Spirited Away checks each running application's activity, and if an application isn't active for a certain fixed time, Spirited Away hides the application automatically. It is, in effect, Spirited Away :-)
What's new in Spirited Away
Version 0.7.2: Release notes were unavailable when this listing was updated.
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I've been running Spirited Away for a year or two, and I don't know what computing would be without it. It does what it does, invisibly, with access right there on your menu bar. Brilliant software.
Great little app. Still working in Maverick 10.9. I wish there was an option to change the hiding time to 0, so it would hide other apps right away instead of waiting the minimum 1 second.
It would be great if we can add some applications to the exclude list permanently. By "permanently" I mean that the system will remember the apps that have been added to the list, even after restarting. (I always have to manually add Safari and Finder to the exclude list manually, and this can sometimes be annoying.)
PS: Please let me know if someone knows how to make a permanent exclude list for Spirited Away.
This is a very neat little app, but I wish the status item could be greyed when SA is deactivated. I would suggest this direct to the developer, but I can find no way to contact them.
I've been running Spirited Away for a year or two, and I don't know what computing would be without it. It does what it does, invisibly, with access right there on your menu bar. Brilliant software.
Yes, 0.7 is not working in Leopard.
0.5 is not UB however I got one from
http://homepage.mac.com/koh/.Public/SpiritedAway/Spirited%20AwayUB.zip
this one with the option of 0.7 , is UB and works under leopard.
0.7 didn't work in leopard - but 0.5 is working just fine! very helpful app for those who need help with concentration but need to multi task as needed.
Console logs from an attempted launch on 10.3.9
dyld: /Users/brianbowling/Applications/Spirited Away.app/Contents/MacOS/Spirited Away Undefined symbols:
/Users/brianbowling/Applications/Spirited Away.app/Contents/MacOS/Spirited Away undefined reference to _NSViewAnimationEffectKey expected to be defined in Cocoa
/Users/brianbowling/Applications/Spirited Away.app/Contents/MacOS/Spirited Away undefined reference to _NSViewAnimationEndFrameKey expected to be defined in Cocoa
/Users/brianbowling/Applications/Spirited Away.app/Contents/MacOS/Spirited Away undefined reference to _NSViewAnimationFadeInEffect expected to be defined in Cocoa
/Users/brianbowling/Applications/Spirited Away.app/Contents/MacOS/Spirited Away undefined reference to _NSViewAnimationFadeOutEffect expected to be defined in Cocoa
/Users/brianbowling/Applications/Spirited Away.app/Contents/MacOS/Spirited Away undefined reference to _NSViewAnimationStartFrameKey expected to be defined in Cocoa
/Users/brianbowling/Applications/Spirited Away.app/Contents/MacOS/Spirited A
Really great utility to keep visual distractions to a minimum. I use it with MenuShade and FocusLayer. All apps work with Tiger and are free and available on MacUpdate :)
I'd like to be able to change the time to hide with the slider all the way down to 1 second or instant if possible (currently only goes down to 30 seconds). The preference pane also pops up when the program starts.
Thanks for the program.
Hey! A really nice little app! I agree with bamse, though. A choice of menubar or dock item would be nice. The menubar tends to get crowded.
There is a suggestion in the release notes to delete it's preference file to clear up the problem with the preference pane appearing every time it's started, but it hasn't worked for me.
any unix-type person looking for multiple desktops for osx needs to check this out immediately! now i need to find a spirited away kind of thing for gnome...
This is so far my favourite solution for keeping the screen clean from too many windows. At first I used a utility called AutoHide, which I feel is worthy mentioning too, but the way Spirited Away works simply suits me better. One minor issue has been that the menu item eventually becomes unresponsive, i.e. until I doubleclick the application. But usually I really don't need to access the menu item, so... well, it's kind of cute but nevertheless occupies space on my 12" iBook and I would appreciate the option to hide it. Thanks! :-)
Any chance of getting the source for this released? I want it to work completely in the background, without a menu item. One star off for having too many features.
Works great no crashes so far. I use it in conjunction with "speed freak" and it's a great marriage.
I wish there was an option to set the delay for each application instead of universally.
GREAT JOB!!!
seems like a good idea. but after launching it, I couldn't use any command-keys in any application. i.e. pressing CMD-H to hide the app would do nothing (nor would any other key combo). seems like it was eating the events. so i'll wait on this one.
The last post seems little off to me. From what I can tell the developer is simply making use of the built in hide command in OSX. I am on a powerbook G4 and experience no speed problems restoring apps.
I deleted this application immediately after running it because it slowed the normal operation of the finder so much my Dual G5 became unusable -- it appeared that the entire machine was locking up every time I tried to change to a hidden app. Based on my experience I'd give it one star, but perhaps it was something about my particular setup that it didn't like. At any rate, be warned.
Hmm.. I'll keep using 0.1 with LSUIElement in the Info.plist. My menubar is already overcrowded - this works well enough that I don't need or want a menu item to mess with it.
Great Idea! And 0% CPU Load. Awesome job! Could you add a renice feature also? So that after a period of inactivity you RENICE the the busy apps to take on a user specifed percentage of what was given to the old ones? That would be awesome!
Thanks,
Evan Evans
Great little utility, but please do something about the preferences. It pops up everytime you start the app. I have set it to Startup Items, so thats very annoying.
I'm having some trouble with Spirited Away on OS 10.3.5. When I launch the application, the "Hide..." option becomes grayed out in certain applications, seemingly at random. Certain apps also won't move to the front when clicked on. These problems reliably disappear when I quit Spirited Away. Anyone else with similar problems?
wow, cool stuff. :D
i've just got it on my Mac, havne't left it alone long enough to see it hide anything yet, but great stuff. and very low CPU usage, really good.
update> it just hid an app when i left it for a bit. kind of a shock, i saw it disappear and thought it had crashed! but it's okay, Spirited Away just hid it. :)
the app looks simple but what I like most about it is that it takes little CPU%. This is so important for software that are meant to be working in the background.
Thanks for some comments.
I'm very glad to see its.
Spirited Away is my first Cocoa Application it was published.
I think that next version impliment exclusion list.
and I think about Dock icon too.
Thanks again.
I'm Japanese developer. I can't speak English well sorry:-(
NOt a bad idea - 2 suggestions though. Add an exceptions list (as has been stated), and perhaps give an option to hide the dock icon - and have a menu item instead - or a floating window, or something...
Made me think "Damn, why didn't I think of that... It's like a dozen lines of code" I thought it'd be one of those 'neat' UI gimmicks that I'd download and trash, but it's actually improving the way I use my Mac. My screen is just so less cluttered now, with no action on my part other than launching this app.
Exclusion list would be nice. as would hiding the dock icon. It's nice and all, but it's taking up space.
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