Fix Your Photos with PowerPhotos 2.0 (Sponsor)

We’re heading into a new year, and I’m guessing over the holidays you took a few pictures. How’s your Photos library doing? If it’s anything like mine, it’s a mess right now. 

Did you know there is an app to help you out with that? PowerPhotos is here to the rescue.

PowerPhotos works with the built-in Photos app on your Mac, providing an array of tools to help you get your photo collection in order. Find and eliminate duplicate photos, split up your library into smaller ones, merge libraries together, open libraries in separate windows, export photos/albums, and more. 

Best of all, PowerPhotos 2.0 is now available! There are some great new features in version 2.0: 

– Convert your old iPhoto or Aperture library to an equivalent Photos library
– Advanced export of photos/albums
– Full support for iCloud Photos
– New visual duplicate detection engine library groups
– Global menu bar item
– Multiple windows 

PowerPhotos adds all the features to Photos that Apple never will. You can download PowerPhotos for free to check it out, and purchasing a license will unlock all the features of the program. MacSparky readers can get a 20% discount with the coupon code MACSPARKY23, and existing iPhoto Library Manager and PowerPhotos 1.0 users can also use their old serial number to receive upgrade pricing, 50% of the normal price.

So make the Photos app work harder for you with PowerPhotos 2.0. You can get it today.

DEVONthink: The Place for Documents and Files (Sponsor)

I often hear from listeners/readers looking for a research solution in the Mac ecosystem. My favorite app for this, without a doubt, is DEVONthink. DEVONthink is the most professional document and information management application for the Mac. It’s the one place for storing all your documents, snippets, or bookmarks, and working with them.

The Integrated A.I. assists you with filing and searching, while the extensive search language with advanced Boolean operators.

DEVONthink features a Flexible sync system that supports many cloud services – or lets you synchronize over the local network too – with everything securely encrypted. This gives you the choice for however syncing works best for you!

It has Smart rules and flexible reminders that let you automate all parts of your workflow and delegate boring, repeating tasks. Let DEVONthink automatically organize your data with rules you define!

DEVONthink’s AppleScript dictionary is one of the largest on the Mac. There’s no part of DEVONthink that can’t be automated. Extend DEVONthink’s functionality with your own commands by adding them to its Scripts menu.

Even templates can have scripts inside and you can set up new documents with data from placeholders, or inserted by your own AppleScript code.

DEVONthink To Go, the iOS companion app, has really seen a lot of updates this year. The latest version, 3.8, adds in-document search to text documents, formatted notes, and RTFs. Search using quotes and Boolean operators. When you open a document from a global search, DEVONthink To Go reuses the query to highlight occurrences in the document. You can now also undo and redo many item actions, from moving and replicating to converting and more. It even now shows replicated or duplicated items in color, just like on the Mac.

I find DEVONthink’s combination of innovative features and automation support irresistible. Interested? MacSparky readers can get a 20% discount on DEVONthink.

Making Light, Candles that Create Focus (Sponsor)

This week MacSparky is sponsored by Making Light Candles, my favorite source for candles (both as gifts and for myself). There is something special about lighting a candle. It’s a ritual we humans have been doing for a long time, and I find it an excellent way to stay focused and in the moment.

Making Light Candles are great for this. It’s a small family business with over forty years of experimentation and a solid commitment to sustainability. They use all-natural soy waxes, cotton wicks, reusable and recyclable containers, and a carefully curated collection of beautiful fragrances.

With a Making Light subscription, you (or your loved one) will get a monthly delivery of several Making Light candles, matches, and a nice note.

And when you gift a Making Light subscription, you’re helping spread the idea of focus. The subscription is based on using the candle as a ritual to do something you love. I treat these candles as special and burn them only when working on my most important projects. The ritual of lighting the candle, the smell, and the entire process now triggers my brain into focus mode. It’s like a shortcut but for your brain. When I’m done, I blow out the candle, and it waits for the next time I need to engage in that project.

These rituals work on our brains. They help you stay focused and more in the moment for the most important things you do. When you give a Making Light subscription, tell your recipient about this idea and how this is your small way to help them with their essential work. They’ll appreciate that.

And while you’re doing it, you’ll know you are helping a small family-owned and operated company that focuses on making the best products and giving back. (One of my favorite things about the company is their focus on teaching kids to make candles and burn wax instead of their brains on social media.)

Best of all, use the code “Sparky” and get a $10 discount code on any new subscription. This offer is time-limited, and the holidays are approaching, so don’t miss out.

TextSniper Lets You Extract Text from Anywhere (Sponsor)

This week MacSparky is sponsored by a killer Mac utility, TextSniper. TextSniper is a Mac OCR app that can extract text anywhere on your Mac’s screen and automatically save it to your clipboard, so you can paste it anywhere you need it. It can even read the text to you. The whole thing works a lot like the built-in screen capture on the Mac, just way more powerful. You know those websites that won’t let you copy text? With TextSniper, you can. Do you know the pain of getting a phone number out of a document? It’s easy with Text Sniper.

That’s not all. With TextSniper, you can:

  • Quickly get text from PDFs, Zoom calls, Presentations, and Videos.
  • Read QR codes and barcodes.
  • Get text out of just about any image format, including JPG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, and BMP.
  • TextSniper also doubles as a QR code and barcode reader. It can even read the text back to you with its Text to Speech Engine.

I use this app often. It’s made by a developer who spends much time making it the best capture utility on the Mac. You can even use your iPhone or iPad camera to take a photo for TextSniper to perform its magic. Just last week I used TextSniper to pull text out of a paused YouTube video. Yup. You can do that.

Moreover, in an era where so much software is more about data mining than giving you a service, TextSniper doesn’t collect your data. The text recognition is processed on your Mac and does not require an internet connection.

TextSniper works with macOS Catalina and later and also works with Parallels Desktop

Get TextSniper now and enjoy the fastest way to copy uncopyable text, wherever you find it. Use promo code TSMS2023 to get an additional 25% off.

DEVONthink, The Best Database Solution (Sponsor)

This week MacSparky is sponsored by DEVONthink. There are a lot of ways to manage a database on your Mac, but in my opinion, there is no better tool than DEVONthink. Just a few of the things I use DEVONthink for include:

  • A reliable repository of research documents. DEVONthink will hold as many documents as you can throw at it. In addition, it makes import (and export) easy, so you can have all that power without feeling trapped.
  • A research assistant. DEVONthink uses artificial intelligence to analyze and connect your documents in ways that may not otherwise occur to you. This isn’t that new-fangled-kinda-dumb AI. This is search AI that finds shockingly relevant documents. It’s spooky.
  • An OCR Tool. Everything you store in your DEVONthink Pro library gets OCR’d. It just happens.
  • An Automation Tool. DEVONthink lets you build powerful automation subroutines into your library to help tag, move, and organize documents.
  • DEVONthink supports multiple sync methods and lets you even use your own sync password, so everything is encrypted. If you’ve got an iPad or an iPhone, you can access your DEVONthink data there, too, with DEVONthink To Go.

It never ceases to amaze me how fast DEVONthink search is. Just recently I needed an obscure documents from several years ago sent to me buy a guy whose name I could not remember. DEVONthink found it in my first search as the #1 result. Boom.

It is this combination of power and security that makes DEVONthink the clear winner. You can think of DEVONthink as your paperless office. You can automate your workflow from capture to filing, editing to publishing. It stores all your documents, helps you keep them organized, and presents you with what you need to get the job done.

And of course the DEVONthink team never stops making improvements. The latest update (3.8.7) improves upon Wikilinks, the Concordance inspector, and more.

Interested? MacSparky readers can get a 20% discount on DEVONthink. Use the code MACSPARKY2023 at checkout.

Upgrade Your Calendar with Fantastical (Sponsor)

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I am so pleased to welcome Fantastical as a new sponsor of the MacSparky blog. I’ve been using Fantastical since they first released their menu bar app and changed the calendaring world many years ago.

Over the years, it has evolved into a powerful calendaring system for me. Here are just a few of the ways that Fantastical’s unique features make my life easier:

  • I schedule nearly all of my appointments with the proposal feature. When I need to meet someone, I send them a proposal link, and they always pick one. I no longer play the email/scheduling shuffle game.
  • I aggressively use calendars and calendar sets so I can always see exactly what I need.
  • All of my Zoom meetings show up in my Fantastical events. I click the button and start the Zoom call. I haven’t started a Zoom meeting in any other way in the last two years.
  • Quarterly view. I love that view for future planning.
  • Fantastical widgets make the Apple Calendar widgets look so very sad.
  • Fantastical has excellent Shortcuts support, so I’ve fully automated the app.

There are so many reasons why I’m a Fantastical subscriber. If you’re looking for a calendar app that gets updated more than once a year and is made by complete calendar nerds, look no further.

Through the end of November, MacSparky readers will receive the biggest discount of the year and new users will save 50% by using this link – visit the Flexibits site to download the free trial.

Audio Hijack Is the Mac’s Best Audio Recorder, and So Much More (Sponsor)

Audio Hijack lets you record any audio on your Mac, from individual applications like Safari or Zoom, hardware audio devices like microphones and mixers, or even the audio output of the entire system. If you can hear it, you can record it. Whatever you need to do with audio on your Mac, Audio Hijack can help.

  • Record conversations from Zoom, FaceTime, and other VoIP apps
  • Save streaming audio from the web
  • Create podcasts, both remote and in-studio
  • Digitize vinyl
  • And so much more

To say Audio Hijack is essential to me for my work is an understatement. But my family and I find uses for Audio Hijack all the time. For example, my wife is now in the Disneyland Candlelight Christmas Choir. She wanted to practice but didn’t have any recordings. So we got last year’s concert on YouTube and downloaded the audio with Audio Hijack so now she can practice in the car.

Last week, Rogue Amoeba shipped Audio Hijack 4.3 with a brand-new Transcribe block to turn any spoken audio into text. The Mac’s best audio recording tool now also gives you unlimited transcription, without ongoing charges. Transcribe audio from a mic, an app, or a file. It’s great for video meetings, podcasts, and so much more. Read all about it in the Audio Hijack 4.3 blog post.

Through the end of November, MacSparky readers can save 20% by purchasing with coupon code SPARKS20. Visit the Audio Hijack site to download the free trial.

Time Tracking Made Easy with Timing (Sponsor)

When it comes to time tracking, it’s only as useful as the data is accurate. Setting manual timers often leads to bad data. As humans, we’re not very good at throwing switches every time we mode shift.

This week’s sponsor, Timing, gives you the benefit of time tracking without the inconvenience. Timing is an app for your Mac that automatically tracks your time. You don’t need to push buttons. Timing just does its job. It’s smart, it’s beautiful, and it’s easy to use.

Just download and install Timing, and it’ll start recording how much time you spend on each app, document, and website you use.

And now Timing will import your iPhone and iPad usage from Screen Time as well! This means you’ll get the complete picture of how you spend your time across all your devices.

If you haven’t tried Timing lately, you should. They added a new vertical timeline that is really nice. It’s easy to read and easy to edit. Time tracking gives me a lot of insight about where I am really putting my efforts. Timing is a great way to do it.

If you’ve tried time-tracking before and gave up on it, try Timing. It does the work for you. I’ve even made some videos showing how the app works.