I’ve been using Fantastical for years and quite happy with its features. But this year, my company has strengthen the security and Fantastical cannot function anymore. After that, I came back to Apple Cal and trying out BusyCal from Setapp. So far, I am okay with both. Now that Fantastical has increased their subscription price. I will stay with Apple Calendar and BusyCal for 2023.
Email: Apple Mail for daily use; Outlook for work email if Apple Mail fails rendering the styles; mailbox.org for hosting personal email
Note: Logseq for most note-taking; Apple Notes for quick note, especially on mobile; Day One for photo journal
Task management: Things 3
I’ve been back and forth between Things and OmniFocus, but settled with Things for its simplicity and elegance.
File management: Finder (iCloud Drive), DEVONThink
Reading:
Reeder with Inoreader for RSS, Readwise Reader
Apple Books for epub, Libby for local library ebooks
Automation: Keyboard Maestro for automation and text expansion, Alfred App for launcher and clipboard history
Other utilities: AltTab for sane Cmd+Tab, CotEditor for quick text editing, Hookmark (Setapp); TextSniper (Setapp), TripMode (Setapp), CleanShot X (Setapp), 1Password legacy standalone version
Notes (shared with wife and teenage kids): Apple Notes
Notes (personal and software developer notes): DEVONthink (might try Craft for coding notes for easier access from work on Windows)
Code: Visual Studio Code for Python development, GitHub for repo
Weather: Carrot
Read Later: Reeder, using Pocket for work articles and Instapaper for all the others. Found this separation really helpful for focus. Just tried Readwise Reader, but didn’t click - prefer a standalone app over a browser tab.
Passwords: 1Password
Backup: Backblaze and Time Machine
Browser: Firefox
Office apps: Longtime LibreOffice user, starting to play with Numbers and Pages
Hi everyone, happy New Year! I also love reading this kind of thread, it’s very interesting to learn about others’ setups and to see how every person implements apps together.
Here is my current choice of apps. I’m also trying for 2023 to reduce redundancies and overall cost by simplifying my setup and avoid losing time in situations like ‘where did I put this information?’. That is why I try to use open format as much as possible to be able to switch from one tool to another if needed. However, I also believe in the sentence often written in MPU: pick a tool and stick to it. Anyway, there is no perfect choice and what’s most important to you should be the result and satisfaction you get out of it.
Email: Apple Mail on all my devices. I find it simple enough while being powerful, also no subscription and native app. I tend to use Mimestream for my Google accounts though, but that’s not my main mailbox.
Calendar: Fantastical Premium. I won’t probably renew when it expires given the recent price increase which goes well beyond inflation. I use most of its functionalities and heavily rely on my calendar but find it too cluttered sometimes. I’ll likely switch to Busycal or stick to Apple Calendar. I also want to use a paper weekly planner to focus more on a particular week rather than on the big picture, but I still have to find a way to integrate it with a digital calendar.
Notetaking: Notebooks. I simply love this native, one-time purchase and well-maintained app which truly lacks recognition here, although it has been mentioned recently in the Apple Notes sync problem thread. It’s incredibly versatile (choice of Markdown, Plain Text or HTML to write notes), it can host many types of files and can sync with many services. It’s also so easy to get data out of it. I like the fact that you can use backlinks and references to other notes. I was using Apple Notes for all my notes before, but it lacks the compatibility with non-Apple users. I still rely on it for note sharing with family and SO, as well as for quick and temporary notes.
Task management: Things and more recently Notebooks for projects. I have used so many apps over the years: Todoist, TickTick, Goodtask, Apple Reminders… I found Apple stock app powerful but I simply cannot stand its ergonomics and lack of keyboard shortcuts, hence why I only use it for quick reminders (often via Siri). Things is a delight to use, it’s beautiful and is built on a simple GTD approach that I like. I’m rediscovering Notebooks which can also send notifications and have due dates for ‘books’ converted to ‘task lists’. I think it’ll be great for some projects which need notes to be linked as resources.
File management: DEVONthink that I’m slowly using for its AI, full-text search capabilities and tags management. I love that I can index my Notebooks files to browse my notes like a PKM system. I still have to discover 90% of DT though!
Spotlight replacement: Alfred, Alfred, Alfred! Love it since years, missing it when I’m on Windows. I use it for everything: browsing my files, moving them, exploring my music library, searching the web quickly, managing my clipboard history, defining words… One of my favourite apps definitely.
Cloud storage: a mix of OneDrive and iCloud. Since recently, I have a MS 365 subscription (family) with a generous 1TB storage space. I also have a 2TB iCloud subscription (family) but it’s not as easy to share files with non-Apple users as with OneDrive. I plan in the future to only keep my photos library on iCloud and some applications files (like Notebooks’ notes). I’m also thinking about a NAS or Mac Mini solution as a private home server to host photos, music, movies,…
Browser: simply Safari which works for 95% of my usage and is free, privacy-oriented and energy-efficient. For the remaining 5% of cases, I use a combination of Firefox (when a website does not work on Safari) and Brave (when it doesn’t work on Firefox…and it needs a Chromium-based app).
Read Later: still debating here. Apple’s own read-it later lacks flexibility and thus I rely on the good old Instapaper. I would like to try out Goodlinks in the future which is native and a one-time purchase.
RSS aggregator: News Explorer serves me well and syncs with all my devices!
Passwords manager: I used to be a fan of 1Password but I disliked the price increase and especially the switch to an Electron-based app. I’m now a happy (free) user of Bitwarden which is definitely less user-friendly than 1P but as long as it’s secure, up-to-date and available everywhere, I’m good with that!
Productivity suite: MS 365 apps (Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Teams mainly). I find the Mac Office apps lacking some functions compared to their Windows counterparts (especially Excel) but being able to share my files and collaborate in real time makes it impossible for me to use Apple iWork apps beyond the simple and temporary documents or spreadsheets.
Personal finance: I discovered the hidden gem Debit & Credit app here which is a native and simple solution to manage my budget on all my devices, including my Apple Watch! I find its free tier very generous and sufficient for my needs.
PDF/books management: I use Notability mainly on my iPad (with the Pencil) but would like to move to GoodNotes because of the cupidity of Notability developers. I’m also relying on DT for storing and linking PDF, like a true digital library. For ebooks, I use Calibre mainly as a converter (to .mobi for my Kindle) but not as a storage option. I also loving reading on paper, unmatched feeling
Photos: all of my pictures are stored in the Apple Photos library and are hosted on iCloud. I should probably filter some of them (>250GB library). When I shoot with my DSLR, I use Capture One & Affinity Photo to process my RAW files. I simply transfer the best-looking pictures on Apple Photos and keep a RAW backup anyway.
Code/text editor: BBEdit for text files and Nova for code files. I also love using JetBrains IDE’s when needed, like PyCharm for Python even though it’s certainly not the lightest software. I was using VS Code like many others before but I dislike its very non-Mac design.
Backup: a combination of TimeMachine and ChronoSync for two different backups on HDD. I plan to buy a bigger SSD this year to create a bootable backup which replicates my MacBook SSD. I also enable iCloud backups for my apps data.
Automation: Better Touch Tool which is super versatile for trackpad, keyboard and mouse automation. I also use it for window management. I’m using the Hyperkey (Caps Lock) with Karabiner but would like to explore this year Keyboard Maestro. I also would love to discover Hazel about which I read so many good things here.
Music: I love Apple Music compared to Spotify which was the service I was using before. I’m paying for my own subscription even though my family is still on Spotify. I’m using AM for its lossless sound, album-oriented library (rather than playlist-oriented), better lyrics (and recently karaoke!) integration and hosting of local files. However, I simply despise its apps, especially the MacOS one which seems to be an old revamped iTunes version. Please Apple, improve it and fix all of its issues regarding lack of handoff (“Spotify Connect”), playing content, synchronising the library… I also like to listen to ripped CD albums and use XLD as a converter and MP3Tag to manage my library. I finally listen to my lossless library on Swinsian.
Video: IINA on MacOS and Infuse on iOS/iPadOS. Two rock-solid apps for local content when Netflix, Prime Video and Apple TV+ don’t have the movie/TV show I want to watch.
More than 10 tools for sure but I hope it was a nice and useful answer
I’m so close to purchasing Logic Pro. Question - for years i used Ableton. I really enjoyed the way you could record a snippet of music and manipulate it. But i never enjoyed their instruments Have you used Ableton? Why’d you go with Logic?
Well I went with Logic because Ableton was too “live loop oriented” for my tastes years ago, and I am a linear sequencer type of producer. Now from what I’ve seen in YouTube videos Ableton has become more of a sequencing and mixing powerhouse while Logic has added non linear live loops and other modern capabilities. Which means DAW differentiation is harder and harder and the decision is more about personal preferences than feature sets.
I went with Logic to make sure that through the App Store purchase I would not be needing any iLok dongles or other copy protection nonsense. I am not sure the kind of manipulation you want to do on your recorded music, but I’m sure Logic has something for you. The included effects, instruments and presets are really good but I cannot compare it to Ableton which I reckon is also very loved.
Logic weakness, imho, is MIDI integration with external hardware, which is of course possible but unnecessarily complicated. MIDI editing and sequencing is great, though.
But the pricing of Logic is hard to beat (if you happen to have a Mac): I got mine for 180€ (July, 2013). And haven’t paid for any updates while Apple is still cranking new releases and updating the content library.
Obsidian for task management, quick notes, long notes and articles, project and business management, project planning, data visualization, reference filing, public website for AnimalTrakker, multiple shared Git Repos of parts of my vault
GitKraken for Git repo management
PyCharm for Python Development
Android Studio for Android Development
Apple Calendar
Apple Mail all POP accounts on a single machine
LightRoom for photos
Strongbox for passwords
Reader from readwise for book and article annotations that feed into Obsidian
LibreOffice for all spreadsheet needs and other office type apps
I am down to
1.DEVONthink 3 , that is now where I am, I just loaded DEVONagent, I might up to pro actually, partly because I can now search from the menubar with one short cut.
2. Keyboard Maestro will be there always, with my meagre low power user expansions and a handful of indispensable macros.
Otherwise now
Bookends, works well with DEVONthink 3
Mellel, in case I need a Word Procesor,
Ulysses for notes, under threat still from DEVONthink 3 native features and, if ever Brett and Fletcher complete their note taker, can’t even remember the name but I would still try it, their nvAlt upgrade.
Maybe still might load Tor this year, depending on lots of things. I keep LaTeX suite for old times sake and keep my hand in with it.
I think my experimenting days are over and the only doubts in my mind is the extent I am locked into DEVONthink 3 now.
DEVONthink does not really lock you. --other than its feature set, that is-- Your data is there in your hard disk drive a drag operation away from being in the Finder as it DEVON had never touched it. Just make sure that no matter the sync method you use, do not index iCloud Drive folders into your databases!
Thanks, I should have made that clearer and that is something I will remember in future. What I meant by ‘lock me in’ wasn’t that though: what I meant is that my workflow is so constructed round it that I would have to recreate one if it disappeared. I rely totally on its ‘feature set’ in other words: I will note that way of expressing it, thanks for that.
I understand my actual ‘stuff’ would be there and not in some proprietary form, that is quite important as you say. I hope I didn’t discourage any potential users with my mistake.
Unitl your carefully curated data is lost and the only recourse is that you can proactively run some SW to determine when it went south but still no recognition or real fix for what I believe to be an underlying fundamental problem with disk access and how DEVONThink manipulates the files you give it. And yes, it does happen to both indexed and imported data files. BTDT have the scars and will NEVER go back!
Not to mention, it’s a time saver a lot of the time! There are some neat tricks in Dreamweaver and Lightroom Classic. Media Encoder just works.
Oh, and the Neural Filter for Skin Smooth is awesome! I just wish you could use it over the whole body instead of just the face. Though I guess not many people have that need…
In approximate descending order of what I could not do without:
Adobe Lightroom + DXO PhotoLab 6 + Photoshop
I use Lightroom to manage my photo library (including iPhone photos) and for most photo editing and printing. (I only use the Photos app as a digital photo album for fully-edited images I want to show off or share.)
DXO PhotoLab 6 is my raw converter, but I also use it for certain editing tasks.
I use Photoshop when I need to do some significant image manipulation, which isn’t often.
Microsoft Excel. It’s a rare day when I’m not using an Excel spreadsheet for something, from financial recordkeeping and analysis to simple flat-file databases.
Apple Mail. Because it’s easy to move messages from Apple Mail into to DTP for archival purposes and then expunge them from Mail.
DevonThink Pro 3 + my ScanSnap iX500
DTP is first and foremost my administrative archive. It’s where I store the documents and records that I’ll need for future reference, submission, or documentation.
I also use DTP to index and search the Finder folders where I store my reference library of epubs, PDFs, and markdown notes.
Obsidian + Notebooks.app + Marked 2
I use both Obsidian and Notebooks to create, manage, and reference my collection of markdown notes. Each app has its strenghths and weaknesses, but I like how they work together. I prefer Notebooks on iOS.
I usually create reference notes in Obsidian because I’ve crafted about a dozen special templates that I can invoke there to streamline my workflow.
I’m now using Readwise’s Reader app for material I need to read and review with intention and am delighted so far with how easy it makes it to port my notes and highlights into Obsidian for further refinement.
I use Notebooks as a quick capture scratchpad and a first-draft short form writing tool. (I wrote this in Notebooks.) I also use it to access my markdown notes and ancillary documents on my iOS devices.
I create my daily note in Obsidian, but I usually write to it in Notebooks. A note about my daily note: it’s where I list the tasks I need to complete that day; where I list the day’s appointments (yes, I copy them over from my very rudimentary calendar); where I take notes during phone calls, meetings, or when reading emails, messages, and snail mail documents; where I track what I’ve read, seen, or listened to on that day; and where I capture anything that crosses my mind that I want to process later.
I use Marked 2 to turn markdown documents into PDFs. That includes web content I want or need to save as a PDF: I turn it into a MD document then convert it to a PDF.
OmniFocus
In truth, it’s probably more than I need but I haven’t been able to find another task manager with anything as straightforward as its defer function. I happen to like the UI.
I don’t use OF for the routine tasks of daily living. Those kinds of tasks end up in my daily note or on a post-it on the chin of my iMac. If I think of some routine task today that I need to do on some future day, I put it in the “Plan Forward” section of my daily note.
I use OF for anything with a deadline or a multi-step process. Each day I transfer the tasks that need to be done that day from OF to my daily note.
I outline my various projects in a markdown note before I turn them into OF projects.
Readwise Reader
I’m transitioning anything I want or need to read with intention—be it PDFs, ePubs, articles, or newsletters—from the various apps I’ve been using to date to Readwise Reader. I plan to test drive it for a year to see if it’s worth the expense. I prefer Marvin’s UI on iOS for ePubs and PDF Expert’s UI for PDFs, but I need a cross-platform tool for reading & annotating, so I plan to use Reader exclusively for now.
News Explorer + Goodlinks for casual rss and read-it-later stuff—the kinds of things you’re happy to read in line at the grocery store or in a waiting room somewhere.
Roon + Qobuz for music. (I digitized our entire CD collection to FLAC files; Roon is hands down the best tool for managing and listening to them.)
Banktivity 7 (non-subscription) for bank and credit card account management. I don’t love it, but it’s got some basic functionality that I can’t be bothered to build into a spreadsheet like reconciliation. I don’t use it for my investment portfolio.
SetApp. The list of SetApp apps I use regularly gets longer everyday.
