March 2001 || Volume 01, Issue 08

The Macintosh Productivity Toolbox

I like to compare using PC's to hammering a nail with your forehead. You CAN do it, but it just doesn't feel right! One of the great things about using a Mac is not only the intuitiveness of the operating system but the caliber of developers that it attracts. These scores of very talented programmers, whose names are barely known, create very clever applications that make our lives simpler and our Mac's better. They create applications that fill small needs, but fill them well and are useful additions to your daily Macintosh toolbox. This article focuses some little gems that I have found, that for little or no cost and modest system requirements, fill niches that can make your life easier.

Sometimes a Little Goes a Long Way!

What do you do when you need to type a quick list but you need a bit of formatting... when SimpleText is just too simple and MS Word is overkill? If you're like me, you end up launching Word and strengthening Microsoft's stranglehold on the Mac community. That was until I discovered Transtex Software's Tex-Edit plus. A wonderful shareware text editing application, with powerful features, that fills the niche between SimpleText and Microsoft Word with elegance, class and style! Aside from being extremely affordable, there are loads of third party AppleScripts available at Transtex' AppleScript Archive for Tex-Edit Plus. Wondering how to integrate the scripts into your life or having problems finding or getting a script to run? Malcolm Adams, creator of TexEdit, one of the friendliest shareware developers I have ever met, has never been too busy to answer a question via email and point me in the right direction. For an added treat, download the application and run the AppleScript demo and I guarantee you will stare at your screen and say "COOL!!!"

Whoa! Back Up There!

Every one of us backs up on a regular basis right? Practically every computing book, troubleshooting site and technology guru, geek and sage says to their flock "make sure you back up to avoid data loss!" I will be the first to admit that I HATE BACKING UP!!! So like many, I ignored the warnings and hoped that my data stood happy and safe on my Mac. That is, until I ran across Randall Voth's wonderful backup synchronization utility, Synk. Extremely simple to set up and run, Sync takes the chore out of backing up on a regular basis. In fact, once you initially configure it, all you have to do is to double click, walk away and return to your Mac confident in the knowledge that your important data is backed up.

Set up your backups in a few simple steps.

And once configured, regular backups are just a double-click away.

MacDICT and POPThing

Both from Baines Software, are two other very useful freeware utilities I use on a regular basis. MacDICT is a dictionary (DICT) client that lets you access a number of databases available online and quickly find definitions or even translate entire passages from and into multiple languages. If I run across a word, whose definition or spelling I can't recall I fire up MacDict and can even copy and paste the results into a document or E-mail.

Just enter a term to define or translate.

Then select a dictionary database.

And a definition is a click away.

POPThing is a handy utility that notifies you of new mail, lets you view and delete email messages and spam without having to launch a large program. I find it especially useful for those times I want to check my email but don't want to launch a large email program. You can even configure POPThing to check your account at regular intervals, while running in the background.

You can configure POPThing to run in the background and check your mail at regular intervals.

You're notified of new messages.

And can read, delete and reply to them without ever launching your email program.

AddressPad, ePress and Internet Launcher

All by Gabriele de Simone are three other very cool and free applications.

Address Pad is a simple and free contact manager that helps you manage addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and your contacts URL's without making you resort to complex, cluttered and expensive applications. It's fast, has modest memory requirements, and the URL's and email fields are hyperlinked for easy access.

Address Pad in action.

ePress (currently a Mac only application) lets you create stand-alone electronic business cards (eCards), which can be easily shared with other Mac users. Even though it's a Mac only application, you can take a screenshot of your card and save it as a Bitmap image to share with any PC friends. The interface takes a little getting used to and in no time, you too can create attractive eCards quickly and easily. Are you interested in viewing a working sample? Then feel free to download my eCard.

The ePress interface

You can create cool eCards

Internet Launcher is a URL launching utility which can save URL's in Netscape, Internet Explorer and Mac OS 8.5 formats, and lets you create stand-alone Internet Shortcuts. Do you remember Apple's Internet Launcher? Well this application replaces it and actually works! If you need to visit a URL and don't want to wait for your Browser to launch, just click on Internet Launcher and your you're off and running.

Launch any URL or email address.

Or save your favorite URL's in multiple formats.

Link, Don't Panic!

If you're like me, you have ton's of un-visited URL's. Panic Software's free and very cool scratchpad for links, LinkPad lets you archive bookmarks for future reference, launch them directly from the main window and keeps you keep track of visited links. Tip: You can create a folder named URL's to visit, deposit your bookmarks and drag them to LinkPad. Then all you need to do is to launch LinkPad and visit the sites at your leisure.

Keeping track of URL's to visit is as simple as dragging them into LinkPad's main window.

Save Those Emails!

E-mail is a way of life for me and I regularly amass hundreds of them, [Editor's Note: Try running a magazine and see how many you amass.] but don't like to delete them all (you never know when you might need that bit (or byte) of information) but know that OE's performance decreases exponentially the more emails I have in my mailbox folders. A good solution if you use Outlook Express, is to create an "Archive E-mail folder" with a descriptive stamp (refer to the TetsubinStamp tip below). And then just drag your emails from your OE mailbox folders to create email archives that can be indexed, searched (using Sherlock's Index feature) and saved for future reference.

Just drag your E-mails from Outlook Express

Drop them into a folder

And index them or back them up for future reference.

Keeping Track

Portent Software's Disktracker is a shareware disk cataloging and labeling system with an extremely intuitive user interface and a many useful features. It lets you catalog, archive and search any type of removable media (.Zip CD's, Floppies (if you still use them), even entire Hard Drives without having to have them mounted on your desktop. This application takes the guesswork out of finding files you archive on CD-ROM's.

Keeping track of archives using DiskTracker's Finder like interface.

Track Your IP

If you have a dynamic IP address, you'll definitely be able get plenty of use out of Michael Coffey's freeware application, Lucky Numbers. With it, you can display your current IP address, copy it to your clipboard for easy pasting, and keep track of your IP addresses using its built in IP log feature.

LuckyNumber's main window

Mount It!

Horst Pralow's freeware control panel Mt. Everything lets you quickly and easily mount your your SCSI devices without having to reboot and gives you valuable information on the status of your SCSI bus, to boot.

Mt. Everything lets you pretty much mount everything.

Dock Those Apps

Drag Thing by James Tomson (not to be confused with DragStrip), is a highly customizable shareware dock application designed to tidy up the icons littering your desktop. Just drag an application, document, or folder from the Finder onto an empty square in a dock for easy, one click access.

Customize Those Icons

TetsubinStamp by Katsuya Fujiwara is a donationware icon customization utility which allows you to personalize your icons by selecting one of a host included custom stamps. TetsubinStamp supports 32-bit-color icons, additional stamps can be downloaded from their stamp archive, and instructions and a ResEdit template is included to help you create your own stamps.

The TetsubinStamp Interface

Windows Control

PowerWindows by Greg Landweber, is a shareware control panel that lets you perform cool effects with windows and menus. With PowerWindows, you can choose between solid dragging, translucent dragging, and making Finder windows and menus fade open. Although this is not exactly "productivity software," it makes pulling down menus, much more fun.

PowerWindows in action.

More Application Docking

TaskMenuBar by Hugh Kawahara is a shareware control panel that helps you launch and keep track of currently running applications by using the empty space on your menu bar. Because it uses existing empty space, it isn't obscured by and doesn't obscure other windows.

TaskMenuBar makes good use of formerly wasted space.

Have you created your very own drag and drop savvy launching bay yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Just refer to the tip featured in my last article and increase your productivity now!

Customized Web Bookmarks

Neat Trick!: Customize your Web bookmarks with descriptive icons to create your own mini-applications. Just head over to a cool customization site like ResExcellence or the Iconfactory to pick up a few cool icons and paste them onto your URL bookmarks.

Customize your URL's with style!

A small sample of some of the cool icons available at the Iconfactory.

Hasta La Proxima Vez! (Until Next Time)

These are some of the applications I have run across that I feel make useful additions to your Macintosh toolbox by filling niches other applications leave behind. As you use them, remember that all of talented programmers that work very hard at bringing us quality Shareware and Freeware which make our lives easier and the Macintosh more of a pleasure to use. If you enjoy them, drop them a note of appreciation and while you're at it, drop Apple a line as well and perhaps they will listen, learn and adopt some of these features into their next OS?

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you that have sent me questions, comments and notes of appreciation. I hope that you continue to find my articles useful and look forward to your continued input in order to make them even better! Thanks again for stopping by and as always feel free to contact me with questions, comments, and suggestions for future articles.

José D. Morales - jose@macosjournal.com
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