Drafts Gets Mail Drop (Sponsor)

This week MacSparky is sponsored by Drafts, my favorite text tool. Drafts is a text capture app. You open the app, and you’ve got a blinking cursor. Anytime I need to write down something on my phone. I tap the Drafts icon and get to work.

Drafts is a fully customizable text editor that works on the Mac, iPad, and iPhone. And by “fully customizable”, I mean that. You can not only change the way it looks but also the way it acts.

You can write, organize, fix, and share text in almost every way imaginable.

  • Drafts also has a full suite of editing tools.
  • Drafts can automate so your text gets sent to other places.
  • Drafts lets you create actions right in the app.

The other thing is that Drafts keeps improving. With the release version 38 (yes. 38), Drafts added Mail Drop. Now you can use a secret email address to send text into Drafts from any email account. Are you stuck on somebody’s sad Dradfts-less computer? No worries. Write the text in an email and send it to your account. Like everything else in Drafts, it is already a fully developed feature.

Drafts is the Swiss army knife for text. I keep it on all my devices all the time. You should too. That’s not all. Drafts’ developer has a special deal for MacSparky readers. You can get 50% off your first year of a new Drafts Pro subscription with this link. To work, this must be redeemed on an iPhone or iPad.

Addressing Unwanted Tracking

I’ve been playing with Bluetooth trackers since long before the AirTag showed up. There’s always been two schools of thought around these things:

1. Let Me Track Anything

A lot of the initial trackers had no limitations attached to them. If someone steals your thing, you’ll be able to track it without anyone knowing. If someone plants a tracker on you (or on your bag, or car, or whatever), they’ll be able to also track you without you knowing.

2. Just Help Me Find Lost Stuff

These are trackers not meant to remain a secret. Anyone who has an object with one of these trackers will get notified so they are never tracked secretly.

Apple immediately took this second path, which I agree with. I don’t ever see myself chasing down a thief and the idea of someone secretly tracking my location gives me the creeps and I don’t have any vindictive stalkers or exes in my life.

Apple and Google are officially both on board with a recent joint press release. (That’s right, a press release by Apple and Google, together.)

“Today Apple and Google jointly submitted a proposed industry specification to help combat the misuse of Bluetooth location-tracking devices for unwanted tracking. The first-of-its-kind specification will allow Bluetooth location-tracking devices to be compatible with unauthorized tracking detection and alerts across iOS and Android platforms.”

Using the Stream Deck with Apple Mail (MacSparky Labs)

I’ve heard from several members asking how I’m using the Stream Deck with Apple Mail. Here’s an explanation, along with downloadable links to referenced scripts. Can someone actually fill up a 32-button Stream Deck with Apple Mail? Yep…

This is a post for MacSparky Labs Level 3 (Early Access) and Level 2 (Backstage) Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in?

TextExpander Intervention Webinar Announcement (MacSparky Labs)

Let’s all get better at TextExpander together. In this webinar-style session, I’ll be sharing some of my favorite TextExpander snippets and tricks and I’ll be joined by Josh Centers from TextExpander with his own bag of tricks…

This is a post for MacSparky Labs Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in?

Mac Power Users 690: Better Touch Tool with Andreas Hegenberg

BetterTouchTool developer Andreas Hegenberg does his first-ever podcast interview on this episode of Mac Power Users about how he wanted to learn to make iPhone apps and stumbled into making one of our favorite Mac utilities, how the app has grown over the years, and making a go of it in the software business.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • TextExpander: Get 20% off with this link and type more with less effort! Expand short abbreviations into longer bits of text, even fill-ins, with TextExpander.
  • 1Password: Never forget a password again.
  • Electric: Unbury yourself from IT tasks. Get a free pair of Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones when you schedule a meeting.
  • Indeed: Join more than three million businesses worldwide using Indeed to hire great talent fast.

Capture Text Anywhere on Your Mac with TextSniper (Sponsor)

My thanks to TextSniper for sponsoring MacSparky.com this week. This is an app that I use … often. Just a few examples from the last week:

  • I got the serial number from a picture of a tool
  • I pulled text off of a donation receipt for my taxes.
  • I pulled some text from an unfriendly website about my Japanese maple bonsai.
  • I got nutrition data off a box of cereal.

TextSniper is a Mac OCR app that can extract text anywhere on your Mac’s screen and automatically save it to your clipboard so that 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.

Also, TextSniper doesn’t collect your data. The text recognition is processed on your Mac and does not require an internet connection. 

With TextSniper, you can:

  • Quickly get a text from PDFs, Zoom calls, Presentations, and Videos. 
  • Copy text from anywhere, even images and websites that don’t let you select text.
  • Quickly grab data like email addresses, phone numbers, and links.
  • Read QR codes and barcodes.
  • Get text out of just about any image format, including JPG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, and BMP.

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 it may be. Use promo code TS2023 to get an additional 25% off. 

Jazz Friday – Yayennings, Vol. 2

There are some remarkable contemporary jazz artists making traditional bebop jazz these days. One of my favorites is the Yayennings Quartet. It’s an interesting instrument composition with trumpet, tenor sax, bass, and drums. There is no traditional comping instrument (like a piano or guitar). Instead, the trumpet and sax frequently play soft chord tones behind the soloing player.

The trumpet (Jay Jennings, who also is the composer) and tenor sax (Bob Reynolds – yes, that Bob Reynolds) play tight melodies flawlessly. They just released their second album, YAYennings, Vol. 2 and every track makes me smile. Enjoy it this weekend.