Quick Actions are the new Services for Name Mangler

May 7th, 2024 by Rob Griffiths

Note: We have found a much simpler way to implement Quick Actions, via Apple’s Shortcuts app. See the linked post to download the template, make a few simple edits, and you’ll be up and running with Quick Actions.

You are welcome to use the following Automator solution, which still works fine, but the Shortcuts solution is easier, and offers more ways to invoke the Quick Action.

As of today’s Name Mangler update, sharp-eyed users will notice that the File → Create Context Menu Service menu item has vanished. Unfortunately, due to recent changes in what kinds of things Apple allows apps that create Services to do, we had to remove the feature. (Basically, the only thing we’d be able to include would be a set of standard pre-defined Services, and that’s not very useful for an app that renames files.) So that’s the bad news.

The good news is that there’s a relatively easy workaround that will let you create Quick Actions using Automator. These will function as Services did before, though via the Quick Actions menu instead of the Services menu.

The process of creating Quick Actions for Name Mangler isn’t overly complicated, and we have several different ways for you to learn how to complete the task.

We have a video for those who learn best by observing, and a step-by-step write-up for those who learn best by reading. Also, at the end, you’ll find a “just make it work for me!” section that provides a nearly ready-to-go Quick Action that you can duplicate and edit as needed. (However, knowing how to create Name Mangler Quick Actions is important, so we recommend watching the video and/or reading the instructions as well).

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Menuwhere 2.2.2 released

March 5th, 2024 by Rob Griffiths

Menuwhere 2.2.2 is out, with a couple of macOS Sonoma fixes. The first is an easy one to explain: Submenus in Sonoma weren’t respecting custom font sizes specified in Menuwhere’s settings. Now they do.

The second is more complicated to explain, so I’ll just steal the text from the release notes:

Menuwhere can now detect menu item alternates on macOS 14 Sonoma. Please note that this is a workaround for a macOS bug (FB13141185), where we’re forced to take an educated guess regarding which menu items may be alternates. If you’re missing menu items that should be visible by default, consider checking the “Make alternate menu items permanently visible” checkbox in Menuwhere’s settings.

We’ve come up with a workaround for this bug, which we’ll hopefully only need until Apple fixes the bug in macOS.

Our workaround seems to work quite well, but it’s possible it may identify something as an alternate that is not, and vice versa. So as explained above, if you notice missing menu items, try making alternate menu items permanently visible. And if you’re so inclined, let us know which app you saw the issue in so we can take a look.

As usual, you can get the update via the in-app updater, or by downloading a fresh copy of the app (you won’t lose your settings) from the Menuwhere page.

Witch 4.6.2 released

February 14th, 2024 by Rob Griffiths

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, give your special someone the gift of a Witch 4.6.2 update, which fixes a bug that could occasionally garble vertical switchers. That’s it, no more no less. Update in the Witch System Settings panel, or by downloading a fresh copy from our site.

Moom 3.2.26 released

February 12th, 2024 by Rob Griffiths

Today’s Moom update fixes a few annoying little things that have popped up, mostly since Sonoma was released:

  • Moom will no longer generate a macOS permissions request about accessing data from other apps. (This only affected users using third-party desktop image apps from the Mac App Store.)
  • We’ve improved error logging to help diagnose issues Moom may have when interacting with other apps.
  • Moom’s pop-up menu now works when the LanguageTool app is running.
  • Moom’s pop-up also now works when the TopDrop app is running (Hat tip to Alex P. for reporting this one.)

As always, update from within the app, or just download a fresh copy from Moom’s page (you won’t lose your settings).

Butler and Witch updated

January 8th, 2024 by Rob Griffiths

Today we released Butler 4.4.8 and Witch 4.6.1. Both are minor updates to fix issues that cropped up with the release of macOS Sonoma. You can either check for updates from within the app, or just download a fresh copy of the full app from the above-linked pages (you won’t lose your settings if you do this).

Very important note: Due to changes in Xcode, the minimum macOS version required to run the updated apps is macOS 10.13 (High Sierra). If you need a version of our apps for an older version of macOS, you can find it on our Museum page.

Witch 4.6 released

August 10th, 2023 by Rob Griffiths

Witch 4.6 is out, and it’s got a couple of hopefully useful fixes. First off, we finally managed to squash a longstanding issue where web apps wouldn’t recognize that they’d been switched away from when using Witch—this would leave those apps thinking their windows were still in the foreground when they really weren’t. And second, we made some changes that we think will improve the reliability of listing—and switching to—windows on other Spaces. (You can read the release notes if you wish, but these are the only two changes.)

As always, you can update directly from the Witch System Settings panel, or you can download a fresh copy of Witch 4.6 and install it—you won’t lose your settings.

Witch 4.5.4 released

June 7th, 2023 by Rob Griffiths

Witch 4.5.4 is out now, with a number of minor fixes and improvements—check the release notes for all the details. The biggest improvement is probably for those who use Spaces: Switching between them should be more reliable now, especially when at least one of the apps involved has windows on more than one Space. (Switching across Spaces is still slower than non-Spaces switching, but we can’t do anything about that, due to how we have to switch Spaces.)

As always, you can update directly from the System Settings panel (on the About tab), or by downloading a new copy of Witch from our site (you won’t lose your settings).

Witch 4.5.3 released

November 21st, 2022 by Rob Griffiths

Witch 4.5.3 is out, with improvements in Spaces support and smarter logic when switching after you’ve used a combination of Witch and non-Witch actions to switch windows and/or tabs. We also worked around an issue where an app that provides nonsensical information about its tabs could crash Witch. You can read the release notes, but the above is all they say, though in an easier-to-read format.

If you have Witch set to automatically update, you should see the update now. If you don’t have automatic updates enabled, open Witch’s System Settings panel, click on the About tab, and click Check Now.

Butler 4.4.7 released

October 28th, 2022 by Rob Griffiths

Butler 4.4.7 is out; the update addresses a few issues, and is recommended for all Butler users (release notes).

If you’re using macOS 13, aka Ventura, and you use Butler’s System Preferences Smart Item1Butler hasn’t yet adopted the new System Settings name, you’ll probably notice it’s a lot uglier than it was before: We display raw item names, and you’ll see entries that don’t exist when you open the real System Settings app.

That’s all due to Apple revamping the System Preferences app. In the past, the app was basically a wrapper for a number of standalone preference panes. But the new System Settings app has been rewritten as an all-in-one app, where the file-system-level preference panes are merely placeholders, which makes the whole thing a lot less accessible.

We are still pondering ways to deal with this change. In the meantime, the Smart Item works, even though it looks like a work in progress.

Another round of minor updates released

August 4th, 2022 by Rob Griffiths

This time out, here’s what’s changed…

  • Butler 4.4.6: Fixed a bug related to dragging and dropping items to Butler icons in the menu bar.
  • Name Mangler 3.8: Reworked the Services feature due to changes in macOS 12.5, and made a few other minor changes (documentation, demo mode behavior).
  • Resolutionator 2.3: Added support for the M2 MacBook Air and the 27″ Studio Display.
  • Witch 4.5.2: Restored tab support in Brave and Edge browsers, and improved VoiceOver support. Note that this update was actually released a while back, but we never documented it here; whoops!

Direct users can update from within the app, or by downloading a fresh copy of the app from the relevant page on our site (you won’t lose your settings). App Store purchasers of Name Mangler should see the update in the App Store app, if not now then shortly.