MAC PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS

Get things done and work more efficiently with these magnificent Mac workflow boosters

Whatever kind of tool you’re after, there are a few features that you should look for and which are common to all

Take a look at the Productivity section of the Mac App Store and you’ll see it’s chock full of tools to make you work faster and smarter, and make sure you never forget an appointment

again. And that’s not even all of the productivity apps available for macOS – there are plenty more that are not even on the Mac App Store.

So which one to choose? Well, that obviously depends on what you need to do. Is it a simple list creation app you want? Or do you need a fully-featured Getting Things Done (GTD) task manager for serious productivity?

Whatever kind of tool you’re after, there are a few features that you should look for and which are common to all. For one thing, an intuitive interface is critical. One of the biggest reasons most of us don’t use productivity aids, even when we’ve paid for them, is that they get in the way of us working rather than helping us to work. A good user interface will allow you to do what you need to do with only a few clicks, swipes, or taps. No one wants to spend time trawling through menus when you’re meant to be knocking things off your to-do list.

We feel that a shallow learning curve is equally important. You shouldn’t have to spend hours learning how to use a tool that’s supposed to save time and effort.

Perfect productivity

Less critical (but still useful) are functions that allow you to sync data across multiple devices. This is particularly handy if you use the app both on your Mac and on an iPhone or iPad. To hijack an old adage, the best productivity tool is the one you have with you – so having it available on your iPhone is key.

Finally, it’s important that you can quickly add tasks and update them – the faster you can do this, the more likely you are to keep using the app in the future.

We’ve tested each of the six apps here against those criteria. Read on to find out how they fared.