn off wallpaper tinting (this is only applicable on MacOS Big Sur). If you have a colorful or vivid wallpaper, dark mode actually won't exist as dark as it should unless you take this turned off. Much easier on the eyes.

Uncheck "Allow wallpaper tinting in windows"
Uncheck "Allow wallpaper tinting in windows"
  • Sign in to Apple ID and uncheck "Optimize Mac Storage." This gives me the full contents of iCloud on my computers.
  • Under "Mouse" uncheck "Coil direction: Natural." Coming from Windows this was something that ever annoyed me.
  • Under "Accessibility → Display → Cursor" uncheck "Milkshake mouse pointer to locate." Don't even know why this is an pick.
  • Under "Keyboard → Input Sources" uncheck "Prove input menu in menu bar."
  • Under "Dock Preferences" change "Minimize window using" to Scale event.
  • Under "Dock Preferences" uncheck "Show recent applications in Dock."
  • Under "Dock Preferences" check "Minimize windows into application icon."
  • Mac mini: Under "Keyboard → Modifier keys" change the following keys:
    • Role Key to Command
    • Control Key to Control
  • MacBook: Under "Keyboard → Modifier keys" alter the following keys:
    • Command Key to Command
    • Command Cardinal to Control
  • Under "Arrangement Preferences → Keyboard → Text → uncheck "Add period with double-space."
  • Under "System Preferences → General" change "Prove show ringlet bars" to "Ever." This will overstate the size of the scroll bar.
  • Nether "About This Mac → Storage → Manage" turn on the option to empty the trash automatically after items have been it for more than xxx days.
  • Under "About This Mac → Storage → Manage" remove the 2 GB worth of GarageBand music files and delete GarageBand.

App tweaks

Below are some settings that I modify on popular apps that I apply.

1Password 7

  • Uncheck show autofill carte on field focus in the browser extension.

Alfred

  • Bespeak to preferences folder.

Google Chrome

  • Nether Sync and Google Services, uncheck "Autocomplete searches and URLs."
  • Enable the post-obit Chrome flag to show the total URL.
chrome://flags/ #omnibox -context-card-prove-full-urls

Safari

  • Under "Preferences → Avant-garde" cheque "Prove full website accost.
  • Under "Tabs" cheque "Prove website icons in tabs."
  • Under "General" set up the Homepage to https://google.com/
  • Under "Autofill" uncheck everything.

Slack

  • Change default font.
/slackfont system-ui

Spotify

  • Change the music quality of streaming to "Very Loftier."

Snagit

  • Modify autosave location to iCloud synced binder to access .snagproj files beyond all devices.

Sublime Text

Change user preferences of Monokai Pro Sublime Text theme. Yous can download Apple'south SF Pro font.

"font_size": 17, "font_face": "SF Pro Regular", "monokai_pro_style_title_bar": truthful,

Summary

That's all for now! Hopefully y'all've found something useful that tin can assist improve your workflow. Make sure to bookmark this equally I will be continually calculation to it as I find new helpful Mac apps.

I would love to hear from you guys! Are in that location whatever awesome apps that I missed? Drop them below in the comments. I can hope you that I will enjoy checking them out. 😄

DOWNLOAD HERE

Posted by: paynedebound.blogspot.com

Iklan Atas Artikel

Iklan Tengah Artikel 1

Iklan Tengah Artikel 2

Iklan Bawah Artikel