The best productivity Mac apps for OSX can help you get your work done faster, smarter and better. I use an 11″ Macbook Air as my primary machine running Mountain Lion and Windows 7 through Parallels. As soon I started using OS X as my primary operating system I began searching for small apps that would enable me to be more productive by eliminating repetitive tasks.
Here are 3 great Mac apps that dramatically increased my productivity:
Best Productivity Mac Apps
1. Alfred (Free/$24 for PowerPack)
Alfred is a great shortcut application launcher that has dozens of great features to help you launch applications quicker, find files faster, and easily search the web without leaving the keyboard. Once I launch Alfred using the shortcut Alt and Space Bar (You can change this to a different keyboard shortcut) I can type in a name of app, file, or a web search query. You can do all of that with the free version. The PowerPack paid version allows you to setup global hotkeys to quickly launch certain apps or web searches with a quick keyboard combination.
2. 1Password ($50 Also for Windows)
All of us are transitioning more and more of our life onto the web. From bank logins and cloud storage accounts to Gmail and Skype accounts I easily have well over 50 personal accounts. When I consider the number of accounts I manage for the companies I work with the number grows to hundreds. Previously I was using a modified version of SugarCRM that I created to securely store all of that account information, but it was never as convenient as I would have liked. I finally decided that I needed a better option so I began trying out different password managers. After testing a few out I was most taken with 1Password. 1Password is one of the best productivity Mac apps out there.
The $50 I spent on 1Password was recouped in time savings after one week of use. I no longer have to search my CRM to find the account information I need. I simply press Cmd and \ when on a website requesting my account credentials. 1Password fills in the information and submits the form. 1Password can also store credit cards and addresses that can be instantly entered onto a webpage using the Cmd and Alt key combination. Since I no longer have to remember any of my passwords except for the master password that unlocks 1Password I can use the 1Password generator to create long strings of secure passwords. I urge you to try out 1Password’s 30 day trial and see just how amazing this application is.
3. Witch ($14)
I recently discovered Witch when I was searching for a better way to cycle through applications than the Cmd Tab implementation that OS X provides. Cmd Tab on the Mac is frustrating since it only switches over to an application’s non-hidden window. I frequently hide applications and have multiple windows open in each application. Witch makes Cmd Tab useful on OS X by listing all every window open in an application. It will even provide a preview of the window when you select it for 2 seconds. Witch is simple yet incredibly effective.
