Avoid a macOS 14.5 issue in Moom’s keyboard mode

June 10th, 2024 by Rob Griffiths

Note: We managed to work around this slowdown in Moom 3.2.27. Please update now if you haven’t already! After updating, feel free to re-enable the highlight feature; it’ll work fine.

With the release of macOS 14.5, we received a number of reports from users that Moom’s keyboard mode had become so slow as to be unusable—there would be a many-second delay after invoking keyboard mode before the onscreen controller appeared. At first, we were unable to replicate the problem, but after working with the users, we figured out the setup that will cause the problem—and we found a way to prevent it from happening.

The following applies if you use Moom on macOS 14.5 and use Moom’s keyboard mode (Moom Settings → Keyboard → Trigger keyboard control with hot key is enabled). In addition, the problem seems to occur more often for those using multiple displays.

While we don’t know what changed in macOS 14.5 to cause this slowdown, we do have a fix to prevent it from happening: Open Moom’s Settings and go to the General tab, then disable the grid/keyboard control highlight by moving its slider all the way to the left:

With the highlight off, Moom’s keyboard mode will work without delay. We’re still investigating what changed in macOS 14.5 to cause this problem, and to hopefully identify a workaround so we can bring back the highlighting feature. For now, though, leave the highlight off if you use Moom’s keyboard mode on Mac running macOS 14.5.

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A much simpler way to create Name Mangler services

May 30th, 2024 by Rob Griffiths

Remember last week, when we posted a very detailed writeup that explained to how create Quick Actions for Name Mangler 3.9 and newer? Well, we have found a much simpler way to get this done, thanks to Apple’s Shortcuts app—and to our user Eric, for spurring us on to find a simpler solution.

Here’s how the Shortcut looks (click to see the full Shortcut):

Apple’s Shortcuts app not only makes it (much) simpler to create Name Mangler Quick Actions, but you can also access them from Finder’s Finder → Services menu. Or run them from the menu bar. Or via a keyboard shortcut. Or use all of the above methods at once. And if you want to share your Shortcuts with others, it’s as easy as a couple of clicks.

We’ve created a template that requires a few simple edits in Shortcuts, and is then ready to go for your own use. Here’s how to get going…

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Leech and Name Mangler updated

May 22nd, 2024 by Rob Griffiths

Leech 3.2 and Name Mangler 3.9.1 have been released. Both are relatively minor updates, so if you want to skip their release notes pages, here’s what’s new in each one:

Leech 3.2

  • Added new AppleScript commands: number of downloads, number of failed downloads, pause all, queue all, and cancel all.
  • Rewrote help to match latest macOS appearance and to cover new features added since last help update, including the AppleScript commands above.

Name Mangler 3.9.1

  • The warning dialog that appears when renaming files on a network volume can now be disabled.
  • Fixed a regression where date formatting in Advanced mode ignored a specified minimum number of digits and skipped placeholders under certain circumstances. (Hat tip to Ruben H and others for reporting this one.).

App Store users should see the updates in the App Store app (if not now then very shortly); direct users can update within the app by checking for updates, or by downloading a fresh copy of the app from our server (you won’t lose your settings).

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Name Mangler 3.9 released

May 7th, 2024 by Rob Griffiths

Name Mangler 3.9 is out, for both direct and App Store customers. There are a number of behind-the-scenes changes in this update, as well as some visible ones. Of the visible changes, this is probably the most notable and useful among them:

When files can’t be renamed, the reason is now shown where the new filename would normally appear. As seen in the screenshot, you can still see the exact name that would have caused the problem by hovering over the red ‘x’ icon, but this should make it a lot easier to spot problems in your renaming actions.

Beyond that visible change, we’ve reworded the Filter menu’s entries to make it easier to understand what each one does; we improved the reliability of date formatting; and there’s a new warning dialog if you try to rename files on a networked drive. There’s more in the release notes, too.

In a rarity for us, we had to remove a feature from this update: The Create Context Menu Service, which let you easily create Services to use renaming actions from Finder, is gone. Changes in macOS made it impossible for the feature to work, which is why we had to remove it.

The good news is that there is still a way to use Name Mangler saved actions in Finder, via the Quick Actions menu. And we have not just a blog post that explains the process, but a video as well. You’ll find both here: Quick Actions are the new Services for Name Mangler. It’s not quite as convenient as before, but it’s really not bad at all, especially after you have one set up that you can use (with one simple edit each time) for other Quick Actions.

App Store users should see the update in the App Store app now; direct customers can check for updates from within the app, or by downloading a fresh copy of the app from our site—you won’t lose your settings.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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