My name is Bret and I’m hopelessly addicted to productivity apps. While most people are off doing normal people things, I’m over here daydreaming about keyboard macros or trying to figure out if I can justify spending $15 a month on a Roam Research subscription. I just can’t get enough of this stuff.

So when it comes to managing projects and keeping myself organized, I spend a considerable amount of time looking for new ways to streamline my workflow and improve productivity. I fully realize that with the amount of effort I spend researching productivity hacks, testing new applications, or watching YouTube videos at 2x speed on how to get things done, it's likely a net negative in terms of actually getting things done.

But hey, for all the time I spend doggedly looking for the next big thing, I occasionally come across something I just can't imagine living without. For this list, I've attempted to narrow it down to the top five applications I find most useful and how I’ve incorporated them into my day-to-day workflow.

1) Alfred

*Price: FREE with optional Powerpack license for £29*

Alfred is an application launcher I've used for years. Even as Spotlight in MacOS has improved and adopted features that were clearly inspired by the app, Alfred is still leaps and bounds more useful.

The basic application is free, and allows you to launch applications, find and open files, search the web, or even toggle system commands via keyboard shortcuts. But where I think Alfred really shines is with the optional Powerpack license that unlocks a ton of additional functionality.

Some of the Powerpack functions I use regularly include:

The ability to access a list of items you have previously copied to your clipboard. You can even type to search through the entries or merge multiple entries together.
Text snippets you can save and then trigger with a defined keyword (a great alternative to something like Keyboard Maestro or TextExpander). If I type anything more than once, I will usually save it as a snippet for future reference.
Additional ways to navigate your file system and perform actions like emailing, moving, copying, or even resizing and reformatting files without having to open them and process them manually.

Another really useful function the Alfred Powerpack offers is the ability to launch custom workflows that you can create yourself or install from hundreds of user-created options.

Some of the tasks I have simplified using Alfred workflows include:

BetterTouchTool is an application that has fundamentally changed how I interact with my computer. From providing additional multi-touch gesture controls for the trackpad and Magic Mouse, launching scripts and Automator workflows via keyboard shortcuts, to resizing and snapping windows to different screen quadrants, this application is a game changer for every input device you can think of.

One of the main things you can do with BetterTouchTool is create custom trackpad gestures, either globally, or on a per-app basis. For example, when working in Chrome I can refresh the page, close/re-open individual tabs and navigate forward and backwards between them, scroll to the home or end of a page, close windows, and switch between pages or other programs through a series of swipes, taps, clicks, and tip-taps on my trackpad without ever having to use a keyboard shortcut.

You can download a copy of my current BTT profile if you'd like to see how I have mine set up or if you want to use it as a jumping off point.

If you have a MacBook with the Touch Bar, check out GoldenChaos-BTT, a complete Touch Bar UI replacement you can install through BetterTouchTool that adds a ton of functionality such as modal widgets, a battery percentage icon, and so much more. It will change the way you feel about the Touch Bar, guaranteed.

Drafts is a relatively new addition to my workflow, but has become an integral part of how I input and process text. This app is designed to open directly to a blank page so you can immediately start typing without first having to make a decision on where your text will ultimately end up. The drafts you create are mirrored on all of your devices and saved to an inbox to process later, send off to other apps and services via actions you create, or tag and archive for long-term storage.

When I start up my computer, I launch Drafts and keep an icon in my menu bar for when I need to capture a thought or quickly start a new draft. Once I finish typing something, I have a set of actions I can use to send it to a number of applications and then automatically archive or trash the draft. Drafts also lives in the dock on my iOS devices and is one of the few apps I give permission to show icon badge notifications. This way I know at a glance if there's a to-do list item, message, e-mail, blog post draft, etc. that requires my attention.

You can get most things done on Drafts with the free version, but I chose to upgrade to Drafts Pro to unlock additional features, most important to me being the ability to create my own custom actions.

trello_icon copy.png — 4) Trello

*Price: FREE with limited features, $9.99/month for a business class license to unlock additional features*

Update: I have since transitioned from Trello to Todoist, largely due to how the platform handles recurring items and subtasks. I still utilize many of the same methods for creating tasks via Alfred workflows and forwarding emails to capture new items for various projects.

Out of all the project management platforms on the market, Trello strikes the right balance between being feature-rich and not overwhelming. With some of the other applications I've worked with, I feel like I spend more time fussing with the project management tool than actually managing my projects. Trello's Kanban-style flow works well for the way I work, and it's easy to manage projects and tasks across platforms via Mac, iOS, or web app.

If you choose to use the free tier like I do, there are some limitations meant to encourage you to upgrade to one of the paid plans. The free plan only allows you to utilize one "power-up," which limits some of the functions and automation features that might be important to you. However, I've largely been fine with the free version and haven't felt the need to upgrade.

A few of the tips I use to maximize my workflow using Trello:

You can create new Trello cards on your boards by forwarding messages to a unique email address. I use this feature regularly to send emails to my boards so I can capture and process them while still maintaining a tidy inbox.
I use IFTTT to create recurring cards for weekly 1:1s, reminders to update monthly reports, etc. This saves me from having to burn my one power-up on Trello's Card Repeater function.
I use multiple input methods to add cards to my to-do list. Whether I'm using an Alfred workflow/keyboard shortcut to capture a quick note during a meeting, using a Chrome extension to add cards to my boards while browsing the web, or routing something I start typing out in Drafts to Trello, I try to make capturing things as easy as possible.

Fantastical is hands-down the best third-party calendaring app on the Mac. While some users have been less than thrilled at its move to a monthly subscription model, the application still offers the best feature set for anyone managing multiple calendars.

Fantastical is a beautifully designed application that integrates with all the necessary services (Google, iCloud, Microsoft Exchange) and gives you multiple ways to visualize your upcoming appointments and reminders. But where the program really excels is in terms of how it processes natural language. For example, to create a new event or reminder entry, you simply need to type something like "Weekly staff meeting every Thursday at 1 pm," and Fantastical will create a new recurring event for "Weekly staff meeting" every Thursday at 1 pm.

I leave Fantastical running in the background and primarily refer to an icon in my menu bar to see what meetings I have coming up throughout the day. I also have a few different filter views of my various work and personal calendars that I switch between depending on the context of what I'm working on at the time. By using a combination of Siri, Drafts, and Alfred workflows, I can easily create new events on the fly as they come up.

So there you have it—the five most important Mac applications I use to get work done. Hopefully, there’s at least one worthwhile takeaway here for you. I'd love to hear what applications or services have been game-changers in your field. Feel free to email me at bret@bretneuman.com with any comments or feedback.

5 Mac Productivity Apps I Use to Get Sh*t Done

1) Alfred

2) BetterTouchTool

3) Drafts

4) Trello

5) Fantastical

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