Tag Archives: NValt

Custom Academic Searches on LaunchBar

Posted on 2013/01/31 by

Application launchers like Alfred and LaunchBar are Swiss Army knives of software, but to take full advantage of their flexible power you really need to tweak and customize their settings. The apps aren’t designed for academics, but because they’re so … Continue reading →

Posted in Automation, Workflows | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Update on the Macademic Ninja kit

Posted on 2012/11/03 by

The Macademic Ninja kit posted a while ago  included TextExpander, LaunchBar, Hazel, 1Password and Dropbox. I still love and constantly use all of these small apps. But in the last 1.5 years five other apps have also become critical for freeing … Continue reading →

Posted in Automation, Workflows | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Three stages of the academic workflow and Mac software

Posted on 2012/04/22 by

The’academic workflow’ is a representation of scholarship as a series of stages or steps connected to each other without gaps or duplication. Although simplified, the idea of the workflow helps to structure, develop, and communicate tools, knowledge and experience across … Continue reading →

Posted in Workflows | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Microsoft Word: 5 misuses and 7 alternatives

Posted on 2012/04/17 by

If you work on a Windows PC your life most likely revolves around Microsoft Word. It does not need to be so on a Mac. I still need MS Word to exchange files with Windows-based colleagues and also because it … Continue reading →

Posted in Workflows, Writing | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

Academic writing, task management, and OmniFocus

Posted on 2012/04/11 by

Task management systems, invented to increase focus and productivity, may become a source of distraction and procrastination. I certainly learned that when I tried to integrate my academic writing with OmniFocus. OmniFocus provides reminders, information, and space to decide what should … Continue reading →

Posted in Tasks, Workflows, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

5 things to keep out of OmniFocus

Posted on 2012/04/04 by

OmniFocus makes it deceptively easy to quickly add and organize tasks and projects. But there is a trap in trying to keep all your stuff in one place. First, no software is fit for all purposes; and second no software … Continue reading →

Posted in Tasks | Tagged , , , | 15 Comments

Byword – an ideal tool for plain text writing on a Mac

Posted on 2012/03/16 by

I often need to write a piece of text between 200 and 2000 words: an abstract of a talk, a blog post or an administrative memo. This is longer and more complicated than an occasional note but much simpler and … Continue reading →

Posted in Notes, Writing | Tagged , | 9 Comments

Note-taking on a Mac revisited

Posted on 2011/08/21 by

David Sparks just explained in Macworld once again why plain text is best. This prompted me to update several entries from April and March on taking notes on a Mac. In this post, I describe some recent software developments and share … Continue reading →

Posted in Notes, Tags and folders | Tagged , , | 3 Comments