defaultfolderx
Latest
Keyboard Maestro on sale in Productive Macs bundle plus revised time tracking macro
Before I get into today's main topic, I want to remind you that until November 18th, you can get Keyboard Maestro as part of the current Productive Macs bundle. For $30 you get seven apps, including Keyboard Maestro (normally $36) and another utility I highly recommend, DefaultFolderX which normally sells for $35. So you can get both apps for less than the cost of either – plus five other apps! Grab that bundle. Now, as part of my quest to get people over the initial learning curve of Keyboard Maestro, I'm going to revisit Terminally Geeky Time Tracking via Screenshots and show you how I've made it much, much simpler. A quick bit of background It was a day like too many others: I was being pulled in a dozen directions and couldn't keep track of all my different projects. I knew I wasn't going to be able to remember everything I had worked on, and I was afraid I would forget to go back and finish something. A more organized person would have kept notes or put things into OmniFocus, but I needed something that required no effort from me to maintain once I set it up. I needed someone to walk around behind me taking notes of the things I was leaving behind, or some way to leave myself a trail of virtual breadcrumbs to retrace my steps. Then it hit me: a Keyboard Maestro macro which takes a screenshot every 30 seconds. Review the screenshots at the end of the day to see where I spent my time, and make sure I didn't forget anything important. If you want more detail, you can read the original post, or you can listen to Episode 71 of the "Home Work" podcast where I talked about it with my TUAW colleague (and "Home Work" co-host) Dave Caolo. Mavericks broke the old version, but that's OK because this version is better anyway. My original solution was called screenshot journal, and it was built around a shell script which could be called either by Keyboard Maestro or by launchd. That script was built around /usr/sbin/screencapture to take screenshots. Unfortunately, as of OS X version 10.9.0, screencapture does not work if you use multiple monitors. I suspect this will be fixed in a later version of OS X, but here's the good news: you don't need a separate shell script anymore. As I mentioned in the original article, Keyboard Maestro was always the best solution, but I added the launchd method as an alternative, even though it wasn't nearly as good. Version 2 of screenshot journal is Keyboard Maestro-only, which means that not only do you get the original benefits, but it's now easier to install, configure, edit, change, and maintain. All you need to do is download the Keyboard Maestro macro and import it into Keyboard Maestro. There is no step three. How to install the Keyboard Maestro macro Adding my new Keyboard Maestro macro to your computer is very easy. Obviously you need to have Keyboard Maestro installed and running on your Mac. It comes with a free 30-day trial period, so if you haven't bought it yet, you can try it out first. Once you have it installed and running, simply download Screenshot-Journal.kmmacros by control+clicking on that link and choose "Download Linked File As..." if you use Safari or "Save Link As..." if you use Chrome (or whatever similar option your browser offers). Save the file as Screenshot-Journal.kmmacros Note that Safari may decide to name the file Screenshot-Journal.kmmacros.txt If so, just change the filename so that it ends with ".kmmacros" and if a dialogue appears asking you to confirm the change, select the "Use .kmmacros" button, as shown here: Once the file is properly named, double-click it and it will automatically import into Keyboard Maestro. Boom! Done. What it does and how it works At its core, all this macro does is take a screenshot and save it. Everything else is details. Then again, depending on who you ask, God, the devil, or delight is in the details, so they aren't to be overlooked. So, while you keep that core idea in mind, here are the details: Each screenshot has a unique name, and that name starts with the current time, in 24-hour format. That way you can easily sort an entire day's worth of screenshots in the Finder and retrace what you did. The filesystem does not like colons in filenames, so I use "." instead. For example, if a screenshot was taken 7 seconds after 3:22 p.m. the filename would start with 15.22.07. The macro will run every minute that you are logged into your Mac, starting at 6:30 a.m. and ending at 11:00 p.m. (You can easily change the starting and ending times, as well as how often it runs, just by clicking up and down arrows in Keyboard Maestro.) The macro will also run anytime you press the keyboard shortcut: Option/Alt (⌥) plus shift plus 3 (Note that there is no command (⌘) key.) You can easily change that keyboard shortcut in Keyboard Maestro, or set it not to have a keyboard shortcut at all. Last (but truly not least!) the macro will run any time a new application activates. For example, if you are using BBEdit and then press ⌘ + Tab to switch to Finder, the macro will take a screenshot. I added this because I realized that no matter how short the interval was between the macro automatically running, I might briefly switch to another app, do something, and then switch back to the original app. The only way to catch that was to run every time a new app was activated. This also allows you to set a higher interval between timed execution of the macro. (You could even disable the timed execution altogether and only have it run when a new app activates, but I don't recommend that because you might switch tasks within the same app. For example, maybe you started our reading your Gmail, but then you clicked a YouTube link and spent the next several hours reading Wikipedia. If you only took screenshots when you switched out of Safari, you could end up with an hours-long gap that shows you were using your web browser, but without showing you what you were doing in it. On the other hand, if the computer has been idle (meaning no keyboard or mouse/trackpad input) for more than 2 minutes, the macro will not save a screenshot. Chances are that you have stepped away from your Mac, and a new screenshot would be the same as the previous screenshot. (Instead, an empty text file is created with a special name so you can see that the macro ran but found the computer idle.) Also, if the screensaver is running or if the screen is turned off, the macro will not save a screenshot. (Instead, an empty text file is created with a special name so you can see that the macro ran but found the screensaver running.) If you use more than one monitor, Keyboard Maestro will screen capture all of them into one image file. Image files are saved as GIFs by default, but you can easily change that within Keyboard Maestro just by selecting one of the options in a drop-down menu. (Note: in my testing, JPG screenshots were more than twice the size of GIFs, and PNG screenshots were almost three times the size!) All screenshots are saved to ~/Pictures/screenshot-journal/ but you can choose a different folder if you wish. Sub-folders are automatically created for each day, so (for example) all of the files created on November 8th, 2013 would be saved to ~/Pictures/screenshot-journal/2013–11–08/. Collecting them into dated folders makes it easy to sort them in the Finder, and you can easily trash screenshots from previous days if you no longer need them. The image filenames also show 2 other pieces of information: 1) the name of the active application at the time the screenshot was taken and 2) the name of the active window in that application (if one exists). That way you can easily look through the filenames and get a rough idea of what you were working on. For example, my most recent image filename is "22.13.59.MultiMarkdown Composer (screenshot-journal–2.mmd).gif" which tells me that at 11:13:59 p.m. I was working on a document named "screenshot-journal–2.mmd" in MultiMarkdown Composer. If you decide that you do not want to use this macro any more, simply disable it by selecting the macro in Keyboard Maestro, and then choose the menu item: View » Toggle Enable, as shown here: If you change your mind want to try it again at some point in the future, use the same "Toggle Enable" menu option when the macro is selected in Keyboard Maestro. Final thoughts If you are worried about CPU usage of something like this running every minute, all I can tell you is that I never notice it on my 2010 MacBook Air. This macro isn't fancy, and it doesn't do any analysis. That isn't what it was meant to do, but if you want a Mac app that can do that, checkout Time Sink from the great folks at Many Tricks. You can try it free for two weeks, and then buy it for $5 from the developers or from the Mac App Store As always, I prefer to buy direct. The money goes directly to the developers, you get faster updates because you don't have to wait for the Mac App Store approval process, and you don't have to worry that Apple will change the Mac App Store rules (again!) so that apps no longer work or have to remove functionality. (If Time Sink isn't what you are looking for, several people have recommended Rescue Time to me. I haven't used it yet, but they have a free version which you can sign up for without any credit card information.) It should go without saying that there are some minor security and privacy issues that go with using any sort of automatic time tracking program. If someone else can access your Mac, they could look through your folder of screenshots and see what you've been doing all day. That being said, if someone has access to your Mac, you should either trust them enough not to worry about them snooping around, or you should use a short screensaver timeout and require a password to unlock it. This macro has been very helpful to me. It can be a bit intimidating or even scary at first, but being able to trace back through my day and see where my time went has proven to be useful time and time again.
Sync iCloud to Dropbox
Mac and iOS users are going to be increasingly pushed to choose between storing their documents in iCloud or Dropbox. I expect that Apple will continue to push more and more features to iCloud that will make people want to use it, and I expect that Apple will continue to make iCloud easier and easier for iOS and Mac developers to use, so developers will want to support it. I like the idea behind iCloud, but I don't really trust iCloud yet. Apple's previous attempts at online services have left me suspicious about iCloud's performance, reliability, and long-term future. I hope I'm wrong and that iCloud turns out to be great, but in the meantime, I know Dropbox, and I trust Dropbox. One of my favorite features of Dropbox is the ability to go back and see revisions from the previous 30 days. It's my safety net. The good news is that you can sync iCloud to Dropbox. The bad news is that it's a one-way sync from iCloud to Dropbox. But if all you want to do is backup iCloud files and be able to retrieve previous versions from Dropbox, it's pretty simple to do. I'm going to use Byword as an example because it's fairly straight-forward, but the process should work roughly the same for any iCloud enabled Mac app. Step One: Make sure iCloud is enabled. Go to System Preferences » iCloud and make sure that you have "Documents & Data" set to sync. Step Two: Create an iCloud-based file. The exact process for this differs from app to app. Byword has a File » Move to iCloud menu item. Step Three: Find the local iCloud folder. Here's where things get a little bit tricky. You have to get into the "Library" folder in your Home directory, but that folder has been hidden in Lion. Fortunately for you there are at least 18 ways to view that folder. My recommendation is to go to the Finder, select the "Go" menu, and press the Option/Alt key. When you do that, you'll see the Library folder appear. Or use ⌘ + Shift + G and type in "~/Library/" if you prefer keyboard shortcuts. Once you are in, look for a folder called Mobile Documents You'll find something like the list of directories shown here. Inside each one is a "Documents" sub-directory. I bet you can guess what is stored in there. Step Four: Sync changes via Hazel. Hazel was recently updated to version 3, and one of the new features is a 'sync' option. For those who don't know Hazel, you should, it's one of my irreplaceable apps. It allows you to create rules for all sorts of actions to happen in specific folders if different criteria are met. For example, Hazel can tell if a file has been modified since the last time Hazel checked a specific folder. If it has been modified, you can tell Hazel to do specific things, including "sync" from that folder, so another one. Click on image for a larger size I created a 'Byword' folder in my ~/Dropbox/ and then created a Hazel rule which says "If any files have been modified since we last checked (matched) this folder, then sync the 'Documents' folder (located inside ~/Library/Mobile Documents/) with the Byword folder in Dropbox. Step Five: (Optional) While I was checking around inside ~/Library/Mobile Documents/ I used Default Folder X to set the Byword iCloud folder to be the default folder for all new Byword documents. Now whenever I create new document on my Mac using Byword, I know that it will automatically be saved to iCloud and Dropbox. This isn't something that I will do for all of my iCloud-enabled apps, but I've been using Byword more and more lately for all sorts of writing projects, and I want to do everything I can to make sure that I am "covered" when it comes to saving my files. Two local copies (one in Mobile Documents, one in Dropbox folder) and two copies in the "cloud" (iCloud and Dropbox sync), plus 30 days worth of "undo"? (Not to mention that each of my Macs will have local copies as well, as iCloud and Dropbox sync across my network.) That's a system I can create and then forget about.
Mac power tools: charge up your workflow
I recently bought a new Mac, and I decided not to migrate years of cruft over to a pristine Snow Leopard install. I also decided to shed years of stale workflow and adopt a new way of doing things. Enter the power tools: software that augments the power and performance of OS X to do things faster and smarter. I'll examine some general system enhancements and look at a couple of powerful Mac/iPhone app combos that really work well together. Step one was finding a replacement for my beloved QuickSilver. I had abandoned QS well over a year ago due to performance issues on most of my Macs, but after a nagging pain in my wrist surfaced, I realized I had to find more keyboard shortcuts. Enter LaunchBar, which fills in for 90% of what QuickSilver used to do for me. LaunchBar is one Ctrl-Space (configurable, of course) away from Spotlight searching, Google searching, application launching, math calculations and much, much more. LaunchBar is $25 around $35 per seat, and worth taking 15 minutes to learn the basics. Go ahead, hate me for giving up QS, but try LaunchBar before you hurl the insults. Next I needed a better way to juggle 3 Gmail accounts. But I also needed a way to track the metric ton of inbox items that flow through those email conduits. The solution was the combination of MailPlane and Things. I had really dedicated my heart to Toodledo, but there's one trick I couldn't replicate on any setup (The Hit List included): when I get an email in MailPlane, I can select some text and press Shift-Ctrl-Opt-Cmd-0 and the Things HUD pops up and autofills the notes section with a link to the email itself. It is awesome. Not perfect, mind you, but a huge thing for me. Read on for more power tools and tips.
Default Folder X adds Snow Leopard Support
One of my favorite little utilities has been updated to fully support Mac OS X 10.6.1. Default Folder X makes it easy to navigate when both saving and opening files, and it has saved me constant hours of prowling around for folders where I save and open stuff. It's been particularly valuable when I'm working on a new book, because I have graphics and text strewn all over the place in folders on multiple disks. This new update also adds improved capabilities in Mac OS 10.4 and 10.5. In Snow Leopard I saw some nasty strange screen drawing anomalies, and that is now fixed with this most recent version. The developers also say there are improvements when using Final Cut Pro, QuickTime Player 7, and other applications that export files using QuickTime.You can try the utility for free for 30 days. Otherwise it is US $34.95, or $14.95 for users of versions bought before June 1, 2007.It's nice to see this utility updated, and while I love it dearly, it would have been so nice if more of this functionality had been built in to OS X natively. Until then, Default Folder X is a great solution for opening and saving files in a completely quick and sane manner.
WWDC Live: Jon Gotow of St. Clair Software
I was excited to speak with Jon Gotow of St. Clair Software, creator of Default Folder X, which is an invaluable tool to me. He is also an important voice in the OpenMeta debate and evolution happening right now, which will get its own article in the near future. He attended WWDC with his son, Ben Gotow, and had a lot to say about the state of Apple and looking forward. Continue reading for the video. Update: This video has been moved to YouTube and is now watchable.
Parallels offers "Green Computing Bundle"
Parallels started offering a bundle of applications for sale last night (yes, that Parallels -- the one that makes VM software). The Parallels "Green Computing Bundle" is a collection of 9 applications for $49.99 including: Parallels Desktop for Mac MacScan PasswordWallet Macintosh Explorer Macaroni Drive-in PageSender Default Folder X docXConverter The biggest application (and therefore the biggest deal) is by far the inclusion of the Parallels Desktop. You can purchase the bundle by visiting Parallel's Green Computing Bundle website.
Default Folder X 4.0 refined for Leopard
St. Clair Software has just released version 4.0 of its well-known Default Folder X for both Leopard and Tiger. This utility enhances OS X's Open and Save dialogs in a number of ways, allowing easy access to favorites and Spotlight comments, defining a per-application default folder, integrating with open Finder windows and more. The new version revamps the interface with a more HUD-like Leopard look and offers support for Quick Look as you can see above. Last week Macworld posted a preview video that does a good job of explaining just what makes Default Folder X so handy.Default Folder X is $34.95 and a demo is available. The upgrade is free to registered users of version 3 who purchased after June 1, 2007. The upgrade cost for other OS X registered users is $14.95 (and $19.95 for OS 9 registered users).[via Macminute]
