Non-Subscription Apps I'm Adopting

[Bmosbacker]

As I’ve posted elsewhere, e.g, per this post I’m committed wherever possible to using Apple’s default apps (Notes, Reminders, Mail, Weather, Pages, Keynote, and Numbers). When that is not feasible for any number of reasons I’m doing my best to only use non-subscription apps–no need to discuss the pros and cons of subscriptions–that topic has been covered and then some.

I thought I’d list a few of the non-subscription apps I’ve started using much more frequently and as replacements for subscription apps (when those exist). In no particular order:

• iThoughtsX to replace MindNode. I like MindNode better but iThoughtsX is more powerful and perfectly usable. Below is the iThoughts version of my digital workflow originally created in MindNode but that I recently converted to iThoughts. I’m slowly moving every mind map over to iThoughtsX.

• Scapple also replacing MindNode
• OmniOutliner also used as a MindNode/mind map replacement
• Scrivener (book length projects) replacing Ulysses
• Keychain and Passwords (Mac/iOS) replacing 1Password
• Apple Notes replacing Craft
• Bookcision replacing Readwise
• Apple Preview replacing PDF Expert
• Typinator replacing TextExpander
• AFTER my book is finished I’ll substitute Zotero to replace Bookends
• AFTER my book is finished I’ll cancel MS Office (still need Word for the book project)

I’ve tried but subsequently canceled subscriptions to:

• Fantastical
• Drafts Pro
• Carrot Weather

Other non-subscription apps I use (not an exhaustive list)

• Obsidian
• iA Writer
• DEVONthink
• OmniGraffle

This leaves me with very few app subscriptions.

[nationalinterest]

I’ve a similar list:

• Apple Notes
• Apple Reminders
• Apple Mail
• Apple Calendar

• iThoughtsX (replaced MindNode - it can do things MindNode can’t)
• Bitwarden (currently free version)… although I’d like to just shift to Keychain if I can find an easy way to move across.
• Zotero (superb- trying to decide if I can do more with it for my non-academic work)
• Apple Preview (replacing Highlights)
• Skim (replacing Highlights)

Subs:

• Ulysses (still subscription. I’ve tried Scrivener for sermon writing, but can’t get the output how I want it. And I like Ulysses interface.)
• I am supplied with MS Office, which I use daily, by my University. I’d probably pay for it if I didn’t.

Other key apps (also non exhaustive):

• Eaglefiler
• Hook

[Bmosbacker]

@nationalinterest

Ulysses (still subscription. I’ve tried Scrivener for sermon writing, but can’t get the output how I want it. And I like Ulysses interface.)

It requires a bit of a learning curve to compile from Scrivener. I’m with you, I would not use it for something like sermons or presentations. I’m only using Scrivener for a book length project. I might use if for a long essay, article–20 pages or more. I also like Ulysses but I’m adverse to subscriptions.

That said, I’ve gone "back to the future."

I’m using Pages for most of my writing so I can have the advantages of rich text without the clutter and encumbrances of markdown. My one exception is I use Obsidian for my research files. And, as I wrote here, it is easy to create a “focus mode” in word processors.

The reason I feel comfortable using Pages (or Word) for writing is that I can export to plain text if needed and/or I can convert any file using DEVONthink so I’m not concerned about future proofing as much as I thought I needed to be. I think the enthusiasm (which I’m NOT criticizing) for markdown in this forum and certain podcasts caused me to be unnecessarily concerned about lock-in. In fact, I wrote on this very forum that I was never writing in anything but markdown. One should never say never!

Here are the export options in Pages:

In Word:

Conversion Options in DEVONthink:

Compile Options in Scrivener

• I am supplied with MS Office, which I use daily, by my University. I’d probably pay for it if I didn’t.

I think MS Office is a tremendous value but I just don’t like using their apps. I do so only under compulsion–my editors.

[nationalinterest]

@Bmosbacker

I’m using Pages for most of my writing so I can have the advantages of rich text without the clutter and encumbrances of markdown.

I must revisit Pages. I’ve read it’s good for presenting from directly. The ePub export could be very useful for exporting to my eInk device too.

[Bmosbacker]

@nationalinterest

I’ve read it’s good for presenting from directly

It’s excellent and if needed you can use the Apple Pencil for quick annotations, edits.

[neonate]

I like the way this workflow looks. I’ve tried to list my apps using Numbers but it doesn’t give you this great visual representation. Thanks for posting this.

What is it about MindNode that you like better than iThoughts? I subscribe to Setapp so I have access to both. Trying to settle on one vs the other.

[Bmosbacker]

You are welcome. As to MindNode, it is just easier to manipulate and from a GUI perspective is more pleasant to use. But, iThoughtsX has many more features, works fine, and has no subscription. That makes it a better value proposition from my perspective.

[Rishi]

Thanks for sharing the list, I find such posts useful much like your other post about going all-in on first party apps.

I find it funny and am quite curious about why you need three apps to replace MindNode! I have used MindNode a while back(when it was not a sub) and liked their overall design, while knowing that iThoughtsX had more features. But I never knew if it had features worth enough to replace with 3 apps!

[Bmosbacker]

Fair question! I use the three because they work differently and as a result impact my thinking in different ways. An outliner is linear by design–it limits free form thinking which is the hallmark of mind maps. Outlining for my purposes is used to refine the detailed structure of a project that initially begins as a mind map. A program like OmniOutliner is great for the more structured, detailed and refined process.

Programs like MindNode or iThoughtsX are better for free flowing brainstorming at the early stages of a project or article. The difference between programs like MindNode or iThoughtsX and Scapple is that the latter is free-form mind mapping–one can create nodes anywhere–for example, a node does not need to be attached to a parent or sibling node. This video explains how Scapple works.

In general, I start any major project (work or writing):

1. With a mind map of general ideas, topics, subjects. Depending on how preliminary my thinking is I’ll start with programs like iThoughtsX or with Scapple when my initial thoughts are very vague.
2. Once the general structure is finished in a mind map I’ll export it to OmniOutliner (or use Scrivener’s outlining feature for a large writing project) to refine the chapters, sections, headings, subheadings, etc.

In short, I use mind maps to create initial rough drafts. I use an outlining app to create final drafts to guide my writing or other project. The writing is then completed in either Pages, Word or Scrivener. A work project is often exported to my task manager.

1. Mind mapping for brainstorming (iThoughtsX and/or Scapple)
2. Outlining for refinement (OmniOutliner or Scrivener’s outlining feature)
   • Pages, Word, Scrivener to complete a writing project
   • Task Manager to track and complete a non-writing project

I hope this is helpful!

[adamashlock]

Pages is fantastic to work with. The more you use it the better it gets. I find that all of the iWork suit just stays out of your way until you want to bring in the more powerful tools they provide. Keynote is especially amazing.

[adamashlock]

You may have written about this previously, but I am curious as to the decision of Apple Notes over Craft. The desire to go Apple first and eliminate subscriptions is……well….”noted” .

[Bmosbacker]

I like Craft a lot. I especially like the ability to create backlinks and to copy deep links. Aside from wanting to avoid subscriptions when possible, my main issues with Craft are:

• I don’t like writing in a block-based system. I find it finicky to deal with text between blocks.
• I don’t like how Craft deals with tables.
• The ability to add foot or end notes is limited at best.
• Craft, while flexible, is not as tightly integrated with Apple ecosystem.

Given all that Apple Notes can do, notwithstanding its own limitations, I find AN to be overall better with a larger feature set. That said, I would probably not use AN without the ability to export the notes to plain text. The Exporter app gives me this ability. I have a recurring monthly reminder in Reminders to export all of my Apple Notes to a plain text archive in Finder that is indexed in DEVONthink and backed up in the cloud and on external drives.

As you can see, I have a lot in AN at this point.

[johnkree]

Thank you for sharing your setup. I don’t like subscriptions either. I’m not completely against it… if it is a reasonable price or if the app offers functionality I really need on a daily basis then I’m ok with that.

I had my Macbook Pro 2011 for 9 years when I upgraded to the new M1 MBA. The old Macbook was cluttered with stuff, so I decided to take a more Apple centric approach and keep using as many Apple apps as possible.

I’m using Safari because IMHO it is the best browser on Mac. My backup is Firefox.
Pages, Numbers, Keynotes are much better than anything else for my use-case. Apple Photos, Apple Calendar are great and they are all I need in this area.

Notes taking:
I already had a Bear.app subscription, so I’m using it for now. I’m about to decide if I cancel it this October and just use Notes. What I like about Bear is that it’s so fast. When I pull my iPhone out and have to get a note written down asap it is so much faster than Notes.

Craft: Teaching 12-15 year old kids is… interesting. They all have a smartphone but they don’t use email at all. During the pandemic I was forced to teach online for some weeks and after that there was always one of them in quarantine. So I had to find a way to send them work sheets in the easiest way possible. Craft did this for me. You can note down everything you want, add work sheets, add photos of the blackboard and send them a link through a messenger. They don’t have to register, they don’t need to do anything, they can see your note like a website and they even can add comments in every part of the note.
What makes it better than any other solution is that it’s just viewable for people who have the link. So I don’t have to think about copyright or anything.

Mail and Tasks:
I was using Apple Mail till now but I find it lacking. I mean, it’s great and all but finding certain archived emails is rather hard. I’m more and more using Postbox on my Windows PC for stuff like this and I want the same functionality on my Mac.
I’ve found Mailmate. It is so much better in so many ways. Mail.app is like a beautiful sports car. And Mailmate is like a hotrod. It looks like an old timer on the outside but it is so powerful. I’ve tried to get ahold of my mails in so many apps. I even tried to delete old archived mails I don’t need anymore on the iPhone and the Mac Mail.app. But with mailmate I just created a smart mailbox that filtered any mails with a pdf and was able to delete more than 1000 mails within a week. And it makes fun.

For Tasks I’m using Things 3 and it’s great but I don’t know if I would just stick to Reminders if there is an upgrade I have to pay for Things.

I also use PDF Expert, Scrivener, Scapple and Zoom for work.

At last I have two productivity apps I tend to forget because they work so flawless in the background and integrate into the system that I don’t realize that they are even there silently working for me till I need their interface again:
Hazel and Keyboard Maestro.
Hazel is automatically archiving my daily and weekly plans for school, creating new ones, renames them with the right number. It sorts downloaded pics into fitting folders, archives my receipts and all. It works in the background and keeps my system clean and helps me so much with tedious stuff I spend hours before.

KM is by far the best investment I’ve made ever. If you would say I could just have one 3rd party app, it would be KM. I have it for some months now and I’m still trying to comprehend its possibilities. But it is priceless. You can create any possible macro with it. Shift-Command-Delete empties the trash bin for me, Shift-Command-M shows me several folders to move files there. And so on.

For data privacy and ad blocking I’m using Adguard. It is crazy how many adds are blocked. I didn’t notice till now but after using the trial I just couldn’t go back to live without an adblocker.

[Bmosbacker]

That is a great use case for Craft, especially if some of your students are on Windows machines, which I suspect is the case. Theoretically one can share Apple Notes the same way via the web but it is comparatively clunky compared to something like Craft.

I have KM but have not taken the time to master it, though I did buy David’s field guide. I’m still trying to decide if I really need it. I suspect my use case would be minimal so I’m not sure it is worth the resource overhead or my time to set it up and master it.

I like everything I’ve read about Mailmate and I’d consider using it if they had an iOS version but sadly they do not. I prefer to use the same mail client on all of my device as I find myself often processing emails on my phone or iPad.

[johnkree]

Yes and I’m in the Craft online beta and it works like a charm. So I can even use it on my Windows PC.

@KM:
I have something like battery paranoia. If there is something using up power it better be worth it. I’m often in schools where there is no power plug near the desk and all.
So having good battery life is very important for me. Besides, I want to keep my Macbook as long as possible and I don’t want to change my battery in 2 years. It has to last. I’m very fussy when it comes to wasting system resources.

As you can see, running in the background KM doesn’t use any noticeable battery.

@Mailmate:
I had the same reservations regarding same experience on iPhone and Mac. But it isn’t like using Outlook on iOS and Mail.app on Mac. Benny, the dev, is so eager to keep to standards as close as possible. Except the hidden power I would describe the experience using Mailmate very similar to Apple’s Mail.app.
It doesn’t feel wrong, like using Spark on one device and Mail on the other. It is very similar. And honestly, I don’t think Mailmate would make sense on iOS. It lives of its keyboard shortcuts and its plain text / markdown experience.

[Bmosbacker]

@johnkree

I have something like battery paranoia.

This is me exactly and I’d add the same statement about system resources in general. Is it rational? Probably not but it is what it is.

As to KM, this is probably a case of “I just don’t know what I don’t know” or “I didn’t realize I needed …” I’m frankly not sure how KM would significantly speed up my workflow.

I’m open to ideas!

As to MailMate, I could get over not having an iOS version but I’m not interested in using markdown for my emails. And, for whatever reason, notwithstanding a relatively large volume of emails from 200 employees, 700 parents, nearly 1,000 students, board members, donors, outside vendors, alumni, legal counsel, my grad students and fellow professors, and more… I never seem to have more than 10 emails in my inbox at any given time and I do not snooze or send them to Reminders to process later. My emails are processed and handled within 24 hours even though I have four email addresses to manage. I think this is due to the fact that I’m rigorous about responding to emails within 24 hours and I’ve setup a lot of cloud-based rules and/or I immediately mark messages as unsubscribe/spam when I receive unsolicited emails. Right now I have exactly one email message in my inbox.

I share all of that because truth be told I probably don’t need the power of a MailMate.

Like I said above, I’m open to good ideas–I’m probably missing out on more than I realize.

[johnkree]

I see. You seem to be a true Mail.app power user.
This is awesome. I’m not a fan of snoozing emails either. This doesn’t fit to the inbox zero approach. But I guess you still need to sometimes look for archived or sent mails later so look something up or for reference in meetings?
Do you have some categorizing method with flag colors or something like that? Or folders?

Regarding good ideas:
I have spend too much time in going full in to learning an app and all its features and then using 10% of it. Apps like KM or Hazel or Craft can be mind blowing. They are full of possibilites. But I gave up “falling in love” with an app and then not knowing what to do with it. Instead I write down small annoyances that happen more than 2-3 times. And then I look for a way to deal with it.

Like with KM: I was really annoyed with the copy paste structure in Apple apps. Command-C will copy, Command-V will paste. But it always pastes all format information, too. Most of the time I just want to paste pure text. This is especially dumb in Numbers where it will paste the line thickness. And the shortcut for just pasting text is needs 4 keys and I have to stretch my fingers and look if I get the right keys. So I told KM to handle this. Option-Command-V is now pasting just pure text.

Converting to PDF: I have to deal with a lot of people who don’t have a Mac. Converting to doc will lead to strange errors. So I convert stuff to PDF most of the time. Even if you know the shortcuts, you have to open pages, or Numbers, click, press keys, click again. That is tedious. I just go to finder, select the file, press Shift-Command-P and it will convert one or all selected files to PDF.

I have a bunch of other file action macros that will archive, batch rename, incremental rename, empty trash, open specific folders, open a new mail, and so on.

And, one of my favorite things I discovered recently: I could ditch Typinator (I didn’t like the UI and found it rather not Mac like) and use KM as text expander.

And some Monk like behavior of mine: I like to center certain windows. I can’t stand that it is not centered. Like Safari. I have a shortcut for this. And for splitting screen. Which made me ditch Magnet.

[Bmosbacker]

But I guess you still need to sometimes look for archived or sent mails later so look something up or for reference in meetings?

I do that more for convenience when I need to remind myself about what I sent. I also use the filter so that only unread messages show up, e.g., for “all employees.”

Do you have some categorizing method with flag colors or something like that? Or folders?

I do but I don’t use them extensively.

Like with KM: I was really annoyed with the copy paste structure in Apple apps. Command-C will copy, Command-V will paste. But it always pastes all format information, too. Most of the time I just want to paste pure text. This is especially dumb in Numbers where it will paste the line thickness. And the shortcut for just pasting text is needs 4 keys and I have to stretch my fingers and look if I get the right keys. So I told KM to handle this. Option-Command-V is now pasting just pure text.

Converting to PDF: I have to deal with a lot of people who don’t have a Mac. Converting to doc will lead to strange errors. So I convert stuff to PDF most of the time. Even if you know the shortcuts, you have to open pages, or Numbers, click, press keys, click again. That is tedious. I just go to finder, select the file, press Shift-Command-P and it will convert one or all selected files to PDF.

I could benefit from both of those. Would you be willing to take screenshots of how you have those setup? I might give those a shot.

And, one of my favorite things I discovered recently: I could ditch Typinator (I didn’t like the UI and found it rather not Mac like) and use KM as text expander.

I have Typinator and also don’t like the UI so use KM might be a good option.

And some Monk like behavior of mine: I like to center certain windows. I can’t stand that it is not centered. Like Safari. I have a shortcut for this. And for splitting screen. Which made me ditch Magnet.

Hmm, another use of KM enabling me to replace Moom.

Well, maybe I need to spend more time with KM. Thanks for the reply!

[johnkree]

Sure.

Copy Paste:

PDF (needs an Apple script, but it’s easy):

The Script:

tell application "Finder"
	set finderSelection to the selection
end tell

-- How many files to export
set pagesFiles to {}

--Get files and export them
repeat with f in finderSelection
	if name extension of f is "pages" then
		set end of pagesFiles to f as text
	end if
end repeat

repeat with currentFile in pagesFiles
	
	-- Set up the full path to the new PDF file
	set pdfFile to (text 1 thru -6 of currentFile) & "pdf"
	
	-- Open the Pages file and export as PDF
	tell application "Pages"
		set pagesDoc to open file currentFile
		export pagesDoc to file pdfFile as PDF
		close pagesDoc saving no
	end tell
end repeat

display dialog "done" -- Job done

Empty Trash:

Text Expander:

By the way I don’t figured them out myself. Some are copies of the KM forum, some I made with the help of the nice people there, some are inspired from other pages.
If you find it too hard to implement, I can share them securely on the KM forum.

Regarding your emails: I asked because I had a similar flag system for important messages, school, private, and so on. My problem was: What if it needs two flags. Like: Important AND family? Mailmate does it better with tags. You press “T” on the keyboard and can add as many tags as you want. The already implemented tags-mailbox sorts them by tag in folder per tag. Just yesterday I got a mail with a ZOOM link for the meeting on monday. Inbox zero, so I archived it. Because it is important in the next days I would have given it a red flag. But I also would have needed to give it a orange flag for “school”. A dilemma. Now I gave it 2 tags: Important and school. And it is shown in the tag specific sub boxes. I don’t need to click around anymore for giving it different kind of flags in different states. AND I’ve sent it to Calendar where it provided a backlink to the mail. I know this is possible with Mail.app too but it isn’t as convenient.

[Bmosbacker]

Thanks for the KM information, much appreciated!

Well, you now have me intrigued about MailMate. I’m going to give it a more detailed look. Thanks again!