Useful utilities
As I am still really getting to grips with the Mac I look for ways to personalise it and make it for the way I want to work.
One thing I missed from Windows is the ability to snap applications to the side of the screen letting you display two or more side-by-side.
I had found a freeware utility but it was a bit buggy so bought Magnet from the App Store. At only 99p it is an absolute bargain letting you snap windows in position with the mouse/track pad like Windows but also define hot keys as well.
I had heard about Caffeine, a little tool to stop your Mac going to sleep but it doesn't look to be available in the UK App Store.
A free alternative available here is the unfortunately named Amphetamine which lets you specify a length of time that your device will ignore power saving rules. A quick keyboard shortcut to toggle it on and off and you don't have to keep tapping the trackpad.
I had previously looked at clipboard managers on my phone but it found a solution I really liked. For the Mac, however, I have found Clipy which is really lightweight tool for copying multiple items and easily selecting which one to paste with a handy keyboard shortcut.
I had, of course, heard about Alfred but I'm in a similar position to where I was with Workflow on the phone: I don't yet know how I would use it.
All the good stuff is in the Powerpack but £19 is a lot for something you don't even know you're going to use. Without the Powerpack you just have a Spotlight alternative without the integration into various apps. It looks better but doesn't do as much.
LaunchBar is another interesting alternative but, again, I don't know how much I'd use it.
I'm getting there.
@colinwalker I've found Alfred to be invaluable. It handles: clipboard manager, text snippet expansion, and of course app launching, etc. Workflows are complex but nifty. I'm hobbled without it.
@jack I'd probably be the same once I got going but it's finding that initial reason ;)
@jack @colinwalker I'm the same with Launchbar. I've used it for years and it's the first thing I install on any new Mac.
@colinwalker There are many ways to do it, but you can run the caffeinate terminal command straight from Alfred. I've aliased in my .bashrc so all I have to type is "cmd-space; ! stayawake". Simpler than a GUI utility.
@Bruce I've got hotkeys assigned so don't need to bother with the GUI - one to start and one to stop. Nice and easy. Don't you need the Powerpack for Alfred for that?
@colinwalker the power pack is worth it, just for the fun of scripting things. It also seems to get new features quite regularly. Lovely app.
@colinwalker Maybe? Can't quite tell from their website. I got the lifetime upgrade to Powerpack awhile ago and have forgotten which features are exclusive to it.
@colinwalker Actually, now that I look again, it does require the Powerpack. One demerit for my reading comprehension. ;)
@Bruce ?
@colinwalker if you are cozy in the command line, or at least not adverse to opening it take a look at
caffeinate, all Macs ship with their own version of Caffeine baked right in!@colinwalker here's a link to the man page for caffeinate!
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When looking at some utilities for the MacBook I mentioned using Amphetamine to temporarily stop it from sleeping with keyboard shortcuts. The helpful comments on that post gave alternatives including just using the 'caffeinate' command from Terminal and forms of automation such as Alfred. While doing a bit of digging I came across the little tool "iCanHazShortcut" which lets you assign keyboard shortcuts to anything that can be run from Terminal.
Goodbye Amphetamine, hello ICHS! I now have: ⌥ + ⌘ + = for:
caffeinate -dt 3600⌥ + ⌘ + ← for:killall caffeinateIt's more flexible and I don't need to have the icon in the menu bar.