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Search results for shortcuts

Headspace

The Best Meditation App

Headspace

Headspace is the best meditation app for most people. It offers clean user interface that is easy to navigate and highlights a new daily meditation each day, gives you a large library of guided meditations to choose from, and feels at home on Apple devices by integrating with Apple Health and Shortcuts.
Timery

The Best Time Tracking App

Timery

Timery is best time tracking app on any platform because it gives you powerful iOS widgets and virtually limitless automation possibilities with phenomenal Shortcuts support.
Streaks

The Best Habit Tracking App for iOS

Streaks

Streaks gives you useful widgets, integration with Apple Health, phenomenal Shortcuts support, and everything you need to build good habits (or break bad ones).
iA Writer

Our favorite Markdown writing app for iOS

iA Writer

iA Writer provides the best mix of editing tools, preview features, and exporting options in an app that's very user-friendly.
Day One

The Best Journaling App for iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Day One

For a classy journaling app that works on all your devices, you can't do better than Day One.
Things

The task manager and GTD app suite for Mac, iPhone, and iPad

Things

Things is a well-designed task manager that is very powerful while also being delightful and easy to use.
Vekt

The Best Weight Tracking App for iPhone

Vekt

After all of our testing, we believe Vekt is the best weight tracking app for iPhone because of its excellent design, great input mechanism, and stellar Apple Watch implementation.
Keep It

The Best Evernote Replacement App for Long-Term Research

Keep It

Keep It is a powerful and feature-rich research app that offers feature parity between both iOS and macOS platforms.
MindNode

The Best Mind Mapping App

MindNode

MindNode is our favorite mind mapping app because it features an easy, beautiful design, solid syncing, and plenty of import and export options for your workflow.
Fantastical 3

The Best Calendar App for iPad

Fantastical 3

A calendar app with delightful design, superior natural language text entry, and support for iCloud reminders.
Lightroom for iPad

The Best App for Editing Photos on the iPad

Lightroom for iPad

For photographers on the general photography journey — from smartphone photography through to point-and-shoot, mirrorless, and DSLR photography — Adobe Lightroom for iPad is likely to be the last photo editing app you ever need.
Reeder

The Best RSS Reader for Mac

Reeder

Reeder is the best RSS client for macOS because it syncs with lots of third-party services, looks good, and makes it easy to share content with others.
Byword

Our favorite Markdown writing app for the Mac

Byword

Byword strikes the perfect balance of being simple, delightful, customizable, and powerful.
Atom

The best text editor for macOS

Atom

Atom’s price, functionality, and approachability when it comes to package management and settings make it our choice for the best text editor for macOS for most people.
TextExpander

Apps we love

TextExpander

We love TextExpander because it works across multiple platforms (including Windows), is easy to set up and use, and has a straight-forward business model.


Related blog posts and articles

Organizing Shortcuts Within Shortcuts to Reduce Duplication

By applying the atomic notes concept to Shortcuts, you can use common shortcut actions in other shortcuts so you don't have to copy and recreate these common actions manually. Running a shortcut from within a shortcut is a fantastic way of streamlining your shortcuts collection while also making it easier to maintain. »

How to Run Shortcuts From the Menu Bar

Shortcuts debuted in Monterey after a few years of baking in iOS and iPadOS. Automator workflows will be convertible to operate inside Shortcuts, and iOS and iPadOS shortcuts will be operable on a Mac. »

15 One-Action Shortcuts to Make Your Life Easier

Shortcuts is a wonderful app, but it can also be overwhelming. Today, I'm going to show you 15 one-action Shortcuts you can create, and let's be honest — with one action, there's not a lot of work for you to do! »

Our first look at Shortcuts on iOS

Shortcuts is now available in the iOS beta program, and we take our first look at what this new automation app offers in this early stage. »

Level Up Your Shortcuts with Stream Deck

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. »

Using Shortcuts and Data Jar to Store and Share Multiple Links

For a lot of us, searching the web for information to support research, decision-making, or writing is a common task. I'm sure everyone has their own preferred method for collecting URLs for stuff they want to reference later or share, but I've been really happy with the two shortcuts that I put together for this purpose. »

Using Shortcuts to Rename, Resize, and Compress Images

Last week, Josh showed us how he uses DataJar to temporarily store images before uploading them to our CMS online. In that post, he alluded to a separate part of the shortcut that handles the renaming, resizing, and compression of these images. Today, we'll look at the steps to do this with your own shortcut. »

Automating Habit Tracking with Streaks & Shortcuts

In this Mindfulness Monday post, we look at how to reinforce positive technology habits through automation using Streaks and Shortcuts. There is no shortage of high-quality habit trackers for iOS. Whatever you’re looking for, you can find it. There are options for tracking your habits across multiple platforms, options for ramifying your habit tracking, and […] »

All the New Things in Shortcuts for iOS 13

The new version of Shortcuts in iOS 13 iPadOS will be publicly released in September, and we are incredibly excited for that milestone based on what we've seen so far! »

Using Shortcuts to Quickly Email Links to Someone

There are certainly an endless supply of powerful and impressive Shortcuts out there for iOS, but that doesn't mean they all have to be that large or ambitious in scope. Shortcuts is just as useful for small, tedious tasks that only cut out a few taps from a workflow. One of the shortcuts I use every day is a simple Email link to spouse flow that simply formats the current webpage link into a pre-addressed email for me to send. »

Global Keyboard Shortcuts for Multitasking in iPadOS 15

The Globe key is going to get a workout in iPadOS 15. If you really want to take advantage of all the iPad’s greatest features, an external keyboard and the Globe key are going to unlock a new level of ease. »

iOS Calendar Automation with Shortcuts and Fantastical 3

The all new Fantastical 3 offers a huge number of new features and a whole host of new actions for Shortcuts. These make doing some actions that would otherwise require you to fine tune the native calendar shortcuts much easier, and easier to integrate into your workflows. »

Using CARROT Weather with Shortcuts and Siri

With a recent update, CARROT Weather now support Shortcuts and Siri, meaning you can create a Shortcut that enables your favorite robot to dictate the latest forecast to you. »

Command + Space on iPad: App Launching, Productivity, and More with the New Universal Search Feature in iPadOS 14

The new and improved Universal Search in iPadOS 14 is possibly one of the biggest power user improvements for the iPad in recent memory. Coupled with an external keyboard, iPadOS 14's new Universal Search can open notes, documents, folders, and webpages; it can start a FaceTime call or send a text message; it can help you play music in a flash; and with the power of Shortcuts, Universal Search brings automation to the iPad's Command + Space keyboard shortcut. Command + Space on an iPad with iPadOS 14 has a whole new meaning. »

Using Shortcuts & Streaks to Build Systems and Habits

Building up new systems and habits can be really hard work — especially when there are so many other things to do that we enjoy! But a little bit of automation and a few apps can really go a long way to helping you set yourself up for success. »

iOS 14.3 Home Screen and Shortcuts Improvements

Since iOS 14 released we’ve seen more and more people try customizing their Home Screens. Whether they take a more widget based approach or replace individual app icons (or a combination of the two), it seems the world has gone custom Home Screen mad. With a custom Home Screen, you can change the icon for […] »

MindNode gets an update with new export Shortcut, new node options

MindNode (our pick for the best mind mapping app) just received an update to version 7.1. It’s a small update that adds a couple of new node customization options and one important Shortcuts action for exporting tasks into your task manager. New Node Shapes If you like to customize the look and feel of your […] »

Take Control of Shortcuts for iOS with Rosemary Orchard’s New Book

There is a new Take Control book available today on Shortcuts, and it’s written by our own Rosemary Orchard! If you’re looking to take your iOS automation game to the next level, Rosemary is definitely qualified to help you. She’s written several automation posts here at The Sweet Setup on automation, like how to start […] »

Setting Do Not Disturb With the Action Button on the Apple Watch Ultra

The Apple Watch Ultra’s Action Button is one of the biggest departures from standard Apple Watch design in, well, ever. Ever since the introduction of the original Series 1 Apple Watch, we’ve only had access to the Digital Crown and the Watch’s side button. The Action Button increases the onboard physical buttons by a full 50%! »

How Rose uses Shortcuts and App Launchers to Track Time

Time tracking is something that yields really useful results, but it can be a pain to do accurately. I tried to do it manually for a long time, but after spending three consecutive days "reading" due to a stopped timer, and realizing how much of the rest of my data was completely inaccurate, I could see I needed a better approach. »

iPadOS 14: The Power User Update (Kinda)

The updates of iPadOS 14 feel like updates done by people who actually use their iPad, for people who use their iPad. There are a lot of thoughtful and exciting new features and refinements which not only improve the iPad experience right now, but continue to set the stage for future innovation as well. »

Enhance Your Home Automations with Logic

iOS 13 brought many things — including automations in Shortcuts. These automations allow us to do lots of things, but they also added the ability to seriously enhance our home automations. »

The Eight Best Ulysses Superpowers

The more you use Ulysses, the better it gets. And because all your documents are plain text, Ulysses is wildly fast at searching and filtering through everything. It does’t get “database bloat.” Here are eight of our favorite superpowers of Ulysses: 1. Keywords Ulysses calls them keywords, but they’re the same thing as tags. You […] »

Setting Up a macOS Hyper Key Using BetterTouchTool

If you're like me, you probably love using keyboard shortcuts to speed things up on your Mac using automation tools, but you probably also have trouble creating keyboard shortcuts that don't conflict with the built-in ones that ship with macOS. This is where the concept of a hyper key comes in. »

Customizing Hotkeys in Obsidian

Obsidian is great for Mac nerds like me who like to do everything from their keyboard. In this video, we’ll show you how to access commands from the Command Palette and set custom hotkeys for triggering commands using keyboard shortcuts. And if you prefer the step-by-step written version, read on. The Command Palette There are […] »

Mimestream is a Great, Reliable Gmail App for the Mac

Mimestream is a native Mac app built by Neil Jhaveri, who worked on Apple Mail at Apple for several years, and it shows in this new project. Gmail in Apple Mail just isn’t that great, and Mimestream feels like the answer to the question, what if you took all the good things about Apple Mail and then made it sync quickly & reliably, made it work with all of Gmail's proprietary features, and wrapped it in the fasted app on your Mac? »

Timery is Now on the Mac, and It’s Awesome

Timery (our pick for the best time tracking app) was just updated to version 1.2. The iOS version received some nice additions, like time entry suggestions, global keyboard shortcuts to start and stop timers, multi-window support, duration rounding, and a sidebar on the iPad. But the real star of the show in our opinion is […] »

Two Weeks with the iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 Public Betas

Each year, the tech experts advise all bleeding edge iPhone and iPad users to stay away from beta software. Developer betas — especially iOS 13 — were particularly buggy, and the iOS 13 public beta wasn't notably better. Of all years to put a bad beta taste in your mouth, 2019 should have done the trick. »

Magnet Brings Windows 10-Style Window Management to macOS

There aren’t too many features that Windows 10 sports that I miss on macOS, but more than anything, I wish default Windows 10 windows management was more explicitly available in macOS. Thanks to Magnet, this is possible. »

Josh Ginter’s iOS Setup for 2019

Josh Ginter is the Editor-in-Chief here at The Sweet Setup and also works as an accountant at a small accounting firm and is constantly working away at completing his CPA designation in the evenings. »

A Few Apps & Tips for Using ChatGPT to Boost Your Creativity and Productivity

Interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) has exploded in recent months, due in large part to the popularity of ChatGPT. While the technology is still evolving, there's no denying the impact that it's already having on the world around us. In this article, we're going to look at how to leverage AI to boost both productivity and creativity. »

Magnet Snaps Windows to Where You Need Them

If you want Windows 11-level window management on macOS, you’ll need a third-party app. Many folks like Moom or BetterSnapTool, but I use Magnet for window management on macOS. Best of all, Magnet goes far beyond what you find as default in Windows 11. »

Quick Tips for Staying Focused While Working From Home

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. »

A Roundup of Apple’s 2021 WWDC Keynote Announcements

If you had any inclination to think Apple’s pace of product development was slowing down during the global pandemic, today’s 2021 WWDC keynote event should knock you back into reality. At 1.75 hours, this was one of Apple’s longer pandemic-keynotes, but in the end we were left with a dizzying array of features destined for […] »

Twitter, But Without the Timeline

I've tried to "quit" Twitter a number of times over the last few years. The experiment generally lasted a week (often shorter) and resulted in my return. That return often led me to dig my heels in even deeper. A month ago, I tried again. In the month since, I haven't yet scrolled through my Twitter timeline. Something is different this time around. »

Using Prizmo Go In a Long-Term Research Workflow

Prizmo Go is a powerful app that instantly converts pictures of physical book pages into digital text, and combined with a research app like Keep It creates a magical workflow for managing your notes and research. »

Better macOS Emoji with Rocket

The Mac has long had a built-in emoji picker that you could access using a keyboard shortcut, but Rocket is a macOS emoji picker that makes typing emoji faster and easier by using Slack-style shortcuts. »

A Close Look at TickTick

Like many of you, I’ve been in and out of many task management systems over the years. I’ve used and loved all of the major players for macOS and iOS at different times as my needs have changed. But no task management system is ever perfect, which leads me to regularly try new things. »

Apps We’re Trying: GoodLinks

GoodLinks is a relatively new app in the read-it-later space, developed by the same folks behind 1Writer. We're giving it a try and comparing against the popular apps in this category like Pocket and Instapaper. »

Essential Apps for Your New iPhone

A list of apps we consider absolutely essential for every iPhone, as well as a range of apps that are simply better than their first-party counterparts made by Apple. »

The Ultimate Guide to Using Do Not Disturb on Mac and iOS

Do Not Disturb is a life saver. You can set it up on all your devices and it silences all your notifications. You can set it to turn on a set schedule, turn it on for meetings, or when you need to go “heads down” on an important project. »

Interesting Ways to Use Hazel on macOS

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. »

Three Tips for Making Windows 11 in Parallels Seamless on a Mac

A colleague on The Sweet Setup team recently asked me a profound question related to Windows on the Mac — a question wherein I completely dropped the ball in answering. The question was simple: Why would a regular Mac user choose to work in Windows on a Mac instead of macOS?" Tough question. In short, compatibility. »

Apps We Love: Espanso

For as long as I can remember, TextExpander has been the de facto solution for magically expanding text shortcuts into longer snippets on macOS and Windows (and even iOS). The service has grown and become more popular among individuals and teams, and that brought with it the dreaded subscription pricing model. Whether you're trying to cut down on subscription costs or you're interested in trying alternatives, allow me to introduce Espanso. »

New Review: Best Time Tracking App

We've been testing time tracking apps for the last several months, and are finally ready to declare a winner. There are a lot of options to consider and lots of different approaches, but Timery is the best time tracking app on any platform because it makes starting and stopping your timers a breeze and supports modern iOS features like Shortcuts and widgets better than any other app we tested. »

Alfred 5 Brings a Bunch of Workflow Improvements to Boost Your Productivity

Alfred version 5 is the first major update to Alfred since May of 2019. And while on the surface it may not look like there's a whole lot new, the Workflow editor has been completely rewritten from the ground up. This improves on the flagship feature of Alfred (the custom workflows) in almost every way, making them faster, more efficient, and (most importantly) more user-friendly. »

Take Better Screenshots on Your Mac with CleanShot X

I’ve used the built-in macOS keyboard shortcuts to take screenshots for years, but cleaning up screenshots can be a pain — especially if you have a messy desktop. Enter CleanShot X — a simple utility that offers several tools to make taking screenshots on the Mac easier than ever. The Quick Access Overlay Once you […] »

Voice Memo Apps: A Roundup and Overview of the Best

Capturing notes and ideas when you have them is important so that they don't fall through the cracks, but sometimes having to type out your note takes too long. You need something quick — a way to just offload what is currently on your mind so you can focus on what's in front of you. Voice memos are great for this, allowing you to speak your thoughts faster than you could ever type them. »

HEY Email: Two Months With the New Email Service

After two full months with the new email service, I’ve found myself settling into new email habits I never expected to form. Some of these habits are great (like checking The Feed only once or twice a week) while others are still forming, evolving, and restarting (such as how to handle emails I want to read, don’t want to miss, yet don’t need to keep for later or reply later). HEY’s consistent updates since debut have been met with much acclaim in my book. »

How to Make Fancy Screenshots with Picsew

You've probably seen screenshots all over the web with an iPad or iPhone frame around them, and you may even have a Shortcut that can do that, but there's a new app in town that can tidy up your screenshots for you, and it's called Picsew. »

The MacSparky Keyboard Maestro Field Guide

Keyboard Maestro is one of the most powerful and awesome apps available for the Mac. One thing you can use Keyboard Maestro for is to apply global keyboard shortcuts that can then be used to trigger just about any sort of macro, action, or script that you want. For example, I have a hotkey set […] »

A Few of our Favorite Things

We put together a list of some of our favorite gadgets, apps, tools, and toys that we've enjoyed using over the last year. »

A Review of the New 2018 iPad Pro

The new iPad Pro seems to have struck a touchy chord since its debut three weeks ago, and the reason is probably twofold. First, Apple’s marketing campaign comparing it against standard PCs invites unnecessary criticisms and unrelated comparisons. And second, there seems to be a wide range of unrealistic expectations. I really like how Jason […] »

Pushpin 3.1 update

The newest update to Pushpin, our pick for best Pinboard client, received a slew of awesome updates, such as keyboard shortcuts and custom feeds. »

How to be Productive with the Apple Reminders App

Over the past couple of months we have explored how to get the most out of the Apple stock apps. Apple has stepped up their game with the newest iterations of their stock apps (Notes, Calendar, Mail, Reminders…). In this article we are going to focus on the Apple Reminders app (with the updates from iOS 17). »

Notion Quick Capture Hacks

If you’ve been around here at all or are a fan of the Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) world, you’re no stranger to the term “Quick-Capture”. Quick Capture is an essential component of a good PKM system. Since Notion is my go-to app for pretty much everything, I’ve worked out a few ways to create a good system for quick capture in Notion. »

Raycast for Mac. The Next-generation Alfred?

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. »

Customize Your Stream Deck Using BetterTouchTool

The Elgato Stream Deck is a USB peripheral that gives you a grid of customizable buttons that you can assign to actions on your computer, like controlling Hue lights or muting your audio in Zoom. You can assign individual actions to physical buttons, and an LCD display allows you to customize the appearance of each button with an icon or text that you specify. So instead of trying to perform finger gymnastics to hit the right keyboard shortcut in the middle of a video call, you can just press a physical button instead. »

First Look: Arc Browser

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. »

Our Favorite iOS and iPadOS 15 Updates for Your New iPhone 13 and iPad mini

Autumn means new iPhones, but it also means new iOS and iPadOS drops. With a push of a button in Cupertino, your year-old iPhone and iPad can feel brand new again. And though many are touting this year’s iOS and iPadOS updates as relatively iterative, there are certain features that are sure to be daily-use features in the months to come. »

How to Track Your Habits Using Streaks

Whether or not you set New Years resolutions for yourself, keeping track of habits is something we could all stand to be a little bit better at. Streaks is our favourite app for this—available on all Apple platforms—so let’s take a quick look at how easy it is to get started. Creating a Basic Habit […] »

Mike’s iOS 14 Widgety Home Screen

iOS 14 introduced Widgets to the iPhone, which has allowed for some very creative home screens to be created to suit an individual’s preferences and personality. Here’s a look at my current iOS 14 Widgety Home Screen, and the thought process that went into designing it. Remember Why You Came I don’t know about you, […] »

How to Change the Default Mail App in iOS 14

iOS 14 has brought us many changes, from folders in Shortcuts to widgets on the home screen. But one of the features that has long been asked for is the ability to change the default app used for email. »

Ulysses Writing Tip: Using Text Replacement for Inline Notes and Annotations

When I am writing an article for my website or newsletter list, I try to focus on just that: writing. But the problem is that as I am writing, I am also thinking about what links, photos, or screenshots I want to add to the article. And there is usually at least a specific section that I know needs more writing or more research before it’s ready to go. »

HEY Email: How It Has Disrupted My Email Workflow

HEY has disrupted nearly every element of my email workflow. HEY has allowed me to experience a new level of email productivity, and it has even created a new sense of zen-like Inbox Zero in my Imbox, without archiving, deleting, or snoozing. »

Apps We’re Trying: AnyDesk

Our review of the best remote access solution for macOS and iOS may be a bit dated right now, but the pick likely hasn’t changed: Screens VNC is still as rock solid and as beautiful as ever before. In fact, Screens for iOS was just updated to properly support the new cursor support on the iPad, making for what should be an excellent experience zipping around on your Mac through your iPad. »

How Rosemary Orchard Uses Automation to Stay Focused

Rosemary is a tech lover and frequent contributer here at The Sweet Setup who lives in Vienna, Austria. During the day, she works as a web developer, but she can also be found at RosemaryOrchard.com and hosting Automators, a podcast about automation, and Nested Folders, a podcast about productivity. She loves to experiment with new apps and workflows, and the more automation included, the better! »

Create Your Own Services Menu Items for Files on macOS using Automator

On your Mac, when you right-click files in the Finder you may well have seen an entry on the shortcut menu called Services, which contain some helpful actions that you can perform on the file. But, did you know you can create your own Services that can show up in this menu? Today, I'm going to show you how to create four services that will help you get the most out of your Mac. »

A Different Photography Workflow

iPads and cameras — it seems to be the name of the game these days. With the Fuji and the profoundly capable iPad Pro in hand, there’s little that gets in the way of making wonderful photographs. »

Koen Adam’s Mac setup

Koen Adams works and lives in Belgium as a freelance cartographer and graphic designer, and also runs One Stop Map. »

Comparing Apple Notes to the Latest Version of Bear Notes

It’s time we compare Apple Notes and Bear once again. Apple Notes vs. the new and improved Bear has made for some interesting experiments over the last few weeks. Perhaps our findings below will help others dial in their note-taking app choice once more. »

The Ultimate Guide to Apple Notes

Let's dive into what makes Notes so good. We’ll provide a few simple quick tips of things that make any Notes experience that much better, as well as the latest features coming to Notes in iOS 17. »

Matt Birchler’s Must-Have Productivity Apps

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. »

How to Organize Your Writing in Ulysses

In addition to giving you a distraction-free writing interface to help you get your words out onto the page, Ulysses also gives you several tools that will help you keep your writing organized. »

Mouseposé: A Handy Little Utility for Better Live Software Demos

Earlier this year, I attended the Macstock Conference & Expo where I saw Mike Rose share about a few tools to give better live software demos. One of the apps he mentioned was an app called MouseposĂ©, a simple macOS utility by Boinx software that I had somehow never come across before. »

Obsidian Task Management Basics

Obsidian ships with some basic support for task management, making it a great option for creating a digital bullet journal. But in this video, we're going to show you how to take those task management capabilities to the next level with a couple of additional plugins. »

A Workflow for Saving Ideas From Books and Articles to Obsidian

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. »

Bartender 4 Is a Must-Have App for Any MacBook Pro With a Notch

The iPhone is a much more popular product than the MacBook Pro, so naturally the discussion around the iPhone X’s notch was much larger than the discussion around the MacBook Pro’s notch. If we were discuss them relative to one another, I think more words have been spilled on the MacBook Pro’s notch. »

A Beginner’s Guide to Craft: Documents, Pages, and Blocks

There is a plethora of note-taking and research-tracking apps available for the iPhone, iPad, and the Mac. Currently popular ones, like Obsidian and Roam Research, are tremendous for storing research and making connections between your discoveries. Others, like Apple Notes and Bear, excel at collecting all sorts of media types, including text, photos, URLs, and handwritten snippets. And still others, like Drafts, whip text and automations together to form ultra-fast workflows on your devices. »

Things 3.14 Debuts Markdown Note Formatting

It’s been awhile since our pick for the best productivity app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac received a notable update. Over the past year or more, Things 3 has slowly evolved under-the-hood, becoming one of the most stable and reliable apps available on the App Store. But Things 3.14, though a small update in relation […] »

Five Things We’re Most Excited for in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey

Guess what? It’s mid-week for WWDC 2021. It’s new beta time for iOS and MacOS. And we promise ourselves every year we won’t make the download and risk losing our precious digital lives to the ether. (So far, nobody on The Sweet Setup team has downloaded the betas just yet (except for Rose) and so […] »

Triggers & App Open Automations

This is a video lesson from the new Time Tracking module in our Simple Time Management course. It’s 20% off during launch week. On iOS, we can easily create an automation that allows us to start a timer anytime we open an app. This is one of many tricks I use to help me track […] »

How to Use Folding & Focus Mode in MindNode

If you work with large mind maps frequently, you’ve probably already experienced how overwhelming things can become as your mind map continues to grow. Fortunately, MindNode has a couple of features which make it a lot easier to focus on only the sections you want to see. Folding Nodes Folding a node hides all the […] »

A Thorough Beginner’s Guide to Roam Research

Roam Research is a new note-taking tool that's re-imagining the way that we capture information, and it takes many of its cues from the pre-internet era. Doing away with the traditional file and folder structure that most note-taking tools have stuck with since the dawn of the PC, Roam has more in common with Wikipedia than it does with a traditional notes app. »

Apps We’re Trying: Tot

Tot is a simple text scratchpad app from Iconfactory that does one thing: capture and edit small bits of text. »

Things 3.11 Brings Big Improvements to Quick Find Feature

The Things team may be one of the hallmark reasons for a wide swath of iPad-focused keyboard features over the last year to year-and-a-half. Ever since that huge Things 3.6 update back in late May 2018, the team at Cultured Code has always put iPad keyboard support at the top of the feature list. One […] »

A Roundup of Health Features to Check Out in iOS and watchOS

Apple has made health a commitment over the last few years. In the latest iOS and watchOS there are a whole host of features which you can use to keep on top of your health, including several things new in watchOS 6 and iOS 13. »

Moving Back to Apple’s Stock Apps

I’ve spent the last week or so switching things back to Apple’s stock apps from the best third-party apps in the industry, and I’m going to give them a shot for as long as I can. Here are a range of initial impressions and frustrations in making the switch. »

Start Your Day Automatically with Keyboard Maestro

One of the ways I like to use Keyboard Maestro is to start different parts of my day, such as making sure all of the applications I use every day are started and ready as soon as I get to work. »

A Beginner’s Guide to Word on the iPad

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. »

My iPad Writing Setup

These days I do just about everything from the iPad. iOS and the iPad have helped me to slow down, simplify, and focus more on the task at hand — especially when that task is writing. »

Justin Hamilton’s Mac and iPhone setup

Justin Hamilton is a first-year student at the University of Delaware where he studies computer engineering, writes music, and also takes pictures. »

First Look: Cardhop for Mac

Flexibits, the makers of our favorite calendar app, Fantastical, launched Cardhop today, a brand new app designed to manage and interact with your contacts in a whole new way. »

A Roundup of the Best Obsidian Plugin in 2024

One of the things that makes Obsidian unique is the ability to extend its capabilities with third-party plugins. In this post, we share a bunch of our favorite Obsidian plugins to help you take your personal knowledge management game to the next level. »

A Time Blocking Comparison: Sunsama vs. Fantastical

Habits change. Inspiration comes and goes. Workflows spring up and taper off. But for me, time blocking never changes. Time blocking has become fundamental to my work day, ensuring I have chunks of time to complete tasks and ensuring my colleagues know what I’m up to. Time blocking structures my day. Time blocking blocks out extra meetings. Time blocking pushes me forward. »

Josh’s Must-Have Productivity Apps

As Matt so wisely put last week, we’ll quickly run the risk here of replicating each The Sweet Setup contributor’s must-have productivity apps. By the end of this little series, you’re likely to see a few commonalities, such as Notion, Fantastical, Ulysses, 1Password and perhaps Things. Each of these apps rock in their own right. And we as a group have a great taste in productivity apps. »

Chloe’s Must-Have Productivity Apps

When you create a productivity system or find a new app, the goal needs to always be the same. Does this system or app serve me and my goals? I am definitely guilty of spending time perfecting my system to the point that it becomes so rigid that it’s unusable. Or I just end up […] »

Quickly Launch to a Specific Notion Board in iOS and macOS

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. »

Using Web Apps in the New Arc Browser Rather Than Native Apps

If I had written about using web apps in Arc a month or two ago, I would have discussed how this was a failed experiment. Instead of using the native Notion, Hey, and Slack apps for macOS, I opted to create spaces and tabs inside the new Arc browser. The apps behaved super quickly in Arc and all the latest and greatest features were present from the start. »

Turning Obsidian into My Perfect Writing App

When I first started using Obsidian, I expected it would help me make connections between my notes and inspire new ideas. But over the last 12 months I've been using the app, I have also fallen in love with it as a writing tool. »

Quick Tip: Outlining in Obsidian

Another powerful use of Obsidian is as an outlining tool, but if you’re used to other outlining tools like Workflowy, or even Roam Research, outlining in Obsidian may feel a bit limited. However, there are a couple of plugins that will allow you to enhance the outline capabilities of Obsidian, and in this article, we’re going to show you how to set those up. And if you prefer to watch a short video instead, we’ve got you covered. »

How to Create Text Snippets in Alfred

I had my first taste of text snippet expansion way, way back when everyone could use TextExpander without the subscription cost. There was a little bit of magic every time one of those snippets expanded. It was even cooler when you triggered a little dialog box that let you type in a custom bit of text to be added into the text expansion. »

How to Record Professional Screen Shares with CleanShot X or Loom

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. »

An Early Look at Matter on the Web

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. »

Apps We Love: Affirmations

Affirmations is a simple app with a singular purpose — to provide compliments and reminders to help make self-care a little easier. »

A Beginner’s Guide to Craft: Linking

Blocks are the very core of Craft. They provide countless ways to format, structure, and build out your documents. They can take numerous forms, from text, audio, video, PDFs, sketches — there is very little Craft can’t handle thanks to its block-based system. »

A Look at Big Widgets and Focused Home Screens in iPadOS 15

With big displays come big widgets in iPadOS 15. Though we had a glimpse of the “larger” widgets with iOS 14’s News widget (sort of), the larger horizontal widgets in iPadOS 15 mostly came out of left field. iPadOS 15 widgets are even larger than the vertical News widget in iOS 14, taking up three columns in the app spring board and displaying content in bold new ways. Apple touted these extra large widgets as being great for media apps like Music, TV, and Photos, where the media inside the app can shine brightly. »

Automating Drafts to Create Custom Documents in Seconds

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. »

Comparing Craft’s New Daily Note Features to NotePlan 3

I’ve bounced around daily note-taking apps for the last 18 months or so. The search started with Roam Research, then moved over to NotePlan 3, and now rests in Craft. Each has its own intricate set of features and shortcomings, and I’m still not perfectly jumping for joy with any option. »

Quick Capture with Drafts

Drafts is one of my most frequently used apps. It was designed for capturing text so you can do something with it. Over the years it's evolved, becoming more powerful and more flexible. This has lead me to use it more and more because it's incredibly easy to capture my data, and the processing options are endless. »

Combat Burnout with a Productivity Journal

In our productivity flywheel, the fourth stage is to celebrate your progress. But sometimes this feels counterintuitive or inconvenient. Because when we want to be super duper productive, we often think that speed and efficiency are what matter most. Thus we get stuck in a loop of doing, doing, doing... without ever pausing to celebrate. »

Appending Captured Text in Drafts to Daily Notes in Obsidian

Drafts has long been the place that text starts on my iOS device. But lately I've been doing a lot more in Obsidian, and was looking for a way to get that text into Obsidian easily when I was done. While this is pretty straightforward using a cloud service like Dropbox to sync your vault, I then began wondering if I could do something more than just dump my text files into a synced folder. »

How I Use Time Blocking to Increase My Efficiency

Time blocking is something that took a while to click for me. I understand the concept of dependent tasks, and time restrictions well, and once the pieces fell into place it really became a game changer for me. »

Using Craft Notes for Study and Preserving Long-Term Knowledge

I've been going to school for 10 years. It's been a long, long road, full of all sorts of amazing lessons, few of which have anything to do with the actual content I'm studying. These 10 years of school have been a testament to the "The journey is the destination" mentality. »

App’s We’re Trying: Food Noms

I've resisted calorie tracking for years, mostly because the apps that were available for this sort of thing seemed way too complex for me. Every couple of years I'll get inspired to pay attention to what I'm putting in my body and try all the apps again, but none of them have come even remotely close to working for me. I need something simple. I don't want to weigh my food in grams before I eat it; I just want to be a little bit more intentional about my eating habits. »

Things 3 Introduces Full Cursor Support for iPad Users

As Apple’s new Magic Keyboard accessory for the iPad Pro makes its way to customers, CulturedCode is rolling out robust support for mouse and trackpad use in the latest version of their acclaimed task management app, Things 3. Things 3.12.2 brings full support for the new iOS cursor subsystem, including contextual menus, swipe gestures, and […] »

Kyle Bauman’s Mac, iOS, and Watch setup

Kyle Bauman is the Associate Pastor of Discipleship & Students at Bear Valley Community Church in Colleyville, TX where his main responsibility is teaching and leading ministries for middle school, high school, and college students. »

Join us Today for A Nerdy, Live, iPad-Centric Webinar (Updated)

Update: Thanks to everyone who joined us live. It was a blast. We had around 400 folks join us live for the call. We went through quite a bit of tips and tricks and also answered a whole bunch of questions around GoodNotes, iOS Shortcuts, productivity workflows, and more. During the webinar I got this […] »

GoodNotes 5.3 for iPadOS Adds Multiple Window Support, OCR Scanning, and Dark Mode

GoodNotes (our pick for The Best App for Taking Handwritten Notes) was recently updated to version 5.3. This is a pretty major update, adding support for multiple windows, OCR scanning, and Dark Mode. Here’s a breakdown of what’s new. Multiple Windows There are lots of ways you can open multiple windows in GoodNotes: With GoodNotes […] »

Creating a Custom Alfred Theme

While there are a ton of features that factor into us selecting Alfred as our favorite app launcher for the Mac, one of our more whimsical favorites is the ability to change the appearance by creating a custom theme. This is a paid feature that is part of the Alfred Powerpack, a worthwhile upgrade that […] »

Alex Tai’s Mac and iPhone setup

Alex Tai is a student at Santa Clara University where he studies Computer Engineering and collaborates with others on ideas and new technologies. »

Jeffrey Abbott’s Mac Setup

Jeffrey Abbott is the Senior Editor at The Sweet Setup, but works as a project manager by day and contributes to The Pen Addict as well. »

1Password on Your Wrist

1Password on the Apple Watch is a fantastic tool for your security toolbox – it helps ease the friction of 2-factor authentication, can be opened and updated quickly, and sometimes it’s just nice to put some text on your wrist to reference in the moment. »

Adrian Thomas’ Mac and iOS setup

Adrian Thomas is a Brit living in Munich, Germany where he works as a product manager at equinux making apps and gadgets for Mac, iOS, Apple TV, and Apple Watch. »

Dan Mitu’s iPhone setup

Dan Mitu is a philosophy and computer science student who is interested in Machine Learning and has recently started experimenting with iOS development. »

Matt Hamilton’s OS X and iOS setup

Matt is a video editor living in Austin, TX and is known for creating a feature film, "Wild In The Streets," and a short film called "Saved By The Belding," which recreates an episode of Saved By The Bell. »

The Staff Favorites

Here is a running list of our personal favorite apps on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The are the apps we, The Sweet Setup staff, use day in and day out for work and play. »

Chris Humphries’ sweet setup

Chris is a Digital Media Specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) where he works with a team to produce and deliver high-quality digital content. »

What we published this week

Lots of updates to several of our favorite apps, an excellent setup interview, plus some tips on using synced iCloud browser tabs. »

Omnivore is a Really Good, Completely Free Read Later App

Omnivore is one of the newest, and probably one of the most underrated read-it-later services out there. Many of us know about Pocket, Instapaper, Matter, and Readwise Reader, but Omnivore deserves to be in the conversation as well, as it does quite a few things very well, and even better than the rest in some cases. And it does all this completely for free. »

A Closer Look at Apple Notes’s Smart Folders

Right alongside the ability to tag your notes in Apple Notes is the ability to create smart folders. Smart folders are tags and folders on steroids — you can build out entirely custom ways to unearth and organize your notes. »

How to Use Apple Notes to Save Highlights

If you don’t believe personal knowledge management (PKM) isn’t in a hayday right now, go check out ToolFinder.co. You’re going to find the very best apps for note-taking, emailing, calendaring, to-doing, and producivitying across the wide internet. The list is long and the pocketbook requirements deep — you can spend a ton of money and a ton of time building out a system that works for you. »

A Guide to Determine if Apple Mail Is the Right Email App for You

Apple’s built-in Mail app has become pretty feature complete over the years. Though the latest email features take a year or two to show up in Mail, most have made their way into the app — features like Send Later, Snooze, Undo Send, and more are now all in Apple’s default Mail app and available to all iPhone, iPad, and Mac users. »

Here’s What You Need to Know About Raycast Pro

It was nearly a year ago that I first wrote about Raycast here on The Sweet Setup, and few apps have seemed to gain as much momentum in recent years in the Mac enthusiast crowd than this new app launcher. In fact, I don't think I've seen this many Mac nerds change their app launcher since 2010 when Alfred first hit the scene. »

Setting up a “Calm Inbox” View for a Distraction Free Email

Whenever I launch the Mail app on my Mac, I’m presented with a completely blank inbox. This is not because of an Inbox Zero strategy. Rather, I can search for any specific emails I may be wanting to get to, or write a new email completely undistracted by whatever is in my inbox. »

Startup and Shutdown Routines

The key is to nail the beginning and the ending, and anything that happens in the middle doesn’t matter so much. »

Is Matter or Readwise Reader the Read-Later App for You?

There’s been a battle brewing over the past year or so between Matter and Readwise Reader over which is the better brand-spanking-new read later service. Here at The Sweet Setup, we try to pick the best apps and services in every category we can, but the TSS crew is split on this one, so today Josh and Matt are going to make their case for why they prefer each of these apps. »

Jeff Abbott’s Must-Have Productivity Apps

We've heard from Matt and Josh on which apps they consider irreplaceable for their workflows and productivity, and now it's my turn to pull back the curtain. These days, a lot of my work happens on a work MacBook Pro that is fairly locked down. The IT-managed operating system presents some challenges when it comes to finding a good productivity balance, and these apps meet my needs on my work device and personal devices too. »

A First Look at Rewind.ai

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. »

In Praise of Habit Trackers

Quick wins are rarely the elements of a long-term strategy. If you search for quick wins, you’ll find them. But they won’t add up to anything substantial over time. Instead, focus on being consistent with smaller actions you can stick with over a long period of time. Here’s why… The two types of goals (and […] »

A Quick Review of the Logitech MX Master 3S Mouse

It may be the incremental upgrade of all incremental upgrades: The Logitech MX Master 3S — at least on paper — is one of the smallest gadget updates we’ve seen in recent memory. Put them side by side and you wouldn’t be able to see the difference (unless you were comparing to the newest “Pale Grey” Master 3S color), you probably wouldn’t physically feel the difference, and unless you have a trained eye, you probably wouldn’t notice an on-screen difference either. But rest assured, you’d instantly be able to tell the two top-end mouses apart once you’ve clicked them. »

A Workflow Using Hazel, Alfred Snippets, and Automator to Rename PDF Documents

I generate a lot of PDF documents every March and April. Some back of the envelope math would clock in around 3,200 documents generated or so. Each tax return would require between 3 and 6 documents, each with their own unique filename. Our naming convention is pretty simple, but requires each client’s name. And each […] »

Apps We Love: Irvue

Irvue is a lightweight menu bar utility that automatically changes your wallpaper on macOS, using Unsplash as a source for the images. »

Obsidian vs. Roam vs. LogSeq: Which PKM App is Right For You?

While there are lots of apps doing lots of interesting things with notes right now, by far the two most popular options are Roam Research and Obsidian. In this article, we're going to compare these two connected note-takers and help you choose the right one. »

Taming Links on macOS with Open In

I recently came across a fantastic little utility called Open In that allows you to modify the default application for browser, email, and call links. Yes, there are other apps that have done this sort of thing in the past, but Open In is built for Apple Silicon and does a whole lot more than any other app like this that I've seen. »

Event Notes in Craft Are Awesome for Time Blockers

Daily Notes became a hallmark feature in Craft in short order. The quick and easy ability to create a note, specific to a calendar date, that could be linked and back-linked across your entire Craft database made the feature a perfect option for collecting digital paraphernalia. »

How to Use Live Text on Your Mac in macOS Monterey

Imagine seeing text somewhere in the real world and being able to easily share it digitally. That's exactly what Live Text allows you to do. Whether it's a handwritten note, writing on a whiteboard, or a printed sign, Live Text allows you to snap a photo and turn the text into a digital version that can be easily pasted into any application. »

A Beginner’s Guide to Craft: Daily Notes

Once you understand the ins and outs of what makes a block a block and how to link blocks together to both create documents and link your notes, you can begin to dive further into Craft’s more specific features. This week, we’re going to discuss Craft’s new Daily Notes feature. »

Alfred Adds Universal Actions with 4.5 Update

Alfred recently got an update to version 4.5. This update is a pretty big one, adding a Powerpack feature called Universal Actions which allows you to take text, URLs, or files and perform actions on them directly using a dedicated Alfred Universal Action hotkey. »

New Course: To Obsidian and Beyond

The all-new master-course for Obsidian users (new and old alike). Finally organize your notes and ideas to make creative output easy. »

Asier G. Morato’s Mac and iOS Setup

Asier G. Morato is the co-founder of Chubby Apps — an indie app studio from the north of Spain (Europe) who believes that technology should be easy to use. We make apps with a cute design that don’t need a user manual, are fully accessible, improve people’s lives, and also respect your privacy. »

Using Templates in Obsidian

Templates in Obsidian are a great way to jumpstart creating a new note. In this post, we’re going to show you how to set up and use a couple of different types of templates in Obsidian. If you’d like to see it in action, here’s a short video from our upcoming PKM course: If you […] »

Getting Started with Obsidian URL Schemes

Obsidian is a great application for storing all my notes and documentation about things in my life. One of the things I love about it is the ability to link to notes and even have those links do things when I click them. This means that I can easily jump to a project plan document […] »

A Few of Our Favorite Obsidian Plugins

Obsidian is a phenomenal notes app, but with a few free community plugins installed, it can become pretty much whatever you want it to be. In this article, we're going to show you how to install community plugins if you're not familiar with the process and share some of our favorites. »

Syncing Digital Highlights from Readwise to Obsidian

Readwise is a (subscription-based) web service that lets you save highlighted text from digital books, web articles, and even Read-It-Later services like Instapaper and Pocket. You can review your notes and highlights inside of the Readwise service, but you can also connect your Readwise account to PKM apps like Roam and Obsidian. »

The Art of Note-Making

I've been thinking a lot about Personal Knowledge Management lately and the path information takes as it enters and exits my PKM system, and I've noticed that information tends to fall into one of three buckets »

An Introduction to Callback URLs in Obsidian

One of the things I love about Obsidian is that it offers support for callback URLs. For example, you could include a link to a specific note inside of a task in Things or a link to an email message from your Daily Notes in Obsidian. In this article, I'll show you a couple of ways you can connect things in Obsidian to other apps. »

Capturing Ideas on the Apple Watch with Drafts

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 […] »

How I Use Roam Research for Journaling

Regardless of the tool you decide to use, journaling is a worthwhile habit to establish as we leave this year and get ready for the next one. »

What Apple’s M1 Chip Means for Creatives

iPads and iPhones have long had more power housed in their tiny, fanless bodies than most people have been able to truly grasp. In the last few years, Apple’s A-class chips in the iPad have even outpaced the chips found inside Apple’s Intel-based Macs, allowing for a glimpse into the future of what an Apple-chip-enabled Mac could do. »

Using Roam Research for GTD-Style Task Management

As a self-proclaimed productivity nut, I’ve been using some version of the Getting Things Done (or GTD) task management methodology for many years. I’ve also been experimenting recently with Roam Research, and am intrigued by the app’s ability to tie everything together. I’ve tried to do this before and it’s failed miserably, so I was […] »

How to Set Up Custom Swipe Gestures in Airmail (Video)

This is a free sample video from our new course, Calm Inbox. The course will normally sell for $99, but right now you can save 20% during launch week (just $79). The full course has over 50 videos to help you get less email and more focus. It shows you how to handle any message […] »

Apps We’re Trying: Meeter Pro

Built by a team that's spread across London, Berlin, and Zurich, Meeter was created as a direct response to the mass shift of workers to online conferencing tools. They saw a pain-point, and built an awesome tool to make the problem easier to manage. »

How I’m Using Roam Research for Bible Study

Roam is a masterful tool for creating your own rabbit holes. My biggest concern is whether the creation of these rabbit holes is creation for the sake of creation, or if an actual discovery or connection will be found as we go. Only time will tell. »

What’s Great (and Not So Great) in watchOS 7 Sleep Tracking

One of the things that was announced during this week's WWDC Keynote presentation was sleep tracking for the Apple Watch. The feature has long been rumored, and is finally making its way to the watch in watchOS 7. Let's take a look at how it works and why it's important. »

A Comparison of the New Apple Pencil Features in Apple Notes & GoodNotes

There was a ton that was announced in the WWDC keynote presentation on Monday. iOS 14, iPadOS, watchOS 7, macOS Big Sur, a bunch of privacy and Home updates, and even a big upgrade for AirPods. But one of the sections that really caught my attention was the announced improvements to the iPad with Apple Pencil. »

Brand New: Simple Habits (A TSS Course)

I’ve been a “habit nerd” for nearly 20 years. Routines have helped tremendously with my desire to keep areas of my life on track over the years. A few examples include things such as creating every day, a weekly date-night with my wife, an automatic saving and investing, consistent workouts. These certainly ebb and flow […] »

Deckset Update Allows You to Present to a Window, Perfect for Online Presentations

As much I love Keynote, I've used Deckset for a long time because it's a simple solution for throwing together quick presentations using Markdown. With Deckset, you actually edit your presentation in plain text in an app like Ulysses and Deckset applies all the styling automatically based on the styling in the currently selected theme. »

One Switch is the Menu Bar App for Quickly Toggling Tedious Settings

One Switch is one of the handiest menu bar apps I’ve come across in recent years that excels at making quick system setting changes a one-click affair, and takes it a step further by offering additional switches for connecting to your Bluetooth headphones, locking your keyboard, changing screen resolutions (for those nasty screenshots), playing music, hiding desktop icons, and more. »

How and Why to Make the Time to Think

If you've been following along, we've covered quite a bit when it comes to capturing and developing your ideas. In this post, we'll delve into why it's important to schedule thinking time for your work. »

The Best Notes App for iPad

No matter your needs, one of the following notes apps are bound to have you covered on Apple’s latest iPads. »

Mindfulness Monday: We Updated Our Best Mind Mapping App Review

I've been sharing recently about the system I use for capturing and developing ideas, and at the heart of this system is a mind mapping habit. Mind Mapping helps me develop my ideas so that I don't deal with writer's block and saves me a ton of time by making it super easy to get started whenever I sit down to write. »

Why Mind Mapping Works

How a mind map can save you time, energy, and anxiety when it comes to writing, creating, planning, and more. »

Creating Intentional Technology Habits in 2020

In this Mindfulness Monday post, we consider how to leverage our technology to create intentional habits. Last week, we published an interview with bestselling author James Clear about starting and building better habits. There’s some great insights in the interview about how habits work, and James shares some great tips about how to create them. […] »

Essential iOS Apps for Musicians

It's a fine time to be an iOS musician. There are a ton of great apps out there that can help you refine your craft and even perform live music in new and interesting ways. »

Enhance Your File Search with Alfred

Many people use Alfred to search for files on their Mac and to launch applications, but these functions barely scratch the surface of this great app! Today we show you how to make the most out of the files integration in Alfred. »

The iPhone 11 Pro Battery Case Review

Despite the massive year-over-year improvements in battery life of the latest iPhones (all three, the 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max), there are still those who somehow find a way to crush their battery on a daily or semi-daily basis. »

Apps and Gear for the Holidays

It's that time of year once again when we like to bring you a few of our top app and gear picks to help get you through the holiday season in one piece. From recipe gathering to trip planning, photo editing, and various kinds of audio distraction entertainment, this handy list has a bit of everything. »

Spark Version 2.5 for iOS Brings New Design, Dark Mode, and Customizable Email Actions

Earlier today, the Spark email mobile app got a significant update to version 2.5. The update brings a new design, support for Dark Mode, customizable email actions, and much more. New Design & Avatars Spark has always been a beautiful application, but version 2.5 features a new design which makes it even better. Messages in […] »

Revisiting the Apple Stock App Experiment

In early September, I put myself up to the task of converting all my third-party apps in these categories to Apple’s own stock apps. After a few months, it's time to check in and see what Apple apps made the cut over my favorite third-party apps. »

Set Up Your Drafts Workspaces for an Improved Writing Experience

Drafts is an excellent app for note taking and writing, and workspaces are a very powerful feature that can make it even easier to use. With the release of version 5, it became my preferred writing app for nearly everything. Workspaces are the key to that transformation. »

Dark Noise: An Delightful White Noise App for iOS

Released just over a month ago, Dark Noise is a simple yet powerful ambient noise app for iPhone and iPad created by first-time iOS developer Charlie Chapman that offers exactly what you'd expect: a collection of high-quality ambient noises (38 in all) to help you sleep, focus, or relax. »

A Beginner’s Guide to Excel on the iPad

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. »

Some of Our Favorite Tech Podcasts

We've been listening to (and making) podcasts for a long time, and there have never been so many incredible options available to podcast listeners as there are currently today — no matter your interests — which means there are a ton of great tech podcasts out there for Apple enthusiasts like us. »

Jour: A Guided Journaling App for the iPhone

Journaling is one of the best habits you can create. It allows you to distance yourself from the emotion and business of the day by reflecting on the events that happened so you can achieve clarity on the situation and see things from the proper perspective. »

Bumpr 1.2 adds Custom Browser Rules, Browser Plugins, and More

Bumpr is a Mac App Store utility that allows you to select a browser in which to open links when clicking them. It’s a handy little app that is great for anyone who occasionally has a need to open links in various browsers, and it recently received an upgrade to version 1.2 that adds several […] »

The Best Apps for Thinkers

We rely on certain apps to get us through the mess and come out the other side with a plan. In today's roundup, we've gathered together eight of our favorite apps for outlining, brainstorming, planning, capturing, and tracking it all. »

Apps for New Apple Watches

No matter how you use your Apple Watch, there’s always a better third-party app to complete the task at hand. These five Apple Watch apps will really help jump-start your new Apple Watch and get you hooked on the quality and utility of third-party apps. »

The Calmest iPhone Yet

Each of the 3 new hallmark features — Screen Time, Notifications, Do Not Disturb — have multiple things you can do with them. Let’s go through each one to see what is going to be possible, and why it’s so awesome. »

Stop Leaving Emails In Your Inbox

Whereby we take a look at how to better process email and take a look at a workflow to move necessary emails into your GTD system. »

Automations and Workflows for Things on iOS: The Complete Guide

In a significant update to Things 3, Cultured Code has added deep linking features that allow for new levels of automation and workflows for Things on iPhone and iPad. In this guide we will cover all the ways you can use these Things iOS Workflows to your advantage, plus we've got several examples and downloads for you. »

Toomas Särev’s Mac and iOS setup

Toomas Särev is a cardiologist, leader, husband, dad of 5, granddad of 2, first-degree black belt in Traditional Korean Martial Arts (Kuk Sool Won), Harley Davidson motorbike enthusiast, Apple Gadgets lover, and productivity geek. »

Anna Crotty’s Mac setup

Anna Crotty lives in San Diego and works on databases for member-supported news organizations. »

Productivity & Focus Workshop Replay

We hosted our first, live workshop for Sweet Setup readers. There were several hundred who joined us for live the workshop, and it was a blast! »

Apps we love: Transmit

Transmit is a powerful, reliable, and easy to use FTP client that is well worth purchasing if you work with file servers on a regular basis. »

Working with email URLs on macOS

Mail and Airmail both offer methods of copying individual message URLs so you can easily create references in action items, notes, and more. »

What we published, and links of note

A new pick for the best simple to-do list app for iOS and macOS, a tip on restoring files to iCloud Drive, a reader's Mac and iOS setup, and more. »

Wayne Chan’s Mac and iPhone setup

Wayne Chan is a student at Hangzhou Dianzi University in China, and he also does freelance and records a podcast with his friend occasionally. »

V.H. Belvadi’s Mac and iOS setup

V.H. Belvadi is a postgraduate student of physics studying an extremely rare breed of variable stars, and also makes photographs and directs short films in his free time. »

Gerry Hayes’ Mac and iPad Pro setup

Gerry Hayes owns Haze Guitars in Dublin, Ireland, where he builds and repairs guitars, writes books on guitar repair and maintenance, and also runs Sketchy Setups. »

Alok Singh’s Mac and iOS setup

Alok Singh is a senior at UC Berkeley where he studies Mathematics and is also interested in Computer Science, reading, and research. »

Tim Bornholdt’s Mac and iPhone setup

Tim Bornholdt is a co-founder of The Jed Mahonis Group, a mobile app development shop based in Minneapolis, MN, and also films and edits C Tolle Run, a weekly show about running and fitness hosted by Olympian athlete, Carrie Tollefson. »

Kyle Plattner’s Mac and iPhone setup

Kyle Plattner works as a developer with a team in Central Illinois developing an iPad app that maps real-time field data for farmers called FieldView Cab. »

Brandon Green’s Mac and iOS setup

Brandon Green is a product manager by day and a songwriter/producer by night, and lives in mellow (but surprisingly fun) Salem, MA »

Jeff Sheldon’s Mac and iPhone setup

Jeff Sheldon is the founder and designer of Ugmonk, a design brand that sells products like leather goods, prints, hoodies, and other sweet accessories. »

Our favorite iPad writing app

Editorial is our favorite writing app for iPad because it contains so many power-features that make us more productive and happy writers. »

Chad Landman’s Mac and iOS setup

Chad Landman is a youth minister (pastor), independent designer, and podcaster living in the middle Tennessee area with his wife and two sons. »

Steven Wooding’s Mac and iOS setup

Steven Wooding is a senior research leader at RAND Europe (Cambridge UK) and the father of two small boys and also co-directs the Policy Research In Science and Medicine unit. »

What we published, and links of note

Here are the things we published this week, as well as some great link material. You can also stay up-to-date by following us on Twitter and RSS. Also, we have a weekly email newsletter that sums up all the new and cool things published to the site. If you like to stay up-to-date via email, […] »

Christine Chan’s sweet iPhone setup

Christine Chan is a a writer and editor over at AppAdvice.com where she covers reviews and news of iOS and some Mac apps on a daily basis, and also writes her own personal blog. »

Brandon Wentland’s sweet setup

Brandon Wentland runs a 14-person digital marketing agency called Optimal, where they help brands make money online by driving lots of traffic to their sites and converting them into buyers, as well as custom website design and development. »

Conor McClure’s sweet Mac setup

Conor McClure is a student currently living in Western North Carolina, days away from finishing a degree in music business, and writes conormcclure.net, where he talks about photography and technology. »

What we published this week

The best VPN solution for OS X and iOS, a great tip for launching Flash URLs in Chrome from Safari, a standing setup, and more. »

Nik Fletcher’s sweet setup

Nik Fletcher is a part of the Realmac Software team in Brighton, England who make Clear, Ember, and more. »

Jason Snell’s sweet Mac setup

Jason Snell is the editorial director at IDG Consumer, which includes Macworld, PCWorld, TechHive, and Greenbot, and also co-hosts The Incomparable podcast. »

Shawn Blanc’s sweet Mac setup

Shawn is the editor-in-chief of The Sweet Setup and Tools & Toys. He also does a lot of writing and podcasting on his weblog, shawnblanc.net »

The sweet iPad setup of Federico Viticci

Federico is the writer behind MacStories.net, the co-host of The Prompt podcast, contributing author to The Sweet Setup, and a casual eater of pasta. »