“Praise for The Apple Productivity Suite Field Guide” I concur

Software
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I purchased the Apple Productivity Suite Field Guide when it was released early for Lab members. I just finished it this morning. Below are the quotes about the Field Guide David shared in a recent email. I concur. As usual, the Field Guide is outstanding. In my particular case, I knew most of what was in the Field Guide, but only because I have used the entire Apple suite of applications for years. That said, I learned a few important tips that will save me more time, and I especially learned more about Freeform.

I think the greatest value is for those who are occasional, not expert, users of Apple’s default applications. They are far more capable than many realize because many users have not explored their full capabilities. The earlier versions were rather weak for any kind of professional work. While they are not necessarily best in class (though I think Notes may qualify) they are extremely capable and can meet most needs when mastered. I recognize that Microsoft Office is required in most enterprise settings. I have the luxury of using whatever I want for my work.

So, if you really have not given Apple’s default applications a sustained, intense trial, I encourage you to purchase the Field Guide (David has no idea I am posting this—but note the discount code below) and give the default applications a full workout. You may find, as I and others have found, that Apple’s free applications are perfectly capable of meeting your needs. Obviously, your mileage may vary.

Hi Friend,

People are really digging my new Apple Productivity Suite Field Guide:

"The Apple Productivity Suite Field Guide is the latest in a long row of excellent guides to getting more productive as well as more relaxed and creative. Love it. " – Martin S.

"I highly recommend the Apple Productivity Suite Field Guide for understanding how you can modify and use the tools Apple has built into the operating system. It only took one video moment for me to justify the cost. Thanks David, another happy customer!" – Gerald M.

"I bought the Apple Productivity Suite Field Guide yesterday and am, as always, blown away by how much I am learning from a MacSparky Field Guide. " — Kathryn R.

"After watching the Calendar automation sections, I finally understood why I was paying for three different apps. Consolidated my whole system, saved $200/year , and everything works better. Took me two hours." — James T.

" Honestly didn’t expect the Notes section to change my workflow this much. I’m a longtime Obsidian user but now I’m running both—Notes for quick capture and daily work, Obsidian for long-term thinking. The Field Guide showed me they’re not competitors, they’re teammates." — Sarah K.

But here’s my favorite:

"I’m keeping Obsidian for my Zettelkasten but dropped Todoist, Fantastical, and MindNode. This Field Guide helped me understand what I actually need to pay for versus what Apple gives me free. " — Rachel S.

That’s the real value—making informed choices about your productivity tools.

Still 10% off both editions (Code APSLAUNCH), but only for a bit longer.

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Do the courses have full transcripts of the video scripts? (I ask because I have the free sample Drafts course and there are no transcriptions.)

Not having them would be a dealbreaker for me, because I really don’t get on with video tutorials at all: in my experience they waste so much time compared to reading the same information. And I never retain as much afterwards, possibly because I’m so bored by the pace of the narration, or the inclusion of too much obvious filler.

With a good full transcript, I can read it, then decide if a specific point actually needs to be illustrated in real time on the screen, in which case I’ll watch that segment. In my experience, though, it’s not needed very often.

To be clear, I’m not talking about YouTube artificially garbled transcriptions, complete with umms and ers and misspellings, but about the full written script that the presenter reads out. And you should never trust an ad-libbed video tutorial…

(Yes, I would like a proper written manual even more than a full transcript. I bought a copy of one of MacSparky ‘real Kindle’ manuals way back and it was very good. I miss proper manuals…)

I do want to emphasis that this is not a criticism at all of people who do learn this way, or of MacSparky’s courses. They are clearly excellent in their own terms, and cost wouldn’t be an issue.

But people have different learning styles and a video course without full transcription is just not for me. That would be a shame, because some of the courses (e.g. the one on Shortcuts) would otherwise be very attractive.

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At least some of the older ones did but The Apple Productivity Suite Field Guide doesn’t.

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Thanks! It’s a shame (though I’m probably not the target audience for the Apple Productivity one anyway).

So it’s a matter of checking whether an individual course has transcripts. Fortunately, it looks from their detailed descriptions that the ones I’d mainly be interested in (e.g. Shortcuts, Keyboard Maestro and a couple of others) do have them. That’s encouraging!

Thanks again.

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The new field guide missed one of the Apple productivity suite apps

I purchased David’s new Productivity Suite field guide a few days ago more as an article of faith than an established need since I have benefitted by my purchase of nearly all of the field guides in the past but am skeptical that the Apple apps can adequately replace what I use now. My use of Apple’s apps has been limited and haphazard… shopping lists in Reminders, random notes in Notes, nothing in Freeform, Busycal and Google Calendar events showing up in Calendar on my watch and iPhone.

Somehow, I missed the early-bird announcements and paid full price on the web site. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to digging into the field guide. Surely I can make more rational use of the Apple apps than I have. And perhaps they could replace much, if not all, of what I currently use.

My suggestion that the field guide missed one of Apple’s productivity suite apps is rather tongue-in-cheek because now that the Journal, as of Tahoe, is available on the Mac—where the serious work gets done—I think it too has potential productivity app potential.

A few years ago I challenged myself to write Morning Pages for 30 days in a row. (Julie Cameron, who coined the term Morning Pages, has referred to them as “spiritual windshield wipers”.) I found the practice so beneficial that I wrote them every morning for nearly 400 days and still write them at least a couple times a week. All of those entries found their way into Day One, but last week I cancelled my Day One subscription—after nearly 10 years—because having them in Journal makes them indexable and discoverable via Spotlight.

I also want to experiment with keeping a work journal in Journal. I keep a paper notebook open on my desk to record ideas, thoughts, bits of information; similar to the right page of the two-page-per-day paper planners we used before we had personal computers and smart phones, and what bullet journalers do today. Transcribing that information into Journal would make it discoverable via search, even global search, and without the elaborate indexing systems paper requires. It should take just a few minutes at the end of the day and might even be therapeutic; bringing closure, clarity, relieving attention residue. Some studies suggest it should even improve sleep.

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Interesting. This is exactly why I bought the Productivity Suite, and my current use of Apple’s apps is nearly identical to yours. I’m looking forward to learning more about each app.