This video is brought to you by Setapp! Welcome to Part 3 of my Desk Setup Guide
series, where we explore all the essentials and inessentials necessary for achieving the most
suitable, productive, and inspiring desk setup. In Part 3, we talk about apps & tools that help
you take full advantage of your desk setup. Be sure to watch the other parts of the series (like
desk setup necessities & peripherals) at the end of this video or in the description below,
where I'll also be placing & updating my recommendation links as time passes.
Starting with built-in features of the Apple Ecosystem, Universal Control is now a default
one on all of the latest Apple devices that surprisingly few people know about. With it,
you can control multiple Apple devices with a single keyboard and mouse. In most cases,
I keep the tablet nested in my desk shelf, which, if you are interested, you can check out in my
first episodes of the guide series, which I’ll link at the end of this video. While there, I can
simply move my Mac mouse down to resume control of the tablet seamlessly. Once the cursor is within
the tablet screen, my Mac keyboard also becomes an input device for the tablet, and once I move
it up to the Mac monitor screen again, I am back to controlling my Mac with the same peripherals.
With the help of universal control, I can easily use two operating systems as if they are one. I
can control my music and take care of instant messages and email on the tablet, while the Mac
remains my main video editing workflow machine, for example. This integration requires no initial
setup. If both devices are next to each other, all you have to do is move from one to the other,
and the connection is established. Another option to turn it on is to go to Control
Center and click on the display icon right next to the brightness level. If you want to tweak the
position of the tablet relative to the monitor of your Mac, you can go to system preferences
and display to relocate them accordingly. While there another option that is worth
exploring is Sidecar. Sidecar turns your iPad into an additional Mac Monitor creating an iPad Stacked
Setup - something I discuss in my dual-monitor setup guide, which I’ll also link below. Using
your iPad as a secondary display can be very useful for apps and workflows that can take
advantage of it. For me, for example, the iPad becomes my video library manager while editing,
leaving more space on my primary display for the viewer and coloring tools. Sidecar displays the
iPad as any other secondary monitor allowing you to move it around and position it to your
liking. Both Sidecar and Universal Control are built-in Apple features which, if you haven’t,
you should definitely try. While on the same topic, Universal Clipboard and Airdrop have become
the gold standard. I use Universal Clipboard all the time, especially when posting things on
Instagram. In most cases, I’ll generate my text and hashtags on the Mac, and I’ll simply paste
them on the iPhone or iPad. BTW, if you end up enjoying this video, subscribe because, WHY NOT?
Closing the topic of built-in Mac features, one you should enable (if you haven’t) is
Accessibility Zoom. From your Mac system preferences, you can go to Accessibility and
Zoom and turn it on from there. When enabled, you can hold CTRL and use the mouse scroll to zoom in
and out anywhere your cursor is. I use it all the time, especially when I deal with multiple
displays. It comes in handy when dealing with minuscule items or text elements and very often
when my eyes get tired. This feature works great no matter how many displays you have connected,
including the iPad. It also works while in meetings if you want to emphasize on something.
Now, let’s talk about apps. Magnet is my go-to Window snapping tool on the Mac. Unlike Windows,
Macs can get a bit messier when it comes to window management and this is where the app Magnet comes
into play. It is a paid app, yet keep in mind there are free alternatives to it, like Rectangle.
Magnet brings sapping to each Mac window once you stick it to the edges of the screen to allow
for quick and symmetrical arrangement. Aside from hitting the display's edges, you can use
shortcuts to achieve the same results. If you have a 16:9 monitor, the most used snaps are
usually side by side or 2 smaller windows and one tall one, but if you have an ultrawide monitor,
you can go even further in the organization. Although you can achieve similar results with
Mac’s built-in split screen option, snapping is much easier and more flexible. If you decide to
throw in additional desktops in the mix, you can have some really organized and productive layouts.
Talking about organization, a little app that I recently discovered is called Mission Control
Plus. As you probably know, Mission Control gives you a glimpse of all your active windows
on a desktop, but it’s lacking one important feature. Mission Control Plus provides that
missing close icon to help you quickly get rid of windows and apps that you are currently not
in need of. You can use shortcuts to close, minimize, and even quit apps right from Mission
Control. Very useful indeed. BTW, I’ve placed a hot corner on my screen to activate Mission
Control by hitting the top right corner of the display. My top left corner opens my App Drawer.
An essential app for any setup should enable you to also keep your finger on the pulse of
world news. Curio is an app like no other. It provides curated news but not by AI. A
team of editors browses dozens of the world's top publications daily and hand-pick the best
articles. Furthermore, professionals narrate the articles to turn them into high-quality
audio, with new stories added every day. We are talking about 50+ world-leading publications and
over 10,000 hand-picked audio articles you can enjoy on your desk setup, iPad, iPhone,
Apple Watch, and even CarPlay. Personalized, available offline, and my favorite - NO ADS! You
can enjoy geopolitics, science, social media, and much more while commuting, exercising,
or cooking. Stay updated by absorbing the audible content you want and stay informed wherever you
are. You can try Curio on Setapp alongside another 240 premium productivity-focused apps and tools
in one suite. Whether reading the news, coding, cleaning or fixing, the Setapp search bar will
find the right app for you. You'll also get access to any app updates or new additions,
so head over to the first link in the description below to try Setapp for free for 14 days.
Since we are on the topic of desk setup, unless you are using the Apple Studio display you might
be having issues controlling the brightness of volume control on third party monitors. Instead of
torturing yourself using the monitor's on-screen controls, you can download a very simple yet very
powerful app called Monitor Control. With it, you can start utilizing the birghness controls on the
keyboard to actually control the brightness of the display that you are using. The same
goes for the volume control. If the monitor has built-in speakers or you have connected a speaker
system on the back of the monitor, you can use the keyboard shortcuts to control them, thanks
to this little app. Now, keep in mind that not all monitors are supported, especially when it comes
to volume control, but reporting on my side, in terms of brightness control, it’s a must-have app.
While on the topic of brightness, another app that I really like is called Vivid. The app
takes advantage of the built-in XDR displays of the MacBook Pro and the XDR monitor to
allow max brightness on demand, and not just when consuming XDR content. The app has been rebuilt
from the ground up for version 2 to work extremely efficiently and comes in handy if I am to work in
a brighter environment. Even if you don’t have an XDR monitor (like me), Vivid still comes in handy
because it has a new feature called Eclypse mode, which essentially brings the brightness
level lower than the minimum. I use it more for instant dimming of my display when needed.
Next up is AirBuddy. This app brings the iPhone and iPad AirPods pop-up screen and
animation to the Mac. Whenever I activate my AirPods, I am presented with the beautiful
animation of my AirPods, allowing me to glance at the charge of both the buds and case while
also giving me the button and choice to connect to them. AirBuddy can be styled
to look different depending on your liking. While AirBuddy can give me information about
the battery levels of my AirPods, Cloud Battery can keep me up to date on the charging status
of all my devices. From the Magic Mouse to the Apple Pencil, I can glance and check the
charge level on everything that has Cloud Battery installed on it. I find this an invaluable tool,
especially when it comes to my peripherals since with it I can avoid being stranded in
the middle of a writing session or a project. Ok, so now let’s review some simple yet useful
tiny apps that are worth investing into. HazeOver is an app that puts a dark overlay
on all your inactive windows and desktop, allowing you to focus on the task at hand. If
you have plenty of windows open and you notice you need to clear up your mind, you might find
great use of this re-focusing approach. Quick View Calendar is the simplest
task menu calendar that I always refer to, without having to open up my Calendar app.
Bartender is the app that keeps my menu bar neat and tidy, hiding all the menu apps and tools that
I don’t necessarily need all the time, leaving on focus only the ones that I most often use.
CopyClip is my Mac clipboard manager that is an absolute lifesaver. Whatever I copy,
especially when it comes to text, CopyClip keeps in place for future reference.
Amphetamine is the little app that keeps my Mac awake, not even allowing the screensaver to run. I
use this app when I want to leave the Mac running while doing a recording or when I want to leave it
for my colleague to finish a project I’ve started. Color Picker is the tool that helps me grab all
sorts of colors no matter what’s on the screen. I can use it to preview any shade and even add
it to my system color palette, ready to be used in a thumbnail or video project.
If you enjoyed this video, check out the previously released desk setup necessities
guide or the peripherals episode, where we talk about mice, keyboards & more. Like and subscribe
to the channel, as well as my newsletter, and as always, it's been an absolute pleasure,
This is E Over and out