Still locked in your email all day? There is a better solution for that!  (Sponsor)

Daylite is more than just a CRM app for small businesses. Its Productivity capability is what sets Daylite apart from other web-based competitors. Here is an example of one of Daylite’s unique features – Daylite Mail Assistant (DMA). Direct Apple Mail integration allows you to take action from your inbox and be more productive. Instead of drowning in emails all day, you and your team can capture all email communication, clear out your inbox and stay on top of the next steps. Save emails related to clients, appointments, and tasks, so you have a full history of conversations in one place. Plus, you can create tasks in Daylite right from Apple Mail.

DMA automatically scans the email addresses in the “To” and “Cc” fields. If the person is a prospect and there is no prior correspondence, with two clicks, you and your team can store that first email as a piece of history in the Daylite database. DMA then searches for additional contacts or objects associated with that prospect. If another person at the prospect’s firm has been in contact about your offer and been identified as an open Opportunity in Daylite, that Opportunity and its related history will appear, allowing you to link it to the most recent prospect.

DMA can also display upcoming Tasks and Appointments with prospects and customers and add new ones if required, providing a handle on deliverables to anyone for your business who needs to know. DMA is only one of the many productivity-boosting power features that thousands of Mac-based small businesses couldn’t do without. To learn more about how Daylite, the made-for-Mac, iPhone & iPad CRM and productivity app, has become a game-changer for Mac-based small businesses. Learn more here.

Focused 151: The Bento Method, with Francesco D’Alessio

Francesco D’Alessio joins Mike and me on this episode of Focused to talk about the state of productivity apps, picking the right tools, and his new app, Bento.

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

  • Kolide: Endpoint Security Powered by People. Try Kolide for 14 days free; no credit card required.
  • Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code FOCUSED at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
  • Indeed: Get a free $75 credit to upgrade your job post.

Early Access for the Shortcuts for Mac Field Guide (MacSparky Labs)

I’m happy to announce the early release of the Shortcuts for Mac Field Guide for MacSparky Labs Early Access members only. With Early Access, you get to see the Field Guide as it works through the final stages of getting built and prepared for release… This is a post for MacSparky Labs Level 3 (Early Access) Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in?

The May Virtual Meetup (MacSparky Labs)

Over the weekend we had the MacSparky Labs Virtual Meetup. This one took place on Saturday, May 7, 2022. Topics include:

0:00 Warming Up and New Mac Studios
7:19 Docks and Cables
18:14 Spending Bruce’s Money
33:31 WWDC Hopes and Dreams
46:46 Protecting Doc’s Whiskey
50:07 Developer Wishes for WWDC
51:20 The New Mac Pro
56:42 WWDC Surprises …

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?

Mac Power Users 639: Software Club: Greg Pierce and Drafts

In the inaugural meeting of the Software Club, Stephen and I talk about Drafts and our use of the application. Then, we are joined by Drafts developer Greg Pierce to talk about the app’s community of users, its 10th anniversary, and how Greg uses Drafts himself.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • SaneBox: Stop drowning in email!
  • 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.
  • Fitbod: Get stronger, faster with a fitness plan that fits you. Get 25% off your membership.
  • Electric: Unbury yourself from IT tasks. Get a free pair of Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones when you schedule a meeting.

Automators 101: Red Sweaters and AppleScript Fun with Daniel Jalkut

In this episode Automators, Rosemary and I are joined by Daniel Jalkut, the man in the red sweater behind FastScripts, MarsEdit, and the Core Intuition podcast. Together, we ponder the future of AppleScript, the restaurant at the end of the universe, and just how fast is a script.

This episode of Automators is sponsored by:

  • TextExpander: Your Shortcut to Efficient, Consistent Communication. Get 20% off.
  • Hunter Douglas: Take advantage of generous rebate savings opportunities on select styles.
  • DEVONthink: Get Organized — Unleash Your Creativity. Use this link for 10% off.

Get It Together with Timing (Sponsor)

This week MacSparky is sponsored by Timing. Timing is a time tracking app that automatically records your time and then reviews it later.

Making positive changes in your life requires good data. How much time are you spending doing your work versus planning your work? How much time do you sink into YouTube, Amazon, and the like on an average day? You might think you know these things, but until you run accurate timers, you really don’t know.

That’s where Timing comes in. With Timing, you instantly see how you are spending your time so you can work more productively and make smarter decisions about how to spend your time.

The Timing app makes recording and reviewing your time easy with automatic tracking and a simple interface for adding details about what you did each day so you can see how much time was focused on each task. In addition, you can use Timing to share projects and times across your team while preserving each team member’s privacy.

I use Timing for my time tracking because the data is so good, and catching up is easy. Some days I may forget to log time, but it is trivial for me to tell exactly when I finished one thing and moved on to another with all the Timing data. Want to hear more about how I time track? We covered that on a recent Mac Power Users episode.

I run Timing on my Mac every day, and you should too. I even made some screencasts on how I use Timing. Download the free 14-day trial today and get 10% off for the first year!

May 2022 Questions and Answers (MacSparky Labs)

The questions have been piling up so it’s time for another Question & Answer video for the MacSparky Labs. In this video:

0:27 How’s it going?
0:58 Missing the law?
1:39 Going from two things to one thing.
3:04 What about free time?
3:55 Mac Studio Order?
4:40 The Looming Discord
5:18 Field Guide Status
6:42 WWDC Wishes…

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

Why Apple’s Productivity Apps Should be Separated from macOS

As we are heading toward WWDC in June, many folks have ideas about what they expect or what they’d like to see. Something I’d like to see Apple do is remove their native apps (Mail, Calendar, Reminders, Contacts, and the like) from macOS.

Historically, Apple has kept these apps tied to the operating system release cycle. That means once a year, at best, we get some updates. I say “at best” because there are years in which these native apps get little, if anything, in terms of an update. This annual cycle plays a role in the pitiful state of some of these apps. Apple Mail is the poster child for this. We’ve been asking Apple to modernize Apple Mail for so many years now that, at this point, most pundits have just given up and moved on. Even when Apple does make significant improvements on a native app, Reminders is the most recent to get this, it still suffers because the refinements that become obvious after release will require a whole year to see an update (again, at best).

In contrast, look at the iWork Suite, Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. These apps have their own development teams and their own release cycles. As a result, we regularly see improvements, small and large, that make the apps more functional, user-friendly, and stable.

What is the basis for this seemingly arbitrary distinction between Pages and Reminders? They are both productivity apps that Apple’s customers rely upon daily. One has a dedicated team of developers and regular updates, and the other seems to have neither. Whatever the original reason was for giving Pages a team and making Reminders part of the operating system, I suspect few people are left at Apple that remember when or why. It feels something more akin to institutional momentum that keeps some apps trapped in the operating system while letting others escape it. Despite being a company that has so often freed itself from various forms of lock-in, it baffles me why Apple still shackles some of its most important applications to the operating system update cycle, but even after many years, it continues to be the case.

While I have hopes for Apple’s direction with its hardware and software at this year’s WWDC, I have little hope that they will remove these native apps from the operating system. I don’t know enough about the way Apple works with these apps to know why this continues, but it’s time to let them free of macOS.