Often when I use a different computer, Iām initially a little lost because the machine doesnāt necessarily have all the custom bits and bobs that I have set up to save me time. Everyone has shortcuts, ways of working, and preferred apps that they like to use - so I thought Iād outline a few tools and shortcuts that Iāve come to love over the years.
Given that I have a Mac on my desk, the following tips are biased towards Mac tools, but thereās many that have Windows/Linux equivalents too!
Google Chrome Custom Search Engines
Probably saves me hours a week - for any web-based tool where Iām constantly searching, Iāve created custom search engines to allow me to dive right into that system with the search term pre-loaded. Everything from our internal order system to the Knowledge base or our ticket system. For example, if I type āpc iOSā in the URL bar, Chrome searches the PaperCut knowledgebase for the term āiOSā. On any system where youād normally go to a bookmark, click search, enter the search phrase and click āgoā, that adds up to a lot of click-saving!
Alfred
Being British, I canāt help but not rely on my trusty butler - Alfred . Iāve only scratched the surface with this Spotlight-like tool (Appleās Spotlight is starting to catch up with Alfredās functionality), but I use Alfred for a host of quick fire actions, such as launching all the search functions available through Chrome mentioned above. That means that I donāt even have to go to the browser to search - I can summon Alfred with a keystroke and type āpc iOSā which not only takes me to Chrome and opens a new tab, but also performs the search. All in a couple of keystrokes. In addition to the core Alfred functions, Iāve built a few workflows to kick off different remote desktop sessions, letting me connect to the ESX server or the Mac VMs with a couple of keystrokes.
Keyboard Maestro
While weāre on the subject of keyboard shortcuts, I have an extensive library of keyboard macros built up with Keyboard Maestro . It goes above and beyond text replacement, and lets me assign keyboard shortcuts to almost anything. I use keyboard shortcuts for all my Applications so that I donāt have to cmd-tab through a list of them - for example a keystroke for opening Finder, or Terminal, or Slack etc. I can even control down to the tab-level, for example one keystroke will switch to chrome and switch to the ZenDesk tab, or the Gmail tab. My favorite function that brings out my inner geek is the one that lets me insert a customer upload link into a ticket with one keystroke. In the background itās building the custom URL for that particular ticket number (involves picking up the ticket number from the web page Iām on) and then inserting it where Iām currently typing. Fun stuff!
Sublime Text
Sublime Text is my go-to text editor and log-looking tool. Along with the āstylesā add-on it lets me open huge log files with ease with all of the search / highlight multiple functionality of Notepad++. Being able to highlight all the instances of a trouble document-name, or a job ID makes the whole thing way more searchable!
Wunderlist
Iām a huge fan of lists. But I also like my lists to roamā¦ which rules out post-it notes : ) Wunderlist fits the bill perfectly for me. Nothing too over-engineered, it looks great and it runs on all the platforms that I need, so that when Iām on the train and think of that thing that I need to do, I can drop it in Wunderlist and feel happy that it wonāt get forgotten when I get into the office. The important features for me are ordering, highlighting super important stuff, and reminders if I need them. I have multiple lists - things to do, Knowledgebase articles to write, even things to see in Portland! Love the lists!
Dropbox
An old favorite - obviously thereās file sharing, but my main use of it currently is for config file syncāing. All those workflows, shortcuts and other time-saving shortcuts I use are stored in Dropbox and automatically syncād. So if I log onto my home machine, I can use the same Application Shortcuts. After a while it becomes muscle memory - shortcut machinery!
Fantastical Calendar
When I combine my own calendar, my familyās calendar, and then I start to add in my work calendars, the out of office calendars and others, suddenly Iām left with a boat load of calendars to manage! I use Fantastical on my Mac as well as my phone, which lets me manage those a lot more easily! Selecting which ones to view, and assigning groups to them (e.g. āWorkā or āHomeā) cleans things up when only needing to view one set of appointments. And of course, the desktop version popup has a keyboard shortcut assigned!
Fake Printers!
Since we do a lot of playing with printers, I was always jealous of Windowsā ability to use a ānulā port . There are ways to set up /dev/null type printers in CUPS, but they never seem to act quite like a regular printer. Enter CUPS PDF . With all my CUPS PDF printers setup, I can simulate test jobs, recreate Find-Me environments and try out scripts and conversions, all without wasting any paper. Bliss.
Bonjour Browser
When hunting for clues with iOS bonjour troubles, I always go to Bonjour Browser first. It lets you see exactly what bonjour advertisements are out there on your network, and drill into the properties of those adverts - super handy for finding out why your printer advertisement isnāt showing up correctly on iOS!
Cloudy Tabs
I would move to Safari, but Iām still hooked on Chrome for a few of the features (the dev tools are great, and Iām still hooked on the multi-profile feature). Until then, I use Cloudy Tabs to open any browser tabs that I have open on my phone, without having to go to my phone. Since it uses the default browser, that system makes things pretty smooth with Chrome.
1Password
Iāve been late to the party with this one, but finally one banking āyou need this number of characters, but not this number, and you need this and that, and that and thisā password pushed me over the edge. I honestly donāt know why I didnāt switch to 1Password long ago. Itās already saved me buckets of time and frustration. Plus - itās now got built in support for Time-based One Time Passwords (think 2 factor authentication codes). Awesome stuff!
PostgresApp
Perfect for running an āexternalā database with PaperCut on a Mac so that I can use db tools to look at the tables and data within the PaperCut db when needed. PostgresApp makes running the db really simple - and it puts a cheerful elephant in the menu bar. What more could you need?
Keka
Simple I-can-unzip-anything type of app. Keka sits in the background and honestly most of the time I never notice it - which means itās doing its job!
Clocks
Itās sometimes the simple things that help every dayā¦ Clocks is one of them for me. It sits hiding in the menu bar until summoned (keyboard shortcut, of course!). Simple display of the current times on the West Coast, East Coast, Brazil, UK, and Australia. Favorite function? Being able to drag the slider quickly to see what the time will be in one of those locations at a particular time in one of the others. For me itās faster than typing in a time and translating it.
Super Duper!
A somewhat old-school interface, but it really does one task really well - Super Duper makes bootable backups of your hard disk. So when the meltdown happens, you can plug in your USB drive and boot off that to get things up and running.
Forecast Bar
Honestly I donāt know why I need this since the weather in Portland is mostly just raining. But when I need to check the weather to see if the wait for the train is going to be tropical or sub-arctic, Forecast Bar comes to the rescue. Looks great, accurate weather, and I love the minute-accurate rain prediction. Running out to the shops? Wait 7 mins for the downpour to ease!
And there you have it. A list of some of the helpers and tools that I use on a daily basis. While writing this, I came across a great article on the bus, talking about why we automate - and how sometimes itās to save mental energy - not necessarily time. The article has an awesome analogy about automation being like batteries (in this case). Oh and thereās an xkcd cartoon!
Some of the items above take a bit of setting up - especially the workflows, and the more complex keystroke macros. They also take development time when you change systems or migrate to different tools. The point is that when things are quieter, youāre investing in setting up processes and procedures that will then help you save time, and ensure accuracy when times are busier.
That also brings me full circle as to why I use Wunderlist in the first place (the to-do list app). When times are busy, it takes almost no time to dump the new-thing-to-do / new-thing-to-test / new-thing-to-explore into the list. I feel happy that itās going to get remembered, and when times are quieter, I can pick off the to-do items as time allows. It serves as a brilliant buffer against getting flooded.
Plus, itās sometimes just plain fun, building the macros / working around issues, and then knowing that your little macro saved some time for you - every time you use it!
Feel free to comment below with any tricks, tips or apps that have saved you time, or helped you automate something. Iām all ears!
