Source: unsplash.com

They say people who don’t know what to do in the evening or at the weekend don’t need to automate specific tasks. Well, then they won’t appreciate Raycast either.

But for me, and I think for you too, time is the most valuable resource. So why waste it on mundane tasks, even if it’s as simple as closing all your applications or doing something in 5 taps on your keyboard instead of 10? That’s the kind of unassuming task that the Raycast app helps me with.

I’ve already mentioned it in my review of the best apps for Mac.

It’s time to share my favourite tricks.

Automating your Mac with Swift

Source: raycast.com

I liked the idea of writing script commands in Swift to run routine tasks from Raycast.

What did I try to apply? I picked up an example script on the Raycast blog for closing all running applications. Now at the end of the day, I don’t waste time going in and closing each one. Raycast handles that.

You can also write simple script commands to copy the latest download to your Mac. This is handy if you need to share it with colleagues and via any app.

What about scheduling meetings and calls? You can take the time once and create a script that uses Apple’s EventKit framework. With it, it’s realistic to access the system calendar to handle events and reminders, pull free time information, and send it to a colleague for booking. It is very convenient because you do not need to analyse your schedule and choose your free time for communication.

Source: raycast.com

Quick links for your favourite apps

Source: own screen

Everything I need for quick links I’ve added to Quicklink in Raycast. That’s how I open my favourite work links in my browser, my project folders in Figma, my portfolio in Dribbble, or My Reminders etc.

And setting everything up was easy. I went into Raycast Preferences → Extensions → Quicklinks and first clicked Find in Library (it has a list of popular web resources), and then added my own.

Source: manual.raycast.com

And if you use Raycast in conjunction with the team, you can easily convert long links into simple bookmarks. You can go back to them at any time. By the way, we are much less likely to ask each other where to find this or that link.

Snippets

If you often create project documentation or manuals for the team and users, then you’ll appreciate them.

Any text documentation templates, letters, communication forms or code snippets can be added to Raycast and then easily managed: copy, edit, pin those used more often, search for the correct snippet by keyword, and share them with your team.

Screenshots of the screen

Source: raycast.com/community-stories/roy-van-rooijen

I’ve had the experience of saving screenshots of important information or references via Raycast.

Viewing them on the grid saves me time. I would spend more time viewing them in the Gallery on my phone or Mac.

Top extensions from the Store

At work, I often use the Figma File Search extension to quickly find and open files within Figma without navigating the app. I also use File Search to search for documents and recently opened files and Spotify Controls to control the app using the keyboard.

I also use Zoom and Google Meet to schedule calls, schedule new appointments and view schedules for upcoming calls with colleagues, clients and friends.

Hotkeys and fallback searches

Source: own screen

• ⌘ ⌥ for Open Browser,
• ⌘ ⌥ F for Figma Files.

And many others for window control. For example:

Source: raycast.com