There is no shortage of productivity software on the Mac, and we do our best job to cover as many of them as possible here. It's a rich and vibrant ecosystem unique to the Mac, and we're lucky to have it. But few apps elevate themselves to "all time great" status, to the point where they feel almost like they're a core part of macOS. »

Today, we’re going to look at a few apps that I find absolutely essential to my work, but we’re not going to dwell too much on the typical apps that everyone mentions, or that you’ve heard us talk about at length on The Sweet Setup already. »

This post can only start one way, and that's with a confession. This article was originally going to be about how to effectively migrate your tasks and workflows from Things over to Todoist. That all fell apart a few weeks after migrating because Todoist was driving me crazy — and ultimately send me running back to Things. »

Today we're going to look at some more down-to-earth ways that text and image generators can be used today to accomplish useful tasks. »

Rewind.ai is a pretty incredible new tool for Mac users that bills itself as the search engine for your life, and that's really not a bad way to describe it. »

While Notion is unquestionably powerful and customizable, it's not always the snappiest app, especially on mobile devices, so navigating from one project to another in Notion can be a little painful. Today, we're going to look at a few ways to navigate to the Notion board you want as quickly as possible. »

We love Alfred here at The Sweet Setup. It’s been our go-to app launcher for the Mac for years, and it’s hard to believe, but it’s been 11 full years since Alfred 1.0 hit the scene and took over as the app launcher of choice for nerds like us. »

Web browsers have felt pretty stable for quite a while now. Most people use Chrome or Safari these days, and with good reason! After decades of competing web browsers, a lot of the interactions and design elements have normalized around basically the same thing everywhere. Arc is here to make some changes. »

One of the good things about modern operating systems, whether you're on iOS, macOS, Windows, or Android, is that the default browser is actually pretty good in every single case. Most people will be well-served by Safari, Edge, or Chrome, and that's great! If you've been following tech for several decades, you know this is very much not a given (looks intensely at Internet Explorer), so it's nice that we're currently in a pretty good place. »

Today, we're going to walk through the basic things you need to know when shopping for mechanical keyboards. »

Recording your screen and sharing it with others is something that's always been useful, but it's only accelerated as so many of us have been physically separated from our teammates over the past few years. There are dozens of options out there for recording your screen, but two of the best and most interesting options for Mac users are Loom and CleanShot X. »

Matter is a relatively new read-it-later service that's been getting a good amount of attention, including several features here on The Sweet Setup. It may be simplifying history a bit, but the very broad strokes version of this market is that Instapaper popularized it, Pocket took it really mainstream, and Matter wants to do right by those of us who loved Instapaper but never really clicked with Pocket. »

Elgato's Stream Deck has really taken off in the past few years, and at it's core, it's simply a programmable keyboard that you can use to do whatever you want on your Mac or PC. Originally designed for streamers to do things like switch cameras, play sound effects, and bring up graphics on screen, it's drawn the eye of regular office workers as well. »

One of the things that makes Notion such an interesting tool is that it’s built to be whatever you want it to be for you. Some people use it for one thing and others will use it for completely different things, and that’s awesome! There’s a place for focused software that everyone uses the same way, but Notion is not in that category at all. »

Bento is technically a task manager, but it's not exactly a replacement for any of the apps listed above. Instead, Bento wants you to think about what you must do today, add those things to a list, and use the Bento appto focus on getting them done today. »

I've been reading news sites and blogs voraciously for as long as I've had the internet, and sadly, I've lost most of that reading to time since I never captured it properly. What really resonated with me back in 2013? I have no idea, but I sure would love to go back and see that today. »

Today's Apple event lived up to its teaser name by showing how Apple is delivering peak performance across their entire product line. Whether it's their more affordable iPhone or their latest desktop machine, speed was a core part of the sales pitch everywhere. »

Like many of you, I’ve been working from home for the past two years, and I’d be lying if I said that I’ve been 100% focused on my work the entire time I’ve been here. Don’t get me wrong — I’ve done my job, but I’d be lying if I said I spend all of my working hours on, well, work. There are just so many distractions at home, and without some strong discipline, it’s easy to get sucked into all sorts of things around the house that are way more fun than work. »

Notion has fundamentally changed how I work with clients on freelance projects. Not only has it given me a way to track my progress and organize everything for myself, but it’s given me a way to share that progress with my clients in a way that always impresses and makes me look like a real pro. »

You can technically write an entire novel inside of Apple Notes or compose your blog posts in Notepad on your Windows computer. The basic concept of letting users type text into an app is not special, and yet writing apps are one of those things that everyone is very particular about. It’s all about the little things, and what feels right for each person. »

The productivity space has been going through a bit of a revitalization recently, and maybe surprisingly, it’s note-taking apps that are causing the bulk of this excitement. Solutions are sprouting all over the place lately, with things like Roam Research, Notion, Obsidian, Bear, Craft, RemNote, Drafts, and oh yeah, Evernote, occupying a considerable amount of […] »

Microsoft PowerPoint is the well-known leader in the presentation industry, and the iOS version is every bit as powerful as its desktop counterpart. »

Excel on the iPad is a competent spreadsheet application, and if your needs are simple or you just plan on making edits to spreadsheets you created on macOS or Windows, then you’ll likely really enjoy this app. »

Whether we like it or not, Microsoft's Office suite of apps is going to work its way into most of our lives at some point or another. Matt Birchler takes a look at how Word differs between the iOS and desktop platforms. »