25 Best Mac Apps for Bloggers in 2017 (I Can’t Live Without Them!)

I bought a new 27-inch 5k iMac a few weeks ago. Needless to say, I was completely overwhelmed and delighted by seeing the speed of the computer.

Previously, I was using Windows PC as my primary computer and MacBook Air for on-the-go purposes, but I thought having an iMac desktop would be a seamless experience for me and I would become highly productive by mastering a single OS.  I thought of sticking to MacOS as the Windows is full of viruses, instability, frequent crashing issues, and much more.

You may think I’m crazy to buy a 27-inch computer for blogging! But for me keeping the screen at 4 feet far and hacking up my mouse speed to 18.0 (by the terminal) is the way to go.

My #1 Mac Productivity Booster: Make use of Mission Control for multitasking.

Here comes the game changer. You can set your Mac to activate Mission Control when you go to any hot corners on your screen you set. You can set it in System Preferences > Mission Control > Hot corners (while setting this, hold on any other key if you wish). I have my Mission Control activated when I go to the top-right corner with the CMD key pressed.

Here are some of the greatest Mac apps every blogger should use. If you ask me, I'm so accustomed to using it that I can't work on my Mac effectively without them.

#1. Blog writing apps

I write all my blog posts in either Google Docs or the Pages app.

I’m a big mess when it comes to typos. So, Pages app is very suitable for me as it supports dynamic autocorrect feature - the feature you only get on Android and iOS devices. It automatically corrects my typos without me doing anything on my part. But well, there’ll be some dumb autocorrections, so proofreading is crucial.

I’ve heard good things about apps like Desk and Blogo. Have never tried them, so won’t comment.

#2. Copy ‘Em Paste

I’m a big fan of clipboard manager apps. I was using Ditto Clipboard manager on my Windows PC.

Clipboard manager allows you to keep the entries of things you copied ages ago and allows you to access them by a hotkey and a search bar.

Believe me or not, clipboard manager is the first app I install on my new computer I can’t just operate without it.

Make it your companion and thank me later.

When I came to Mac, I was astonished by the variety of Clipboard managers available for Mac. I tried a bunch of them like CopyClip, Flycut, Paste, Unclutter, and much more. But nothing came even close to Copy ‘Em Paste regarding UX, customization, and features.

I bought this app as I knew how crucial is a clipboard manager in blogger’s life. It costs you $14.99. It is well worth the price. You will realize how much you are missing this app only after you start using it.

Although there are free clipboard managers like Flycut, they come with limited features and is not enjoyable to use.

#3. Keyboard Maestro

Keyboard Maestro is the next app I bought. It costed me $36, and it literally saved me hours of time doing repetitive tasks. It’s the best macro automation app I’ve ever encountered.

I’ve set 94 macros on my PC as of now. I can trigger these macros by typing a string or a shortcut key.

Here are some of the macros I set as a blogger on Keyboard Maestro.

Creating links: When I copy a text on webpage and type in the trigger text, the macro will turn that copied text to a hyperlink. It’ll paste that copied text in a text editor app, go back to Chrome, copy the URL, come back to the text editor, insert that link to the previously pasted text, clicks return, and copy the hyperlink, returns back to Chrome waiting for me to paste that hyperlink as I wish. This one is a massive productivity booster for me when inserting repeated resources links in my posts.

• Auto resize and compress: This macro enables me to automatically resize and compress the screenshots I take on typing a trigger string.

• Drag and drop: This macro keeps Chrome to the left side of the screen, opens desktop to the right side when I type the trigger “;drag;”

• When I type in the string “;glance;”, the macro opens all the URLs like blog stats, Gmail, affiliate dashboards, to start my day or to glance all the things that matter to me.

• I have another macro that creates a CSV file named with today’s date and fills in all the essential data for my outreach process.

• Another macro enables me to upload the images to my server via FTP in the background, and copy the image URL to be used in WordPress editor.

• Automatically build my Thrive Architect page using HTML editing (find and replace on steroids)

Like these, I have 94 macros. And it’s still growing as I work.

#4. aText

TextExpander was the app I was loving. But not now as they turned to a subscription-based model.

I'm now using aText and it costed me just $4.99. With this, you can set a snippet code which will be expanded to text when that snippet or short text is triggered.

Here are some of the short snippets I’m using to insert some long text.

eem1 -> My first email

GGBT -> GoBloggingTips

aadr -> My full residential address

gguest -> My guest post pitch

sstats -> http://www.{CURSOR}.com/wp-admin/admin.php?page=stats

Like this I have 74 snippets set to save time.

You can also use the Mac’s built-in text expander at System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Text (tab) but it severely lacks in features.

#5. Hazel

It is the house keeping app that I’ve for my Mac. It’s like set it and forget it.

The main problem with any computer is having plenty of files littered all over the place. But what Hazel does is that it puts your files to where they should be based on the rules and condition you set.

There are some of the rules I’ve set for my Hazel app.

• The files I downloaded from internet and end from DMG should be put into my “Software” folder.

• The file names starting with “Screen shot” on desktop should be moved to “Screenshots” folder I have in my documents.

• Move the docx files I downloaded from UpWork (oDesk) to a folder named “UpWork Articles”. It checks whether the file I downloaded is from source address that contains the keyword “odesk or upwork” and also of type docx.

Like this I have upto 30 rules I’ve set to keep my Mac clutter-free. I use this app in conjunction with Keyboard Maestro to accomplish much more things!

This app costs you $32.

#6. Image compression app

I have installed three apps - ImageOptim, ImageAlpha, and TinyPNG4Mac.

The ImageOptim allows you to compress your images whether it be Jpeg or PNG to a great extent.

ImageAlpha gives me more flexibility when it comes to compressing PNG images especially screenshots by allowing me to set the color. For PNG images I usually keep the 32-color and it reduces the file size by 70%.

The TinyPNG client allows me to upload any images to TinyPNG easily and replaces the original image without me having to download them manually.

#7. Taking screenshots

Most of the times I use the Mac’s built-in screenshot feature. I use Cmd+Shift+4, which allows me to select the part of the area to capture.

If I want to take a screenshot of a single window, I press spacebar, once I hit the above shortcut. The cursor will be turned to camera icon. This is a in-built feature that many people don’t know.

I also have Skitch installed on my Mac and I use it for quick annotation of screenshots.

#8. Screenflow

Camtasia is the best Screencasting app for Windows, but not for Mac.

Screenflow is a much cheaper tool and also comes packed with great features when compared to Camtasia for Mac. I personally found editing the videos in Screenflow much easier and productive than that of Camtasia because of quick shortcuts and magnetic timeline.

When it comes to render times and video size, Camtasia and Screenflow turns out to be same.

I use Screenflow to create my online tutorials, reviews and much more.

If you are looking for free way to record your screen, you can make use of Quick Time’s screen recording feature.

#9. Integrity

This is a totally free app for Mac. It lets you easily find website’s broken links.

If you are on a shared server, then using broken link checker WordPress plugins may be a big no-no for you, as it easily crashes your server. In such cases, Integrity comes to your rescue.

The Integrity is a small app, that lets you scan for broken links on your blog. You can enter the homepage URL of your site, and the app crawls through your entire website similar to how Google crawls you site in search of broken links.

This app is surprisingly fast than what I initially thought. It checked 400 links on my site in a minute of running it. Fast. Isn’t it? You can even increase the number of threads to speed this up more!

#10. CyberDuck

I prefer using CyberDuck as my preferred FTP tool. I’m a long time FileZilla user. But in Mac, CyberDuck has a great user interface.

With CyberDuck for Mac, you can uncompress the zip files inside your server in a seconds. Whereas, the FileZilla takes forever for this.

I prefer using FTP instead of cPanel file manager as it is quicker.

#11. Isolator

One of the bad perks of having a big screen is having lots of windows open at the same time. The apps like Isolator dims down the inactive windows allowing you to focus on the Window that you are working on. You can even set the dimming time like a gradual dim.

Isolator is the only good free app I came across.

There’s another fairly popular app with good UI called HazeOver, but it’s paid.

You’ll only realize how much you needed this app only after using this app.

#12. Handbrake

I shoot my videos in DSLR and the raw footage will be in Gigabytes. I make use of Handbrake to reduce the video size to a manageable size.

I also have MPEGSteam Clip on my computer. But for me, Handbrake is the ideal one as it comes with loads of options to optimize the size of the videos according to various circumstances. It compresses my portrait white-screen 5-min videos in a matter of seconds.

#13. DragQueen

DragQueen  is a free app that creates a special drag-zone on the left side of your screen (only visible when in drag mode), where you can drag your files. Now you can head over to the your target window and then drag the file back from the zone to paste it. It makes your drag and drop process much more easier.

I seldom use it as the combination of Copy ‘Em paste and Mission Control feature is more than essential for me.

#14. Spectacle

I love Window snapping feature in Windows. When you clicked on the Win Key + Left Arrow, the window would snap to the left and vice versa.

Although, the MacOS has this as an inbuilt feature, you can’t do it via keyboard shortcuts. There are many paid apps like Magnet which can accomplish this.

But as this is a simple functionality, I found a free app called Spectacle which lets you snap the active windows to the left, right, top, bottom, and more zones with keyboard shortcuts.

Other apps I use on my Mac

• Evernote - This is my note taking app. I use it a lot. I use it along with Web Clipper and Keyboard Maestro for taking quick notes and searching them easily.
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  Alfred: I use the free version of this app. It's bit faster than the spotlight search. The pro version is not needed for me as I already have Keyboard Maestro and a dedicated app for clipboard management.
• Wunderlist - I implement basic GTD principles. But I'm not a complete GTD freak. I make use of free version of Wunderlist. It's more than enough for me. If you are serious about GTD consider getting OmniFocus or Things.
• MAMP - It creates a local server on your Mac computer allowing you to install any web apps like WordPress.
• Audacity - I use this app to edit the audio I record for my videos. Normally, I add some bass and warmth to the voice.
• XMind - This is the mindmap app I continued using in Mac also from Windows. It is the best free choice out there. 
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  Qbserve: This is an excellent time-tracking app that lets you track your web activities and also the desktop activities. Unlike the most popular RescueTime, this app won't cost you monthly fee. You just need to pay a one-time fee of $42 and you'll be good to go. Personally I liked this app over RescueTime as it comes with  more features and also store tracked data right inside your computer itself. So, you don't need to worry about your private data. I use this app all the time. Never underestimate the power of a good time-tracking app for boosting your productivity. Little things makes a big difference and I learnt it lately.
• RescueTime - This app lets you know where you wasted your time.
• MagicPrefs - Allows me to set Magic Mouse and Trackpad gestures for my iMac and MacBook devices. A must-have free app.
• PopClip - I also have bought this app. It displays you the quick actions in the form of popup when you select any text much like that of in Android or iOS. Such a time-saver.
• CheatSheet - It shows you all the shortcuts available in an app when you hold down the CMD button in any app.
• Apptivate - Allows you to assign keyboard shortcuts to launching apps. I'm not using it anymore as I have Keyboard Maestro.

These are some of the Mac apps I use on a daily basis. I would like to again emphasize not to underestimate the effectiveness of a good clipboard manager, Keyboard Maestro, or atleast Automator that comes as a built-in app.

These apps combined with the stability and reliability of the MacOS, powers my blogging workflow. Let me know if you use any of the less-known apps on your Mac device.

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