Apple Briefs

SmileOnMyMac just released the latest iteration of PDFpen, its PDF-editing software. PDFpen comes in regular and Pro versions. PDFpenPro adds the ability to create forms and tables of contents. Both versions come very close to the feature set of Acrobat. PDFpen could be a very attractive solution if it can duplicate the features of Acrobat at a tiny fraction of the price (PDFpenPro sells for $99.95, Acrobat Pro – the only version available for Mac OS X – sells for $385.99 on MacMall).

So how does PDFpen stack up? I like the interface. It’s clearly a Mac application rather than a transplant from Windows. Acrobat is pretty straightforward, but there is a little bit of culture shock when using it. Looks don’t matter, though, if it won’t get the job done. And thats where PDFpen still needs a little bit of polish.

Of the PDF features I use regularly, OCR and text highlighting are two of the biggest troublemakers. I’ll discuss Acrobat first, since it serves as the benchmark. I haven’t upgraded to Acrobat 9 yet, so it’s possible (but, in my opinion, unlikely) that some of this has changed. Acrobat Pro does a good job of recognizing the text. The first image below shows the text that was recognized via the OCR. I have highlighted a portion with my cursor to better see where Acrobat found the text. The second image below shows the results of using the Acrobat Highlight Text tool on the OCR text.

There are two problems with the way Acrobat handles OCR. Or maybe a better way to put it is that there are two symptoms of the same root problem. Acrobat OCR seems to revolve around finding lines of text. When I copy the text (after highlighting it as in the first image), it shows up in my word processor as separate paragraphs because each line is treated separately. Truly smart OCR would recognize paragraphs of text. This lack of understanding by Acrobat is also evident when using the Highlight Text tool. Notice the gaps in yellow highlighting between some of the words. Acrobat again seems not to have recognized that the words are part of a continuous block of text. Still, Acrobat is serviceable.

PDFpenPro begins well, asking me when I open the document if I want to OCR the page or the document.

Unfortunately, the goodness ends there. Large sections of the PDFpenPro OCR text were filled with garbage characters. I tried OCR on a few documents with a white background and the results were much better. Clearly PDFpenPro is having trouble with the ivory paper. That’s a troubling sign and makes me wonder how well PDFpenPro will OCR a brochure or presentation.

Sometimes we don’t care about the text, and OCR is just used as to be able to highlight the text for a presentation. I used PDFPenPro to highlight the same text as I highlighted in Acrobat. As you can see from the second image below, the resulting PDF was unusable. Note that, unlike with the OCR, the highlight text tool gave the same results for a white paper scan as with the ivory paper.

Acrobat’s not perfect. But PDFpen’s current problems are show-stoppers. PDFpenPro is missing some important features too. The comparison chart on SmileOnMyMac’s website shows a few of the advantages of Acrobat Pro. Conspicuously absent from that list is one of the most important features for attorneys – redaction. Until PDFpen gets reliable redaction tools, it won’t be able to replace Acrobat in my workflow.

So I am a little disappointed. As much as I like Acrobat, I was hoping that PDFpenPro would work as a drop-in replacement. Hey, I like competition! Maybe with a little more testing and a few additional features, it will finally get there.

There are many lists of the top Mac applications to be found on the internet. This website even has one. But two things keep these other lists from being a great tool for businesses. First, they usually list applications like VLC which are great, but not that useful for business. Second, they usually only go to 10. Well, this one goes up to 11.

A few words about this list. I limited it to utility applications. What’s not a utility application? Anything primarily productive. So you won’t see anything like Daylite, NoteBook, or Nisus Writer Pro on this list. I also considered plugins not to be applications. I’ve come across some interesting (and useful) plugins, but those will be reserved for a future article. Finally, I included commercial applications on the list. There’s a certain charm to lists of free applications. But businesses are supposed to make money. You should be able to spend a few hundred dollars on applications to make you more productive and help your business prosper.

The Four Mac Utilities Your Business Must Have

1Password

http://agilewebsolutions.com/products/1Password

A long time ago I realized I needed some help keeping track of my passwords. It would be absolute folly to use the same ID and password for each account, so that means I need to record them somewhere secure. My original solution (back in the Mac OS X 10.2 days) was to keep a text file in an encrypted disk image. That worked well, but it quickly grew out of control. There are several good password managers, but 1Password is the best because it integrates well with the browser – automatically filling in entire web forms. 1Password can also sync your passwords with other computers using either .Mac or Agile’s my1Password service. Your entire office can be kept in sync, allowing your business partners or employees to access secure sites without worrying about the passwords they are using. And now you can always access your 1Password database with the iPhone version.

ChronoSync

http://www.econtechnologies.com/…/chrono_overview.html

Before Leopard, I used ChronoSync for all of my backup needs. Leopard changed all that with the introduction of Time Machine, a fantastic backup solution. But Time Machine has its limits. In particular, Time Machine doesn’t handle large files well. There are lots of reasons you might have 10GB+ files lying around. For me, that reason is virtualization and I strongly suspect it’s the case for other attorneys also. Every time my virtual hard disk changes, Time Machine wants to back it up. That’s both time consuming and destructive. The destructive part comes in when my backup disk runs out of space and has to start deleting increasingly recent backups (and that happens quickly when you’re backing up a 10GB+ file every day). So there’s still a place in my Applications folder for a quality backup solution like ChronoSync. I can configure ChronoSync to backup my virtualization folder at an interval of my choosing and to keep only as many versions as I need. Perfect.

MailSteward

http://www.mailsteward.com/

It’s a simple law of physics: the more people you interact with, the more email you’re going to get. This reality can strike small business owners pretty hard. It may not be worth relentlessly organizing every piece of email that comes into your inbox. But you don’t want to delete it all, so something has to be done. That’s where MailSteward comes in. MailSteward is a searchable database for your email.

SpamSieve

http://c-command.com/spamsieve/

Networking requires putting yourself out there. One of the drawbacks is that there are plenty of spammers “out there” so you can end up receiving more junk mail. If you’re running your own mail server, there are tools like SpamAssassin that can help. But that’s not for everyone. SpamSieve runs on your computer and works with your email client to block junk mail.

The Seven Other Utilities You’ll Probably Want Too!

AppZapper

http://appzapper.com/

I am fairly promiscuous with my Applications folder. AppZapper helps clean up my computer by deleting preferences and other support files after I am done testing a new application. You probably won’t try as many new applications as I do. Even so, a program like AppZapper is still worth keeping around. There are just too many great Mac applications coming out these days to ignore.

BetterZip

http://macitbetter.com/

Once upon a time, Stuffit Expander came installed on every new Mac and most people got along just fine. But sometimes I just want to take a peek and don’t want to extract the entire archive. In short, I missed WinZip. But I still needed to be able to expand Stuffit archives (”.sit” files). BetterZip answered the call. It handles every file format I have thrown at it, including a few not supported by Stuffit. On top of that, it allows me to easily make encrypted ZIP files, something I used to resort to the command line to do. And BetterZip does all this for less than WinZip (and far less than Stuffit Deluxe).

DragThing

http://dragthing.com/english/about.html

Some people hate the Mac OS X Dock. They don’t dislike the Dock, they really, truly hate it. I’m not in that camp. I spent long enough using Windows to develop a profound hatred for the Windows taskbar. So I love the Dock. It fixes all the things I hate about the Windows taskbar. But if you’re like me, and you use your computer for productive things as well as fun things, the Dock isn’t enough. I have at least 15 applications that I use on a daily basis, and probably more. Sometimes I even use more than one of the same kind of application (for example, I still use three word processing applications regularly). DragThing helps me organize it all. I have two DragThing docks, each with six tabs. Every application that I might conceivably want to use is sitting there right on the edge of the screen. Fewer icons in my Dock means that the icons can be larger. In addition to looking sharp, having larger icons makes switching between applications much quicker.

Leap

http://www.ironicsoftware.com/leap/index.html

After suffering for years with search on Windows XP, the release of Spotlight was a real “Wow!” moment for me. But after two OS X releases, Apple is still struggling to make the interface as powerful as the underlying technology. A basic Spotlight name search usually yields way too many results. Additional filters are available (by clicking the (+) button) but they are limited and require many extra steps. For anyone who uses their computer for more than just email and family photos, Spotlight is something of an ergonomic disaster. Leap takes advantage of Spotlight capabilities and adds a much more useful search criteria and search results interface. The combination of search filters, tags, and large preview icons sets Leap apart from the other Finder- and Spotlight-replacement applications.

Name Mangler

http://www.manytricks.com/namemangler/

In the practice of law, I receive many files from a variety of sources. Usually the files are not named the way I would like them to be. Rather than change their names individually, it is often more convenient to save the files into one location and perform a bulk renaming operation. Name Mangler does everything I need it to do, and I don’t have to pay extra for features that I don’t want (it’s shareware, so you only have to pay what it’s worth to you).

Service Scrubber

http://www.manytricks.com/servicescrubber/

The Services menu is quite powerful but also probably one of the most under-used features of Mac OS X. The Services menu works by allowing an application to extend its functionality to other applications. Services tend to be time savers more than anything else. For an example, highlight a URL in a document and then select Open URL from the Services menu. The web page at the URL you highlighted should open in the Safari. It must be pretty easy to add services because I ended up with quite a few. The result was that I didn’t want to use my Services menu because (1) it was difficult to find what I wanted quickly and (2) I cringed every time I looked at the menu. Services Scrubber helps clear the clutter by allowing me to disable unused services and organize the ones I do care about.

Speed Download

http://www.yazsoft.com/

I first started using Speed Download to get better download management. Speed Download provided great download performance and supported resuming of interrupted downloads much better than Safari or Firefox. The browsers have improved, but I still rely on Speed Download for downloading large files. Lately, Speed Download has begun taking over my other file transfer tasks as well. Speed Download includes an FTP client, iDisk integration, and secure file sharing with other Speed Download users. Normally I like to pick the “Best of Breed” application for each task I need to perform. But in the case of Speed Download, one application does everything well enough for me.

My first impressions of Apple’s new offerings are a mixed bag. I really like the iPhone 2.0 software update. I have only downloaded a few apps, but I foresee many more in my future. So far, my favorite has to be WeatherBug, which has all the weather information I need with an attractive presentation. I have also downloaded OmniFocus, but I haven’t had a chance to spend much time with it. I plan to download Things as well, but I am waiting for the promised sync feature.

In contrast to iPhone 2.0, MobileMe has been something of a failure. The “web 2.0″ interface is nice, but I haven’t seen anything compelling. I thought push email would be compelling, but there are two problems with that. First, there is apparently no “push” from your desktop (or laptop) to MobileMe. Second, push kills my battery. I can normally surf and call to my heart’s content, but turning “push” on nearly drained my battery by itself. Apple is going to have to fix that if they want to be a serious enterprise email contender.

The other problem with MobileMe is that Firefox can’t handle it. I use Firefox as my normal browser on Windows, but MobileMe kept bringing Firefox to its knees (making it sluggish and often unresponsive). Switching to Safari solved the problem, but MobileMe should work with any browser, not just Apple’s. I don’t like Safari on Windows. It’s too dark and just doesn’t fit in.

I don’t have plans to get a 3G iPhone, but that doesn’t mean I won’t window shop. There are a couple of nice reviews (with plenty of pics) over at Electronista and Ars Technica. I like the look of the new iPhone, but I am still happy with the clean lines and metal finish of my first generation iPhone.

The Apple Blog reviewed Jungle Disk 2 today. Jungle Disk is an online backup system built on top of the Amazon S3 Storage Service. It’s quite similar to Mozy, which I previously reviewed, and serves much the same purpose.

I haven’t had a chance to try Jungle Disk, but one difference jumps out at me. Mozy charges a flat fee of $0.50 / GB per month (assuming you need more space than their free 2GB MozyHome account. Jungle Disk, on the other hand, charges only $0.15 / GB per month. The catch is that Jungle Disk also charges $0.10 / GB of data uploaded and $0.17 / GB of data downloaded.

If you upload only 3GB per month for each GB stored on Jungle Disk, you will come out ahead of Mozy. My Mozy backups are usually pretty small, but sometimes they spike up to 50-100MB (I have the free Mozy Home account and so I only backup a small part of my system). People with large static files or databases (e.g. Daylite databases, video files) that change frequently will probably be better off with Mozy. Others might find Jungle Disk cheaper. I’ll have to do some number crunching to see which way this one will play out for my system.

I previously reviewed Things, the first in my four-part series on GTD applications for Mac OS X. I now turn my attention to OmniFocus from The Omni Group. While it isn’t perfect, OmniFocus clearly has a solid foundation of design and testing behind it.

A Little Background

In the beginning, there was OmniOutliner, which does pretty much what you would expect from the name. Despite being born without a single GTD bone in its body, OmniOutliner became a GTD application thanks to Ethan Schoonover. Kinkless GTD is a set of Applescripts that work with OmniOutliner Pro to implement task-management based on David Allen’s GTD methodology. Ethan and the folks at The Omni Group worked together to create OmniFocus, a purpose-built GTD application. Apparently the collaboration was a success because OmniFocus turned out great and Ethan is now at The Omni Group.

Organizing Tasks

OmniFocus is all about task management, so an important question to begin with is: how are tasks organized? Tasks, called actions in OmniFocus, can be related to a project (or single actions list), a context, or one of each. A project is a group of actions that are the steps necessary to achieve some end result or goal. The actions in a single-action list, on the other hand, might be related in some way, but they are not part of some greater undertaking. The OmniFocus manual defines a context as “the place or mode you need to be in to do a given task” (and I can’t think of a better way to describe it).

Projects

There are two kinds of projects: sequential and parallel. In a sequential project, one action must be completed before the next one is begun. In a parallel project, actions can be completed in any order. It sounds like a small difference, but it affects which tasks are available. Whether an action is available is just one of the many ways that OmniFocus allows you to slice and dice your action list (more on that later). Projects can also be given start, due, completed, and review dates.

A single actions list is like a project, but is less structured. A single actions list is just a bucket in which to throw actions that match some description (much like an “area” in Things). But whether your actions are in a project or a single actions list, the same options are available. It’s a little counterintuitive, but you can assign a due date and completed date to a single action list just like a project.

Most of the project features work well. Setting start, due, and completed dates is intuitive and useful. Like Things, which I reviewed previously, the repeat scheduling is a little wonky. A project set to repeat is created again as soon as it is completed, regardless of how often it is set to repeat. Until the repeat time comes around, the project are colored orange. The color will change to red once the actions are due. Try as I might, I couldn’t get the project to disappear from the sidebar or main window.

Contexts

Contexts were a little tough for me to grasp at first. I might be different than others, though, because I like my data and tools to be very well structured. In one of the early promotional videos, OmniFocus was touted as an application that is flexible – it can be as simple or complex as you need. That’s true, but I think contexts are most useful when they are given plenty of thought ahead of time.

My nightmare scenario is wanting to change the contexts I use as I go along. I might start simply, by using “home” and “work” contexts. If I later want to get more complicated, I might add an “errand” context. But what happens if I need to run an errand for work? The problem isn’t insurmountable because contexts can be hierarchical. OmniFocus also includes a few default contexts to get you thinking in the right direction.

Things, which I reviewed earlier, uses tags in much the same as OmniFocus uses contexts. I like tags because they don’t require as much planning. If I begin marking tasks with “home” and “work” tags, it is very easy to start adding “errand” tags where appropriate later. Some OmniFocus features wouldn’t work nearly as well with multiple contexts for an action, though. For example, actions can be synchronized with iCal based on which context they belong to. That kind of synchronization requires a one-to-one relationship between actions and contexts.

Actions: Not As Simple As They First Appear

When you first start entering actions, they seem pretty simple. Each action has places to enter a name and context and two greyed-out icons (the flag and note icons). Actions in the Inbox also have a place to enter a project name. New projects and contexts can be created while entering an action by pressing Command-Enter in either the project or context field after typing the desired name.

Actions become a lot more powerful through the use of notes. Notes are well-hidden, being accessed through the small note button on each action or by pressing Command-apostrophe. But OmniFocus drops a pretty major hint about the existence of notes by including a pair of introductory tasks with long notes when you run OmniFocus for the first time. Notes can hold rich text, including images, hyperlinks (which are active) and links to files.

Straddling the fence between a project and an action is a group. A project cannot have sub-projects, but groups nicely fill the void. A group appears in the action list just as an action – with a checkbox next to it. A group otherwise shares most of the features of projects, including: sequential and parallel modes; start due, and completed dates; and repeat scheduling.

Data Entry

There are several ways to get your data into OmniFocus. Of course, you can enter actions manually through the main window, but it’s not always convenient (or possible!) to switch away from what you’re doing and open OmniFocus. You can clip text from another application into the OmniFocus Inbox via the OmniFocus Clippings service. A clipping is created by highlighting text and pressing the shortcut (it defaults to Command-Shift-Option-Period) or choosing OmniFocus: Send to Inbox from the Services menu.

Actions can also be created via email. The basic idea is to send yourself specially crafted messages with the action information in the subject and body of your message. It seems like a lot of hassle to set up. But in theory it should run seamlessly without much intervention once OmniFocus and Mail are configured properly. Of course, I’ll soon be able to create actions from anywhere without email with my iPhone. So maybe I just lack sufficient motivation.

Sorting Through It All

Once your action list starts to grow, you will start to appreciate the tools OmniFocus provides to view and filter your tasks. OmniFocus has two modes – Planning and Context – that correspond to the two primary dimensions you use to classify your actions – projects and contexts. Clicking the View button on the tool bar brings up a row of sorting, grouping, and filter options.

A set of view options can be saved as a Perspective and recalled later. For example, you can achieve functionality similar to the Logbook in Things by creating a perspective for completed actions. Perspectives might seem like a minor feature, but they help push the complication of using OmniFocus into the background a little. Just set it and forget it!

The one word that seems to best describe the interface is uncluttered. The OmniFocus main window is quite clean and doesn’t overwhelm you with information. The flip side of that is that the OmniFocus main window can’t overwhelm you with information.

The Verdict

I can recommend OmniFocus without hesitation, but its not for everyone. Through the long beta process, OmniFocus seems to have added more and more features. It’s quite a sophisticated piece of software now. The result is that OmniFocus is not quite as accessible to casual users as Things. But it has plenty of features Things lacks. I’ll be checking out some other Mac GTD applications soon. But OmniFocus is the best pure GTD application I have seen so far.

Final Notes

I wanted to write a few words about Daylite because I get many visitors to this site looking for comparisons of OmniFocus and Daylite. Simply put, they are both great programs, but their strengths don’t really overlap. The power of Daylite is in the connections. Daylite isn’t a great contact manager, calendar, or task manager. Daylite is wonderful, though, in its ability to establish connections between everything that you track in Daylite. When did I last meet with a particular advisor? I can just look at the advisor’s contact in Daylite. The activity tab will tell me the date of my last appointment. The task list on Daylite is fairly basic, comprising a single customizable list view. A task can have notes, but extra clicks are required to view the note from the list view. Notes are, after all, just another kind of connection that Daylite keeps track of.

Unlike Daylite, OmniFocus only does one thing. That thing – task management – it does very well, though. OmniFocus has an extra dimension – context – from which to work. OmniFocus also has much more extensive sorting, grouping, and filtering options. When you have hundreds of tasks – some short-term, others long-term, some that are part of a discrete project, others that loosely related to a particular topic – you will enjoy having the power of software like OmniFocus to help plan your time.

There may be a place in a law firm (or other business) for both OmniFocus and Daylite because of their very different strengths. My wife uses Daylite for all of her primary business information tracking. Much of what she does, especially in areas of marketing, IT, and long-term planning, don’t really benefit from connections. That’s where OmniFocus finds a home.