FEATURE Best Mac utilities
Productivity boosters
Optimise your workflow with these apps
TEAM PICK
Hocus Focus
Free FROM hocusfoc.us
NEEDS macOS 10.10 or later Acluttered desktop is bad for your focus and productivity. Hocus Focus can automatically hide inactive app windows instantly or after aset time. You can even set up profiles for different hiding behaviour to suit whatever you’re working on.
Alfred
Free alfredapp.com NEEDS macOS 10.14 or later $42 (about £40) FROM noodlesoft.comFROM
NEEDS macOS 10.13 or later
This universal search app could change the way you use your Mac, offering a wide range of power features to boost your productivity.
Core search functionality is similar to Spotlight, bringing up results instantly as you type a search term. The results seem a little more focused, though, and each one has its own keyboard shortcut for quicker access. Files aren’t shown by default: instead, you use a prefix such as ‘find’ or ‘open’; you can also preview a file by pressing Shift. For web search, you can use and create keywords for custom searches on specific sites.