October 16, 2022

⌘ Getting started with Keyboard Maestro – What is it?

If you look up tools related to productivity and automation on the Mac, Keyboard Maestro comes up. But, the question is, what is Keyboard Maestro and what does it do? Out of the box Keyboard Maestro looks like Automator. As such, it may seem like it doesn’t do much. “I’ve got it, now what? How is this going to help me?” To get the most out of Keyboard Maestro, you will need to assemble some blocks, like putting Lego together. It’s easier than it seems once you get the hang of it. And don’t worry, there are hundreds of examples on the Keyboard Maestro forums. To get started, Keyboard Maestro is based on two concepts, Trigger and Action. As the name implies, the Trigger, is what causes Keyboard Maestro to act. This can be pressing a keyboard shortcut, a mouse click, a typed keyword, or an event like a device connecting, something being copied to the clipboard, system idle, or […]

October 9, 2022

📕 A quick look at NoteList 4 by TensionSoftware

I’ve added NoteList 4 by TensionSoftware as a new note taking app to help with the outlines I use when writing blog articles. I already have several note taking apps, so why another? Can’t TaskPaper or DevonThink Office Pro handle this sort of thing? They can indeed, however… TaskPaper handles an outline format nicely, but when you use a single document for multiple articles, it becomes congested and hard to read. It’s a massive wall of text. I would need to make and attach a new TaskPaper document for each article. Not a bad idea, but the management and maintenance is terrible. Further, in order to mark the project, or in my case the article as done, all the items underneath it need to be checked. That’s a ton of clicking. Still, when you look at it in Scrivener, it’s not collapsed, you see all the details again. I should use an outline tool not a list of tasks. DevonThink […]

October 2, 2022

⌘ Harnessing the power of RegEx across multiple apps

RegEx is a powerful tool for finding and processing text. While it’s a full programming language, there are some basics that go a long way. Mastering just a few commands will save hours of time. Almost every text editor on the Mac supports RegEx. My main use is with TextSoap, Keyboard Maestro, and the shell. To start, I use TextSoap with RegEx to delete lines of text that match my criteria. In output files, I remove lines with INFO and Debug. In other files, I highlight Error or Warning. The Keyboard Maestro search/replace modules support RegEx, so you can parse clipboard text or variables. As a simple example, I copy Jira ticket titles, remove line breaks and replace them with ‘ – ‘. You don’t have to be an expert in RegEx to save yourself time and believe me, I’m no expert. However, there are plenty of tools and resources to help. Stackoverflow is alive with RegEx questions and answers. […]

September 25, 2022

🌎 Update on the Subject Specific Browser

Since I made comment about Subject Specific Browsers, I’ve made half a dozen I use daily. I have a browser for: Amazon and Woot Multiple Wiki sites YouTube QA and automation sites (Katalon, Stackoverflow, Tutorialspoint) Blogging Godville Online Wiki’s for games Streaming And the more I make them, the more I find uses for them. I recently added the Blogging and Wiki browsers to the toolkit. When the WordPress app flaked out on me, using a dedicated browser was a simple solution. Wikipedia is a daily visit, so to try out it’s features, I set it up using Webcatalog. This creates a more app-like feel. I have multiple “accounts” in the browser, then added that to a Space. I’m not entirely sold on the concept yet, but I like the way it’s working. If I find a couple more uses, I’ll add it to the toolbox. Webcatalog is a more application feel, versus full browser experience. By default the address […]

September 18, 2022

🔐 Storing private information locally

Cloud storage is great, but sometimes local storage is better. I’ve discussed my use of encrypted and password protected DMG files to store application documents. However, what’s an easy way to securely store other private info that’s not used for a web form? It’s possible to use a Scrivener document, a password protected DevonThink Office Pro database or a spreadsheet. A better choice is a dedicated tool like Concealer. It’s built to store simple, but confidential information. Cloud storage is fine, right up to where it doesn’t work. There’s plenty of stories about compromised data. Not to mention, if you don’t have Internet access, you don’t have your data. Locally stored data is always accessible. So, what would you store in Concealer and not in a password manager? Contact information for an account rep Company bank account details Emergency credit card details Software contract information Health care details SSN for family members Storage facility/locker combinations Low level BIOS or disk […]

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