It’s always such a pleasure to find out when one of my favorite developers has released a new app. That’s how I felt recently, when I read that The Low‑Tech Guys not only had a new app but that it was going to be a pretty strong player in the Mac automation field. That prompted me to approach the lead developer to learn more about the past, present and future of the company. But first, the apps.
Crank
Crank
Crank acts on triggers you define to take action without requiring user intervention. It’s more powerful than just Apple Shortcuts or Shortery, but at just €8 for a five-seat lifetime license, it stops short of Keyboard Maestro’s complexity and price.
Crank can do all of this and a lot more:
Stop notifications from interrupting Zoom calls
Check and fic quarantine issues on everything you download
Toggle VPN usage based on the connected wi-fi network
Move downloaded ebooks right into calibre
Change the audio output to bluetooh headphones or speakers when they connect
Automatically adjust your display
Disconnect Bluetooth devices before closing the MacBook lid
The Portfolio
It was the quality of Low Tech Guys' previous applications that made me happy to hear about their new release. I first encountered one of their apps a couple of years ago when I discovered Clop. Since then, I have systematically gone through their portfolio to take advantage of the extremely useful, free, and low‑priced powerhouses they’ve developed.
Clop
Clop ($15) - Clop automatically optimizes (reduces) the file sizes of images, videos and PDFs copied to your clipboard. Optionally, it can also convert files on the fly. Clop can even feed the results to a shortcut for further processing. You can set it so that it watches specific folders for different file types. - Clop - Image, video, PDF and clipboard optimiser
rcmd (FREE) - rcmd uses your right command key + a letter to launch applications. You get app-launching hotkeys without having to set them up manually, although you can do that too. You can use the same hotkey to hide an app or cycle through other apps. If you pait rcmd with Hammerspoon, you can even cycle through windows, not just apps. rcmd - Switch apps instantly using the ⌘ Right Command key
Lunar
Lunar ($23) - Lunar is the acknowledged leader in display control for all DDC capable monitors, whether it’s a brand new Apple Studio with a Mac Pro, or a no name brand connected to a Hackintosh. It’s features include:
Extending keyboard control for brightness and volume to all displays
Extra controls on Apple native displays
Sync mode to change the brightness of all connected displays based on the built-in Ambient Light Sensor
Exceed the brightness constraints on XDR Apple laptop displays
Dial screen brightness below the 0% setting (because that’s not really 0%)
Startup Folder (FREE) - Startup folder gives you aw way to open anything at startup, apps. shortcuts, links and files. It can hide anything you wajt running but not on screen even when that’s not a native feature. You can optionally set it up to keeps apps from quitting and if they fo, they will automatically be relaunched. Startup Folder - Run anything at startup by simply placing it in a special folder
Pipiri
Pipiri (€8) - Pipiri brings picture in a picture functionality to ant macOS window and that has more use cases than you would think"
Watching a long-running terminal command while working in another app
Keeping logs visible while debugging software
Keeping an eye on AI agent progress (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, etc.) while browsing
Streaming a video that doesn’t support native PiP (Twitter/X, Reddit, Twitch, etc.)
Monitoring a dashboard or CI pipeline without switching windows
To see everything The Low Tech Guys have to offer, check out this page,
"Low-Tech Guy \#1"
If you’ve ever wished your external monitor behaved more like a MacBook display, you’ve probably encountered Lunar, the powerful monitor control utility from developer Alin Panaitiu. Over the past several years Alin has quietly built a small ecosystem of thoughtful Mac tools including Clop, rcmd, Crank, and others that focus on real workflow problems rather than novelty.
I asked Alin about how he got started, the challenges of building hardware-adjacent Mac apps, and what he’s working on next.
How did you get started in app development?
I got started in 2017 after buying my first external monitor for my MacBook; an LG 4K display with USB-C.
It was a great monitor, but something felt off. Unlike the MacBook, it had no adaptive brightness. In fact, the brightness couldn’t be adjusted at all.
That sent me down the rabbit hole. I discovered DDC, the protocol used to control monitor settings, and started building Lunar so my external monitor could adapt its brightness automatically.
For about four years Lunar was completely free and open source. In 2021 I took the leap, quit my job as a Python engineer, and started working full-time on the paid Lunar Pro tier.
“I discovered DDC and started building Lunar because I wanted my monitor to adapt its brightness automatically.”
Is Low-Tech Guys your full-time job?
Yes; if you can call it a normal job.
It’s my only source of income and where most of my effort goes. But the rhythm isn’t typical.
Sometimes macOS changes break something important and I end up working 14-hour days. Other weeks are quieter; answering support emails and fixing the occasional bug.
Which of your apps has been the most challenging to build?
Lunar, without question.
It operates very close to hardware; communicating directly with monitors, Raspberry Pis, and ESP32 chips. That’s very different from most macOS software.
Hardware is unpredictable. Firmware quirks, kernel panics, monitors that stall or behave strangely; problems that only occur on a particular user’s setup.
Those are incredibly difficult to debug because they can’t always be reproduced locally.
“Hardware can be unpredictable; stalling, kernel panics, wrong firmware, missing bits. Things that only happen on a user’s very specific setup.”
Which developers do you admire?
Sindre Sorhus for building an enormous ecosystem of Swift packages that macOS developers rely on, including Defaults and Hotkeys.
I also admire Ryan Hanson for creating Superkey, which finally allowed me to ditch Karabiner-Elements.
And Saagar Jha, whose work on macOS reverse engineering taught me a great deal.
You recently released Crank. What are you working on next?
No new apps for the moment. Crank and Pipiri took a lot of effort and I’m a bit drained right now.
Instead I’m focusing on rcmd v3 and Clop v3.
rcmd v3
The next version of rcmd will include: • Native window switching • Launching apps by holding rcmd and typing letters Example: rcmd S P O launches Spotify • Window search with quick typing Example: rcmd X C jumps to Xcode → Crank window • Searching windows by title • Stages; saving sets of apps and windows as workspaces • Instant switching between stages using rcmd + letter • Optional trigger keys such as Caps Lock or Fn
Clop v3
Clop is moving toward a pipeline-based optimization system where multiple file operations can happen without repeatedly re-encoding data.
Example workflows might look like:
Images dropped into ~/Desktop/blog • optimize • resize to 1600px width • convert to WebP • move to ~/Projects/blog
Videos dropped into Dropzone • optimize using a high-quality encoder • speed up to 1.5× • remove audio • upload with Dropshare • copy the URL to the clipboard
PDFs dropped into an Invoices folder • optimize • crop to A4 • extract text to a file
Other improvements include a dropzone that appears near the cursor and better support for external storage.
I wrote a review of Cling that was a bit tough on it. You handled that gracefully. What’s the current state of Cling?
Tax laws in my country changed significantly, forcing me to move from an LLC to a sole proprietorship.
To simplify accounting I consolidated everything under Paddle.
That meant ending contracts with Setapp, Apple distribution agreements, and other marketplaces. As a result, my apps are now free on the App Store, while paid licensing is handled through Paddle.
I don’t expect that arrangement to change anytime soon.
Closing Thoughts
Talking with Alin, a theme keeps surfacing: the most useful Mac utilities often come from developers scratching their own workflow itch. Lunar began with a simple frustration; an external monitor that couldn’t adjust its brightness.
Since then that curiosity has grown into a small but influential set of tools used by Mac power users around the world. And if the roadmaps for rcmd v3, Clop v3, and eventually Cling are any indication, Alin is far from done refining the Mac experience.
For users who care about thoughtful utilities and deep macOS integration, his work is well worth watching.
This was a tough choice. There's so much to protest and so many songs that do it well, but the lyrics in this one always get me. It's especially appropriate right now as the ghouls in power shrug off the death and destruction their little power play in Iran is causing.
I get a lot of use out of my Elgato Stream Deck. It’s one of the best hardware purchases I’ve made in a long time.
It didn’t start that way.
Shortly after I bought it, I discovered that the device falls under the privacy policy of its parent company, Corsair. The policy reads like it was written by lawyers trying to cover every possible future use case.
According to the policy, potential data categories include:
identity information (name, account ID, email)
device identifiers and serial numbers
IP address and network data
usage data and clickstream behavior
crash diagnostics and performance metrics
location information
audio/visual content uploaded through services
inferred behavioral profiles based on collected data
That’s a lot of potential data collection for what is essentially a programmable USB button panel.
The Stream Deck itself doesn’t need the internet to do its core job. At its heart, it’s a USB device that sends keyboard shortcuts, launches apps, and runs scripts. None of that requires a network connection.
However, the official Elgato software integrates a plugin marketplace and update system. Plugins can call APIs, communicate with remote servers, and run Node.js components. That’s where the network traffic starts.
The Practical Privacy Fix
The simplest solution is to block the Stream Deck software from accessing the internet.
It’s subscription-based, but it gives me a second Stream Deck surface on an iPhone or iPad. That’s useful when the physical device is already full or when I want a secondary control panel on another screen. You have to own a physical Stream Deck in order to use it.
For something that started out looking like an overengineered YouTuber gadget, the Stream Deck has quietly become one of the most practical automation tools on my desk.
This was a hit for The Byrds, but the song writing credit is Pete Seeger's and he was the first to record it. Of course, he didn't really write the lyrics, as they are from the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible.
macOS 26 (Tahoe) is now months into its lifespan. The UI chaos it caused for menu bar management apps has calmed down a bit, but the situation is still far from stable.
A combination of API limitations, OS-level redesigns, and tighter security controls broke many of the assumptions apps like Bartender, Ice, and Barbee relied on. As a result, behavior that used to be predictable is now anything but.
Common symptoms include:
icons disappearing and reappearing randomly
the OS overriding the order of icons
management apps losing track of icon positions
items reindexing themselves
settings resetting
hidden items suddenly reappearing
Even something as basic as determining whether a menu bar icon is visible has become unreliable. For example, NSStatusItem.isVisible can return true even when the icon is hidden behind the notch or pushed offscreen by menu titles.
The new OS-level menu bar controls are also incomplete. Tahoe will quietly hide items when the bar gets crowded, and apps receive no notification when that happens. From a developer’s perspective, the OS is moving the furniture around without telling anyone.
To work around this, some menu bar managers now request:
Screen Recording permission
Accessibility access
Event monitoring
That understandably makes some users uneasy. Worse, Tahoe’s restrictions on these permissions sometimes cause side effects such as ghost clicks, cursor interference, or other input glitches across the system.
None of this is malicious; it’s just what happens when an ecosystem built on clever workarounds collides with a new security model.
What the Future Probably Looks Like
Long term, the situation likely resolves in one of three ways:
Apple ships a real menu bar overflow manager
Apple exposes proper status-item APIs for developers
The category slowly fades as launchers replace menu bar workflows
The third possibility is already happening.
Launchers are increasingly taking over tasks that used to live in the menu bar. The bar itself is drifting toward a status display, not an interaction surface. You glance at it to see whether something is syncing or connected. When you actually want to do something, you open a launcher.
Accepting a Partial Solution
Over the past few months I’ve tested most of the menu bar managers currently available. Like many power users, I ended up choosing the option that annoys me the least. That is not the same thing as finding a solution that makes me happy.
Different setups behave differently. The manager that works well for Power User A might be completely unusable for Power User B depending on hardware, display configuration, and which menu bar apps are installed.
A song you'd like to hear covered by someone else. Which artist?
Despite the obvious and stated influence, Bruce Springsteen has done surprisingly few Dylan covers, among them: Chimes of Freedom, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, The Times They Are A-Changin’ and I Shall Be Released. I think The Boss would kill Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, especially if he did it with the E Street Band. Everybody must get stoned.
I only recently realized that my use of screenshots falls into two very different categories.
On one hand, I use screenshots to illustrate blog posts and social media. That usually amounts to two or three captures a day.
On the other hand, I take screenshots constantly for technical reasons; learning a new application, documenting my self-hosted server configuration, keeping track of network settings in my home lab, or simply capturing information during everyday tech work.
For the past couple of years, I’ve relied almost exclusively on CleanShot X for screenshots.
Recently I discovered ScreenFloat, which is designed for the second scenario. It’s not really an app where you capture a screenshot and file it away. Instead, the screenshots you take stay visible while you work so you can reference them.
If the screenshot contains text, that’s not a problem. ScreenFloat includes some of the strongest built-in OCR capabilities I’ve seen in this category.
Capture
Capturing screenshots is straightforward. You can grab a static region of the screen or use a timer when you need to trigger some UI element before the capture occurs.
ScreenFloat also supports screen recording with microphone and system audio.
You can start a capture from:
a keyboard shortcut
the menu bar
a widget
One small but practical detail; unless you change it, the next capture will reuse the same screen region as the previous one. When you’re repeatedly documenting the same part of an interface, that saves time.
Floating Screenshots
Floating screenshots are surprisingly useful when you treat them as working references.
Typical examples:
coding or scripting while referencing documentation
technical writing while capturing UI elements
design work where you need to sample colors or inspect visual details
Anyone working in a screen-heavy workflow quickly understands the value.
ScreenFloat works well here for two main reasons.
First, it includes a solid set of built-in editing tools. You can crop, rotate, resize, annotate, and redact sensitive information such as text or faces. Screenshots can also be folded (collapsed) so they stay available without taking up much screen space.
The text tools go beyond simple OCR. ScreenFloat can detect and interact with:
links
phone numbers
barcodes
Second, the app is designed around the idea that screenshots are reference material, not just disposable images.
Every capture is stored in a built-in library called the Shots Browser. It includes:
smart folders
tagging
favorites and ratings
full-text search
If you run ScreenFloat on multiple Macs, you can access the same Shots Browser from other devices. That’s a genuinely useful feature. Most competing tools simply dump screenshots into Finder folders and leave organization up to you.
What’s to Like
Aside from the feature set, the one-time purchase price of $17.99 is refreshing.
ScreenFloat also supports Mac automation tools such as:
Shortcuts
AppleScript
That makes it much easier to integrate into an existing automation workflow.
The developer, Matthias Gansrigler-Hrad, has a long-standing reputation for maintaining his apps and responding to users. I bought my first app from him more than a decade ago; the long-lived shelf utility Yoink.
ScreenFloat has also seen frequent updates since version 2 was released.
Version 2.3.5 (March 2026) added:
improved search results in the Shots Browser
ability to capture the mouse cursor in timed shots
drag-and-drop support in the markup editor
improved widget appearance
easier access to image-copy options
Possible Drawbacks
Like any feature-rich tool, ScreenFloat has a bit of a learning curve. The interface is well designed, but it still takes some time to understand everything it can do.
My recommendation is simple; start with one feature and build from there.
Another practical consideration is that floating screenshots are still windows. If you leave a few dozen of them open, you can expect some impact on system resources.
And if you’re looking for a full-blown screen recording and media production suite, this isn’t that kind of tool.
Conclusion
ScreenFloat isn’t just another screenshot utility. There are plenty of good ones.
What makes ScreenFloat interesting is that it treats screenshots as working references, not just images you capture and forget.
For developers, designers, writers, or anyone else who spends their day juggling information across multiple windows, that idea turns out to be surprisingly powerful.
Requirements: Requires macOS Monterey 12.3 or newer
Privacy Policy: The developer does not collect any data from this app.
I've been singing this song since I was a kid. The Beatles let Ringo sing it on The White Album. Paul wrote most of it while they were in India and the slightly out of tune piano heard on the album was played by George Martin, their producer and not one of the band.
I’ve long been in the habit of using third-party file managers on macOS. I used Pathfinder for years, then switched to Qspace Pro a couple of years ago. I also bought Bloom during a Black Friday sale last year to see what it could do.
Recently, though, I’ve grown tired of paying the RAM tax these apps demand. Both Qspace and Bloom routinely use over 1 GB of memory. In my setup, they are often the most RAM-hungry applications running other than Chromium- or Gecko-based browsers.
I still don’t understand why Apple hasn’t implemented an optional dual-pane interface in Finder. But if the goal is freeing up system resources, there are workable alternatives.
The approach that’s been working for me is simple: keep using Finder, then add a handful of small utilities that extend it. Apps with Finder extensions can restore many of the features people install full replacement file managers to get in the first place.
You won’t replicate every feature found in Qspace Pro or Bloom, but you can get surprisingly close by layering a few focused utilities on top of Finder.
Supercharge
Supercharge adds optional buttons to the Finder toolbar for actions like toggling hidden files or opening the current folder in Ghostty. It also extends Finder’s right-click context menu with a number of genuinely useful commands.
Examples include:
Cut & Paste
Copy Path
Copy To…
Move To…
Open in Ghostty
Toggle Hidden Files
AirDrop
Inline Share Menu
Show File Size
Show Image Dimensions
Open In App
It also adds a set of Finder behavior tweaks, such as:
Allow quitting Finder with ⌘Q
Open files with the Return key
Create new text files
Invert Finder selection
Automatically resize columns
None of these features are individually groundbreaking, but together they noticeably improve day-to-day Finder usability.
Menuist
Menuist is primarily a right-click context-menu extender, though it includes a few extra utilities as well.
It overlaps somewhat with Supercharge, but it also adds capabilities that normally require separate utilities. For example:
Folder history
Run shell scripts on selected files
Remove files from disk (bypass the Trash)
Create many types of new files
Set folder covers
Favorite folders submenu
Copy file or folder name without copying the full path
Menuist also replaces a couple of small utilities people often install just to color folders or paste clipboard images as files.
Other apps in this category include MouseBoost, which is fairly capable, and MagicMenu, which in my experience is best avoided.
HoudahSpot
One of the traditional advantages of third-party file managers is a more capable search interface.
Finder’s built-in search is decent but limited. Pairing Finder with HoudahSpot gives you something much more powerful.
HoudahSpot can add an optional toolbar button to Finder that launches complex saved searches or lets you build new ones on the fly. If you regularly search by metadata, file attributes, or nested criteria, it’s a major upgrade over the standard Finder search UI.
Default Folder X
Default Folder X is best known for enhancing file-open and save dialogs, but it also integrates tightly with Finder.
It adds a navigation toolbar that gives quick access to:
Favorite folders
Recent folders
Recent files
Open Finder windows
A fast inline search
It can also add a file shelf to Finder windows. This acts as a temporary staging area where you can collect files before moving them to their final destination. If you frequently reorganize files across multiple folders, this feature is surprisingly useful.
Keka
Keka is a free, powerful compression utility that integrates with Finder. Once installed, its compression and extraction features appear directly in Finder’s context menu and toolbar.
It supports common archive formats and can encrypt archives when needed, which makes it more capable than macOS’s built-in compression tools.
BetterTouchTool
BetterTouchTool is primarily known for input automation, but it can also extend Finder.
You can add custom actions to Finder’s toolbar or context menu and trigger scripts directly from them. In practice, this turns Finder into a launch point for your own automation.
For example, I use BetterTouchTool actions to:
Remove quarantine flags from apps
Fix the “damaged app” warning macOS sometimes shows for unsigned software
Run quick file-management scripts on selected items
At that point Finder stops feeling like a limited file manager and starts behaving more like a programmable front-end for your own workflows.
The bigger realization for me was this: many of the reasons people install heavy file-manager replacements are really just missing Finder conveniences. A handful of small utilities can fill those gaps while keeping Finder itself lightweight.
If your main complaint about Finder is the lack of a dual-pane interface, this approach won’t solve that. But if what you actually want is faster navigation, better search, stronger context menus, and automation hooks, extending Finder can get you surprisingly far without the 1 GB memory footprint.
A song you've seen performed live, or would really like to see performed live?
I'd looked forward to the dual Live Aid concerts back in 1985 for months. When the big day finally came, I bought way too much cheap beer, as was my habit for too many years. When I decided it was time to go get even more, my wife took my car keys and locked the door to the house - while I was on the porch. It's funny that of all the regrets I have about life before getting sober, missing that concert is one that always comes to mind. I haven't had a drink in over 17 years and i sure wish I could get in a time machine and go back to the day of Live Aid and make different decisions.
NeoFinder is a macOS app that catalogs disks and media, creating a searchable database of your files no matter where they live: internal drives, external drives, NAS volumes, shared network drives, removable media (CDs, DVDs, USB drives), and even inside archives.
The real magic is its ability to search offline drives; drives that aren’t currently mounted. NeoFinder does this by maintaining an inventory of file names, folder structures, and a surprisingly deep set of metadata. It can even generate thumbnails and previews for many media types, so you can visually identify files without connecting the original drive.
For anyone with a long digital history spread across multiple devices and storage formats, that capability alone makes NeoFinder worth paying attention to.
Who NeoFinder Is For (and Who It Isn't)
NeoFinder's User Base
Families and couples with merged or parallel photo libraries This is where I fit in. My wife and I are longtime iOS users who also shoot plenty of photos with DSLRs. We’ve worn out multiple photo scanners over the years and still have photo discs dating back to the 90s.
Cold-storage users If you have stacks of USB hard drives, binders full of flash cards, or a NAS that only gets powered on occasionally, NeoFinder becomes extremely useful.
Multimedia digital packrats Tens of thousands of music tracks? A serious movie or TV collection? Huge ebook libraries? NeoFinder shines when that media is spread across multiple volumes.
NAS-centric setups Especially when the built-in search tools on your NAS aren’t good enough or when you want to catalog everything before reorganizing storage.
Small teams NeoFinder can run with a shared catalog database on a NAS or network share so teams can work from a common media index with consistent tags. (Different license tiers apply.)
People Who Probably Don't Need NeoFinder
If your entire media collection lives on a single always-connected cloud service and you rely on its built-in search, NeoFinder probably adds little value. NeoFinder becomes valuable when storage is fragmented across multiple drives, and some of those drives are offline, archived, or only occasionally connected.
It’s also not for someone simply looking for a replacement for Apple Photos without investing time in metadata. NeoFinder works best when you’re willing to use keywords, captions, people, locations, and other structured metadata.
What Makes It a Good Choice
Offline search, even accessible from an iPhone or iPad.
Extremely powerful metadata support, especially for media collections.
Deep macOS integration, including Finder context menus, AppleScript, Quick Look, and compatibility with apps like FileMaker and Roxio Toast.
Media-specific previews, including:
Photo thumbnails
Video metadata extraction via FFmpeg
Audio metadata including cover art, lyrics, and previews
The AppAddict Test
Music
I’m exactly the kind of user NeoFinder was built for.
My photo library is huge and messy. My music collection goes back to the Napster era and includes everything from original Carter Family recordings to spoken-word tracks from Gil Scott-Herron. My movie and TV collection is a mix of rips, downloads, digital purchases, and the occasional file that mysteriously “fell off a truck.”
My ebook library alone contains more than 18,000 titles in twelve different formats.
NeoFinder helps bring order to that chaos.
It can identify duplicates, normalize metadata, and organize photos using standardized metadata fields including geotagging. Finding photos from past trips or events becomes dramatically easier. We photograph a lot of ultramarathon events, and locating images from an obscure mountain race in 2018 used to be a real chore.
NeoFinder’s filtering tools also help with technical housekeeping. For example, you can identify videos using outdated codecs, unusual bitrates, or missing subtitle tracks. That makes it easier to modernize large collections over time.
Even ebook organization becomes simpler; building subject-specific libraries or collections for particular people takes minutes instead of hours.
Similar Apps
DiskCatalogMaker (macOS) A macOS cataloging utility that scans disks and folders to build searchable offline indexes of files, making it easy to locate content stored on external drives or archived media without mounting them.
iView MediaPro / Expression Media (legacy) Once one of the dominant professional digital asset managers, used to organize large photo, video, and document collections with rich metadata and powerful cataloging tools.
Extensis Portfolio / Canto Cumulus Enterprise-grade digital asset management platforms designed for organizations to catalog, tag, search, and distribute large media libraries across teams.
WinCatalog (Windows) A Windows disk cataloging tool that indexes external drives, network shares, and removable media so files can be searched even when the original storage is offline.
When i was in basic training in 1983, I was assigned to clean our drill sergeants' office. One day I found a hand written sheet crumpled and thrown away. Being the nosy private that i was, I stuck it in my pocket to show the guys in my squad. We discovered that it contained the lines
Generals gathered in their masses<BR>
Just like witches at black masses<BR>
Evil minds that plot destruction<BR>
Sorcerer of death's construction<BR>
In the fields, the bodies burning<BR>
As the war machine keeps turning<BR>
Death and hatred to mankind<BR>
Poisoning their brainwashed minds<BR>
Oh, Lord, yeah<BR>
We started freaking out that we were being trained by obvious satanists. It was the 80s, after all. Finally someone realized that it wlack Sabbath song and we all calmed the fuck down.
Every text expansion app promises the same core trick: type a short trigger; get a longer block of text. What actually matters is reliability, friction, and whether the app helps you build real workflows instead of just automating ⌘V.
Rocket Typistis a one-time purchase Mac text expander from Witt Software. It focuses on dynamic snippets built with simple macros, all managed from a centralized library that lets you preview exactly what will be inserted before you commit.
It’s normally $19.99 for the Pro version; it’s currently on sale at BundleHunt for $3.50. It’s also available through Setapp, although some users report bugs in the Setapp version that don’t appear in the standalone release.
The Mac text expansion space is crowded: TextExpander, Espanso, aText, PhraseExpress, and even Raycast Snippets all compete here. Rocket Typist positions itself as a middle ground: more capable than lightweight snippet tools; less complex and less enterprise-heavy than the big subscription platforms.
What Rocket Typist Actually Does
I’ve used text expanders for years, and the real value shows up in boring, repetitive work:
Standardized responses to common questions, including troubleshooting steps.
Email templates for replies I send every week.
Frequently used URLs, addresses, and signatures.
Blog post scaffolding, AI prompt templates, and structured note headers.
Custom autocorrect for words I still can’t seem to type correctly.
Rocket Typist treats snippets less like a warehouse of static text and more like reusable building blocks. That distinction matters once your library grows past a couple dozen entries.
Macro Library
Macros Are the Real Feature
Rocket Typist’s dynamic elements are called macros. These let snippets adapt at insertion time instead of being fixed text.
From the developer:
“Use macros to add dynamic elements to your snippets… The Labeled Macros Hub provides you a central location to edit and apply macros consistently across multiple snippets… preview your snippets, complete with all macros applied, before inserting them.”
Marketing language aside, three things matter in practice:
Multiple macro types: date, time, text input fields, clipboard content, cursor placement, key functions, and more.
A centralized Macro Hub for managing and reusing them.
Live preview before insertion, so you see exactly what will be generated.
That preview feature is underrated. When you’re inserting variable content into a live email or ticketing system, being able to confirm the output before it hits the page prevents sloppy mistakes.
How It Works in Real Workflows
Static snippets are useful. Macros turn snippets into a lightweight automation layer.
Concrete examples:
Consistent date formatting across tickets and reports.
Templates that prompt you for name, ticket number, location, or device type.
Standardized headers for blog posts or Obsidian notes.
Support responses that insert today’s date, your signature, and a preformatted checklist.
Rocket Typist’s macro library also supports batch editing. If you need to update a common element across multiple snippets, you don’t have to touch each one manually.
Compared to Espanso or PhraseExpress, Rocket Typist feels less like you’re configuring a YAML-driven mini-programming environment and more like you’re using a Mac app. For many users, that’s a feature, not a limitation.
Who It’s Built For
Rocket Typist makes the most sense for solo Mac users. It’s not trying to be an enterprise collaboration platform.
1) Writers and Bloggers
You can create consistent document layouts with dynamic fields for titles, dates, categories, or boilerplate disclosures. It’s especially useful if you publish frequently and want structural consistency without copying old files.
2) Support Specialists and Repetition-Heavy Roles
In my tech support days, snippets handled:
Self-service password change instructions.
Campus Wi-Fi connection steps.
Clarifying which ticket type users should submit.
Equipment loan and purchase procedures.
Macros let you personalize these without rewriting them from scratch.
3) Users Who’ve Outgrown Lightweight Tools
Raycast Snippets are convenient but intentionally minimal. Rocket Typist offers:
Rich text and formatted snippets.
A dedicated snippet management interface.
More robust macro support.
Better scaling as your library grows.
If you’ve hit the ceiling with basic snippet tools but don’t want a subscription platform, this is where Rocket Typist fits.
If it already works for you, there’s no urgent reason to switch. Rocket Typist offers a more modern interface and stronger macro tooling at a low one-time cost.
Excellent for lightweight expansions inside an already great launcher. Limited dynamic logic and no centralized macro h
Pricing and Versions
Rocket Typist’s pricing could be clearer. The website describes the upgrade in vague terms:
“Rocket Typist is free to use with a basic feature set. Upgrade to Rocket Typist Pro for the full experience.”
You shouldn’t have to install an app to understand the feature split.
Rocket Typist Pro (as described in-app)
Upgrading unlocks:
Unlimited snippets
All snippet types:
Formatted text
Images
Smart snippets
Code snippets
All macro types:
Date and time
Text
Clipboard content
Cursor placement
Special key macros
Access to future Pro features.
Unlimited snippets plus full macro support is the real value here.
Tiers in Practice
Free: Basic feature set with limits.
Basic purchase ($9.99): App Store version that adds iOS and iPad compatibility.
Rocket Typist Pro for Mac ($19.99; currentlyon sale for $3.50): Full Mac feature set with unlimited snippets and all macros.
If you’re considering it, the BundleHunt price significantly lowers the barrier to trying it seriously.
Final Thoughts
Rocket Typist isn’t trying to dominate the enterprise. It’s not trying to turn snippet management into a side hobby. It’s a practical tool for people who type the same structured content over and over and want dynamic flexibility without a subscription.
If you live in email, ticketing systems, documentation tools, or Markdown editors, and you care about consistency and speed, Rocket Typist earns a serious look
Typora is a
long-established Mac Markdown editor that renders as you type; no
dual-pane preview, no “toggle to see what it really looks like” mode.
It’s especially strong with tables and code blocks. If you write with
math, it’s one of the cleanest LaTeX experiences on macOS. Mermaid
diagrams are also straightforward.
It doesn’t try to be everything. It’s not a platform. It’s not a note
system It’s not an IDE. It’s a text editor for creating production ready
documents.
What It Does
Typora is a Markdown editor built around a single-pane, live-rendered
approach. You write Markdown You see the formatted document as you go.
In practice, it feels closer to a word processor than most Markdown
editors, but your files stay portable. Typora also exports to a wide
range of formats (including HTML, DOCX, PDF, and ePub); if your workflow
ends in a CMS, a PDF, or an ebook, that matters.
Where it Fits
Most Markdown apps push people toward two extremes:
Heavy systems: great for linking, research, and long-term knowledge management; sometimes overkill for drafting. Think Obsidian.
Minimal editors: great for flow; often too limited once you want real structure. Think MarkEdit.
Typora sits between those two. It gives you a calm writing surface, but
it also handles publishing-oriented Markdown without drama: headings,
lists, code blocks, tables, images, and exports.
If you bounced off “note system” complexity but still want more than
plain-text minimalism, Typora is the middle ground.
Feature List (What Writers Actually Care About)
Live rendering in a single pane; structure stays visible while you draft
Clean themes and readable typography; long posts are less fatiguing
Document outline; useful for checking structure before you hit publish
Solid support for code blocks, tables, and math (when you need it)
Practical image handling for posts that involve screenshots
Typora isn’t trying to compete with a PKM ecosystem or a full writing
suite. It’s trying to be the editor you open when you want to write.
What I Like
A Mature Editor that Stays out of Your Way Typora feels
like software that knows what it is. The interface stays quiet; the
feature set stays focused. You can move from outline to draft to polish
without living in sidebars, plugin browsers, or “workspace” metaphors.
Live Rendering Reduces Formatting Mistakes For review
writing, quality comes from structure. Typora makes it obvious while
you’re still drafting whether the post will scan:
Headings are consistent
Lists read cleanly
Emphasis stays under control
Code blocks look like code blocks
It Works Well with Markdown as a Source Format If you
care about plain files, Typora fits the “future-proof drafts” mindset.
You keep Markdown portability without forcing yourself into a spartan
writing experience.
It Is Not a Note System If you expect backlinks, daily
notes, tasks, or a full “second brain,” Typora isn’t built for that.
It’s a document editor.
Export Quality
The real question isn’t “can Typora export?”. It's whether it works with
the tools in your workflow.
Typora can export HTML, but paste behavior varies by web editor. Some
preserve semantic HTML. Some strip styles; some mangle lists and code
blocks. If export matters, test it like you actually publish:
Write a short post with headings, a table, a code block, and an image
Export to HTML
Paste into your CMS/editor
Check what breaks (lists, spacing, code formatting); decide based on that
Details
Latest update highlights — The last major update
(September 2025) brought macOS 26 Tahoe compliance and enabled the Share
Sheet on all supported systems.
Privacy — Typora is primarily local; your content stays
on disk unless you put it in a synced folder. Privacy is mostly
determined by your sync choice; not the editor.
System Requirements — Optimized for Apple Silicon and
supports macOS v11 and up.
Price — 14.99 for a three seat license. (No
subscriptions)
iA Writer - focused drafting; different philosophy
Bear - excellent notes app; different model than plain Markdown files
Obsidian - outstanding system; heavier for pure drafting
VS Code - capable; feels like the IDE it is unless tailored
Conclusion
Typora is worth revisiting because it stays focused. It’s stable, writes
clean Markdown, and helps you ship well-structured posts without turning
writing into an app-management hobby.
Veteran Mac developer Amy Worrall of Double and Thrice Ltd.
recently released Octavo, a focused macOS app for
booklet printing and imposition.
If you’ve never dealt with imposition, here’s the short version: it’s
the process of arranging individual pages on a larger sheet so that,
once printed, folded, cut, and bound, everything lands in the correct
order. When you see a press sheet with page 1 next to page 16 and page 2
upside down on the reverse, that’s not chaos. That’s math doing its job.
Historically, tools that handle this well have been aimed at print
professionals and priced accordingly, often in the
several-hundred-dollar range. Octavo does the same core job for $25.
It’s available on the Mac App
Store.
You can test it for free. The trial version watermarks output with
Octavo branding, so it’s fine for evaluation but not for production
runs.
How It Compares
Octavo occupies similar territory to Create
Booklet 2, but the experience feels more modern and hands-on.
The multi-pane, task-based interface keeps the workflow linear and
visible. You can visually drag margins instead of typing numeric values
and guessing. There’s also a source cleanup step before layout, which is
especially useful if you’re working from imperfect scans or PDFs that
need minor correction before printing.
Compared to something like InDesign, Octavo is refreshingly direct.
You’re not jumping to a separate properties panel filled with abstract
numeric fields that feel disconnected from the page. You’re also not
importing content into a full layout suite just to produce a folded
booklet.
This is not a layout engine for designing the book. It’s a tool for
correctly imposing a finished PDF so you can print and bind it without
gymnastics.
Printer Compatibility
If you’re wondering whether this will work with a consumer-grade
printer, the answer is yes.
Octavo doesn’t require a PostScript device or specialty hardware. If
macOS can print to it, Octavo can use it. The app relies on standard
macOS printing APIs; it reads available paper sizes, margins, and
printer capabilities from the system. It can also control relevant print
settings such as duplex edge binding where appropriate.
It does not talk directly to the printer firmware. That’s a good thing.
It means you’re working within Apple’s printing stack rather than some
proprietary workaround.
In practice, that includes:
AirPrint printers
Basic home inkjets
Office laser printers
PostScript-enabled devices
If it shows up in your macOS print dialog, it’s fair game.
Design and Fit
Octavo feels like a traditional Mac app in the best sense. It’s focused,
single-purpose, and built for desktop workflows rather than a
cross-platform abstraction layer. There’s no subscription pitch and no
unnecessary feature creep.
Even the icon shows care. Worrall built it in Fusion 360, textured and
rendered it in Blender, then finished it in Photoshop. That attention to
detail tracks with the rest of the app.
Who This Is For
If you:
Print short-run booklets at home or in a small office
Produce documentation that needs to be folded and stapled
Make zines or event programs
Regularly wrestle with page order and duplex settings
Octavo is a practical tool that removes friction from a very specific
workflow.
If you’re laying out a 200-page art book with complex typography and
bleed control, you’re still living in InDesign or Affinity Publisher.
Octavo is for the step after layout, when you need the pages imposed
correctly and printed cleanly.
For $25, that’s a niche tool that earns its keep quickly if you actually
print booklets.
"The Foggy Dew" by Sinéad O’Connor & The Chieftains,
A song that reminds you of one of your favorite places.
Oh, Ireland. This performance of maybe the greatest of all Irish rebel songs always gives me chills. It's the story of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin.
If Jim Morrison hadn't been so damn pretty, he'd be better remembered for the true poet that he was than just another 60s rock star. This is truly one of the sings of my life and one I've loved for more than 40 years.
When you're faced with text that you can't select in the conventional
way on your Mac (meaning with the cursor), there are several options.
They all work in slightly different ways, and I use the one most
appropriate for the task.
Live Text Recognition
The operating system has a feature called Live Text
Recognition , an on-device computer vision feature that detects
and extracts text from images and video so you can interact with it like
normal text.
It uses Apple’s Neural Engine to perform optical character recognition;
OCR, directly on your Mac. That means you can:
Select and copy text from photos in Finder, Preview, Photos, or screenshots
Click phone numbers to call via iPhone integration
Translate detected text instantly
Look up addresses, track packages, or search highlighted words
The key idea is this: pixels become selectable characters without
sending your data to the cloud. It quietly turns static images into
searchable, actionable information.
Cleanshot X
My go to choice is Cleanshot X, mainly
because it's always running on my Mac anyway. Live Text Recognition
requires you to open an image in an app like Preview first. Cleanshot X
let's you select any region and get text immediately. The downside is
that Cleanshot X is a paid app.
Raycast
There is a Raycast
extension called Easy OCR that combines the features of
Live Text Recognition and Cleanshot X. After you invoke it, Easy OCR can
be used on an image you've already captured, the clipboard or an area
you select on screen. Just search for it in the Raycast Store.
(Free)
Text Sniper
TextSniper Prefs
Even if you have the tools previously mentioned, there should still be
room in your toolbox for TextSniper, an OCR app for YouTube
videos, PDFs, images, online courses, screencasts, presentations,
webpages, video tutorials, photos, etc. Like Cleanshot X, you don't
have to make screen captures and open them in Preview to grab text. In
my experience it works better than alternatives like PDF Pen, Adobe
products, Google Docs etc. As long as you can draw a rectangle around
the text, it doesn't matter if it's rotating, angled or shadowed.
Unique Features
Removes line breaks
Built-in text to speech
Additive clipboard feature if the text you are trying to capture can't obtained on one go
Removes hyphens from words divided across a line.
Decodes standard bar and QR codes. Enabling a keyboard shortcut lets you turn those into numbers.
Text Sniper is currently on
sale for $2. That should be a no brainer. It is also available as
part of SetApp.
OCRmyPDF
OCRmyPDF is an open-source command-line tool that adds a text
layer to scanned PDFs while keeping the image intact. It
creates searchable PDF/A output. You can use it via this
Apple Shortcut..
