Daylite: A Superior CRM for the Mac (Sponsor)




This week MacSparky is sponsored by Daylite, which also sponsored this week’s Focus Mode webinar. Daylite has been the definitive CRM solution on the Mac for a long time. While most CRMs these days rely on a boring, uninspired web interface, Daylite has native apps for the Mac, iPhone, and iPad, taking full advantage of all the Apple APIs. At the same time, Daylite uses the latest cloud syncing technology to give you your data wherever you need it. It’s like combining peanut butter with chocolate.

Of course Daylite already has support for Apple’s Focus Mode, including setting up Daylite notifications as time-sensitive. You can learn more about Daylite and Focus Mode right here. There is no reason your CRM shouldn’t give you that native app feel and feature list. Just head over to Daylite and check it out.

Timing App Update




Timing, a prior sponsor of MacSparky.com, is out with un update. If you don’t already know, Timing automatically tracks which applications, documents and domains you spend time withs that you can quickly figure out what you’re spending (and wasting) your time on. With this update, they’ve replaced the “Review” and “Details” screens with one unified, and customizable, “Activities” screen. They’ve also got plenty of usability improvements for you to streamline your time-tracking workflow even more:

  • You can now start and stop timers right from the toolbar of the main Timing app.

  • You can now also start timers via the right-click context menu of a project.

  • On macOS Big Sur, toolbar buttons now show labels next to their icons to make their purpose more clear.

  • They’ve completely reworked the app’s onboarding. If you would like to give the new onboarding a try, you can access it via the “Replay Introduction” item in the “Help” menu. Maybe you’ll learn a trick or two that you didn’t know about yet!

  • Timing will now warn when creating a time entry causes other entries to get overwritten.

  • Slightly increased the width of time entry editors, giving you more space to enter details.

  • When starting a new timer, Timing will now suggest the most recently used project by default.

  • By default, Timing will stop any running timers when your Mac goes to sleep or when you quit the Timing tracker app. You can now customize this behavior in the app’s “Tracking” preferences.

I’ve been using Timing as my primary time tracking app for several months and it is sticking with me. It is the accurate Mac data that really makes the difference for me. If you want to figure out how much time you spend on different projects and which activities (like games, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) have the worst impact on your productivity, give Timing a try.

Focused 138: Hyper-Scheduling Revisited




On this episode of Focused, Mike and I return to the subject of hyper-scheduling after we’ve both been at it a few years. What works? What doesn’t? And how did Mike’s experiment go where he stopped blocking time?

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

  • Privacy: Smarter payments. Get $5 to spend on your first purchase.

  • Indeed: Get a free $75 credit to upgrade your job post.

  • Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code FOCUSED at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.

The Focus Mode Webinar

We’re getting down to the wire with the Focus Mode Webinar. I’ll be giving it at 9:00 A.M. Pacific on November 10, less than 12 hours after this post goes up. You can still sign up with the above link. If you sign up but don’t make it, I will be sending a replay link to those folks signed up.

I’ve spent a lot of time with Focus Mode in the last week as I’ve been preparing for this, and I like it better now than ever. There is a lot you can pull off with Focus Mode and a little creativity. Hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow.

Mac Power Users 613: The Future of Work, with Sean McCabe




Stephen and I talk with Sean McCabe on this episode of Mac Power Users about how he runs his businesses from what can only be described as a Mac battle station while stitching together macOS apps and several cloud services to be more productive.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • 1Password: Have you ever forgotten a password? You don’t have to worry about that anymore.

  • SaneBox: Stop drowning in email!

  • Zocdoc: Find the right doctor, right now with Zocdoc. Sign up for free.

  • quip: Better oral care, made simple. Get your first refill free.

Automators 88: Automating with Ryan J. A. Murphy




Ryan J. A. Murphy joins Rosemary and me on this episode of Automators to share automation tips for Obsidian, augmented intelligence, and automated parenting.

This episode of Automators is sponsored by:

  • TextExpander, from Smile: Communicate smarter. Get 20% off.

  • Stripe: Learn more about how Stripe and their products can support your business.

  • DEVONthink: Get organized—unleash your creativity. Use this link for 10% off.

Fantastical Version 3.5


Flexibits released a nice update to Fantastical. This update continues to put the pedal down and simplify virtual meetings with the addition of Webex integration. This version also improves the toolset for big meetings with public meeting proposals via URL, granular control over guest permissions in Google events, and general performance improvements when dealing with lots of invitees.

My favorite thing about the new version, however, is the Shortcuts support. The Fantastical developers jumped in with both feet with their Shortcuts for Mac integration with a pile of new actions. If you want to automate calendar events on your Mac, make sure to check out this update. (I’ll be covering all of these Fantastical actions in the upcoming Shortcuts for Mac Field Guide.)

TextExpander (Sponsor)




My thanks to this week’s MacSparky sponsor, TextExpander. TextExpander works for you to take your time back by helping you work faster and smarter so you can focus your time on your most important work by instantly inserting your text snippets with just a few keystrokes. 

Think of all of the different kinds of links you share everyday with your friends, colleagues, or customers. You can turn all of these must-see links into TextExpander snippets in a way that won’t look like alphabet soup, but that will also save you time. Once you create a new Snippet Group for things you frequently link to, like “My GIFs” or “Work Links” or “Affiliate Sites”, you would just have to type the abbreviation you created for your link snippet, instead of copying and pasting an entire address. For example, you could set up a snippet “/twitter” or “/instagram” which will pop up your account URLs so you can share links to your social media accounts. Or a link snippet could save you time if you have to go to a recurring video conference room. If you’ve created a link snippet for this virtual meeting room, you don’t have to go searching for that URL or email that has it for you to join that meeting. Think of all the link snippets you could create. 

Just a couple of keystrokes can instantly expand your snippets with TextExpander. It’s an instant productivity booster. You can leave the boring, repetitive tasks in the past when you get TextExpander and focus on what matters most.

My Productive Mac’s Todoist Course

For years now, Lee Garrett has been perfecting the art and science of screencasting over at ScreenCastsOnline. Just recently, Lee created his own online course about mastering Todoist. I spent some time in the course, and Lee did a great job. I’m so pleased for him in getting this school and course launched. I know it’s not easy. If you’re using Todoist and would like to get better at it, there’s no better place.