Skip to content
Thoughtful, detailed coverage of everything Apple for 36 years
and the TidBITS Content Network for Apple professionals

Category: Productivity

Adam Engst No comments

AppBITS: TerminalWidget Turns Scripted Output into Visual Widgets

Tired of checking Terminal to see if your script finished? TerminalWidget displays command line output, Shortcuts results, and AppleScript data as customizable widgets that sync across your Apple devices, giving power users a visual dashboard for their automations.

Adam Engst 9 comments

OpenAI Shuffles ChatGPT Apps, Kills Atlas Browser, Improves Voice

OpenAI has replaced its Mac apps with a confusing 1.45 GB amalgamation, killed its ChatGPT Atlas Web browser after less than a year, and boosted ChatGPT Voice by backing it with more capable models.

Adam Engst 49 comments

Beyond Streaming: Why and How to Download Videos from YouTube

Can’t stream a YouTube video on a plane? Worried that a rare concert recording will disappear? Need to edit a clip for a presentation? Here’s why TidBITS Talk readers download YouTube videos—and which apps they recommend.

Adam Engst 56 comments

How Planning Made My Second Long EV Trip Stress-Free

After a mostly successful first EV road trip, Adam Engst refined his approach for a weekend drive to Boston. The result was a boring, stress-free experience—exactly what you want from travel logistics.

Adam Engst 34 comments

Do You Use It? Clear and Tinted Icons Are a Hard Pass

Our poll results are in: virtually no TidBITS readers use clear or tinted icons on the Mac or the iPhone. But the real issue isn’t color—it’s that Apple’s mandatory squircle shape strips icons of their distinctive personalities, making them harder to differentiate.

Adam Engst 1 comment

Doctor Pairs TextExpander with a Gaming Mouse for Improved Telehealth Communications

Former TidBITS managing editor Josh Centers profiles a telehealth doctor who uses a 12-button gaming mouse and TextExpander’s branching snippets to generate complete, error-free patient documentation with a single click.

Adam Engst 96 comments

Office 2019 for Mac Goes Read-Only on 13 July 2026

On 13 July 2026, an expiring security certificate will force Office 2019 for Mac into read-only mode. Microsoft has shown no interest in releasing a fix, leaving users to upgrade or switch to alternatives.

Adam Engst 17 comments

BBEdit 16 Searches for Text in Images, Adds Shortcuts Actions, and More

After 34 years, BBEdit keeps finding new tricks. Version 16 searches for text inside images, brings powerful text transformations to Shortcuts, and adds per-project color schemes, among much else.

Adam Engst 21 comments

macOS Text Replacement Export/Import Works Great Until It Doesn’t

Apple lets you export and import text replacements by dragging them to and from the Text Replacements dialog. It’s great for backups and sharing, but if you try to import thousands of entries, such as from the TidBITS AutoCorrect Dictionary, things may fall apart unpredictably.

Julio Ojeda-Zapata 29 comments

Third-Party Gadgets Bring Find My Tracking to Wallets, Chargers, and More

Apple’s AirTags are indispensable for tracking down a missing purse or wayward suitcase, but the large lozenge shape isn’t ideal for all Find My scenarios. Third-party accessory makers have stepped in with a range of Find My trackers—Julio Ojeda-Zapata looks at a wallet, several wallet cards, a mobile charger, and a travel lock.

Adam Engst 1 comment

VidBITS: A Hookmark Walkthrough with Luc Beaudoin

Hookmark brings hyperlinking to your Mac, letting you connect files, emails, PDFs, and more. In this hour-long video demo, CogSciApps founder Luc Beaudoin shows how to copy links, create bidirectional hooks, and navigate your workspace efficiently.

Adam Engst 125 comments

Pages, Keynote, and Numbers 15 Go Freemium

Apple has folded Pages, Keynote, and Numbers into its Creator Studio subscription bundle, but the upgrade process has been confusing and the App Store ratings have cratered. Here’s what happened, what’s actually behind the paywall, and what you should do.

Adam Engst 78 comments

Apple Bundles Pro Apps into New Creator Studio Subscription

The new Apple Creator Studio subscription bundles Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, and more for $129 per year, but one-time purchases remain available for the Mac versions, so it’s worth doing the math before subscribing.

Adam Engst 54 comments

MacUpdater Shuts Down, Leaving Users Searching for Alternatives

CoreCode has stopped maintaining MacUpdater, the popular utility that tracked updates for over 100,000 Mac apps. If you relied on it to manage updates to all the apps on your Mac, here are some alternatives that might fill the gap.

Adam Engst 28 comments

Why I Use Multiple Screenshot Utilities on the Mac

For documentation work, one size doesn’t fit all. Adam Engst finds that ScreenFloat’s floating windows, export options with borders, and Shot Browser address editing and reuse challenges, while CleanShot X excels at combining screenshots. And he still falls back on macOS’s built-in screenshot utility for capturing menus with shadows.