Leap

4.0.2

4.0.2

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The possibility to open several windows simultaneously would be an invaluable plus !!!

Yes, this is an effective way to search documents, especially if you use tags. But Leap (and Yep) were designed around OpenMeta tagging (produced by the same developer), so beware of this big issue: Leap (and Yep) will effectively duplicate tags that have been assigned via Finder. Any time Leap or Yep accesses a file with Finder tags, it automatically adds redundant OpenMeta tags to the file, effectively duplicating the tags for that file. When you then display the tags in any list view, e.g., in Finder, there are duplicate tags displayed. AFAIK there is no way to prevent this from happening. What a mess!

I have been using Leap very day for years. It is by far the quickest way to find any file anywhere on my Mac. It allows quick filtering by file type or by customizable groups of file types. The interface is intuitive and far cleaner and more functional than the closest competitors (HoudahSpot, EasyFind). I am amazed that more people don't seem to use or comment on Leap. The app does not get updated frequently, but this has not really been a problem as it keeps working. However, I am a bit concerned with the slow/lack of responsiveness from the developer and their poor communication of status and updates.

avoid this product, can corrupt your HD plus you can do everything in the Finder. Customer support nonexistent

Very good software. I don't know why people have a problem with it. Regular updates and features. Great. The price is a steal for what you get.

I've been using both Yep and Leap for many years, helped during the beta stages and duly paid my license fees for subsequent updates. Unfortunately, I've to second previous comments about the developer: there's no to little support and improvements to the app itself are not at all forthcoming. The changes from version 2 to 3 with Leap are negligible. What really makes me upset though is that obvious GUI changes are not implemented: 1. You cannot change the name of a folder within Leap. You've got to go to the Finder to do that, then wait for Leap to update its internal folder structure. I expect Leap to work as the Finder, either showing a "rename" option in the context menu or allowing me to rename a folder by double-clicking on its name within Leap; 2. Each time you import a document Leap creates a folder showing the current date. There's no way to stop this from happening. So, as I don't like those folders, I've to move the file manually into its dedicated place and delete the folder created by Leap. Would it be too much to ask for an option in the preferences to "not create dated folders automatically"? We're talking about version 3 here, and those suggestions have been submitted as early as version 1 beta. Go figure.

I had purchased Leap when it was at version 1, then repurchased v3.0.1 on MAS, even if I'm not a fan of MAS. The real problem with Leap is that it looks like "abandonware", meaning that a new company purchased Leap and all the other great apps from Ironic just to put them on MAS and make money with no real support to their loyal customers: I see a lot of posts in their support forums (including some of mine) that are left unanswered or, if you are lucky, you get an answer by a guy that is paid to watch these forums and give some answers, but then the reported bug is not fixed or the requested improvement is not implemented.

Leap is so Awesome!!! I have multiple hard drives with old time machine backups and when I want to find some obscure file form the past Leap does it every time. Leap is obviously written by developers that have used Mac computers forever because they know exactly what is missing form the Finder to keep a lot of files organized and easy to browse and find when you can't remember where you put them. They cut the price of Leap in HALF recently to make it available to everyone on the App Store. Leap is for Mac lovers of all kinds. No bloat, just what you need. If you just need to manage documents, try Yep. If you want to be able to dig deep into hard drives for anything that might be there... Leap should be your choice.. I own both and they are worth every penny. Thank you!!! For those on MacUpdate who seem confused about what Leap actually does or think that it isn't work $29... If you don't like it what it does, why on earth did you buy it? If you don't like it using it, why are would you care about an upgrade price? Are you going to upgrade an application that you don't like?

I bought Leap 3.0 and Fresh 3.0 on the AppStore a couple of days ago. Got the receipt, the apps, the whole shebang. And now, a week later something strange has happened: Fresh tells me that it's beta and has expired and both Fresh and Leap have disappeared from the AppStore. Even from my list of apps purchased!!! Come again? Yes, even from my list of purchased apps! But my credit card is short of some GBP 20.

Not going to repeat what I've written in reply to Macdefender [below]. Just wanted to downrate this developer for failing to satisfy long-standing customers.

I own Leap and when I run the "check for updates" it tells me that 2.5.4 is the latest version! I am not going to the App Store for the update either.

As this company tries to force me into the MacAppStore I just deleted this application. It was never that good that I really used it but MAS only is a NoGo. Sorry, you just lost a customer

I have been happy with Leap in the past, but since upgrading to Lion I have had irritating problems. I have been waiting for a Lion upgrade but quite frankly I am not sure I will continue to use Leap as Ironic Software sends "Mixed" signals to my "HHhmmm" radar. Right now I have no clue to what versions are available and what enhancements these versions have? I am running version 2.5.4 and when trying to update within the application it tells me I have the newest version. When I go to the App store they have a 2.5.6 version? But when I go to the Ironic Software site they only mention a Lion ready version 3 - "Leap 3. Powerful file browsing and searching and ready for Lion." But the shopping link they provide is to the mentioned 2.5.6 version? They have a beta 3 version on their forum but that one only lasts until 10th. of October. Here on MU they say a version 3 was ready September? I am very confused Ironic Software and could you pleas enlighten me? 1 - What is the newest free upgrade when I have 2.5.4 installed? 2 - What is the difference between 2.5.4 and 2.5.6 and why is that a payed upgrade? 3 - Why is your Leap 3 description linking to version 2.5.6 in the App Store? 4 - Does version 3 exist at all and if so is there some sort of documentation to all the new great features and bugs you have fixed? Thanks for any comments.

Leap has major problems with Lion running 10.7.1, and their customer support is truly awful. This is dinosaur-ware and not ready for prime time.

I use LEAP and FRESH everyday. I think they are great products. I am frustrated that soon after I bought it they changed the way files are listed. In 2.0 it showed the left column in column view. All the found file types were sorted and ordered so it was easy to scan the list visually. As of 2.5 they decided they like the cloud idea and now all those words are no longer ordered but tiny and all spliced together and with words with more hits being larger and others smaller so it looks like a real mess. My pleas to the developers have gotten no replies so they must like it better this way, I do not. Cet la vie. I still run the 2.0 version and I suspect unless they see the light of non organizational chaos - which was the whole reason I bought the product in the first place, I will remain at 2.0 for the foreseeable future. So close, yet so far away.

I have been comparing Leap and Yep for a few days and I see that they are EXACTLY the same app EXCEPT for... Yep: -convenient scanning interface with tagging -clip documents and web pages -you add files to the library (link/move is up to you) -you only view, search and manage you library files Leap: -a system-wide file browser (folder tree). Yep also has that but you can only see your library files -Go Deep mode which lets you view contents of a folder as well as its sub-folders altogether -Spotlight search right inside the app -Reveal the file in Finder or the folder tree in Leap (called Location List) -You can flag files -Leap also has a 'library' of its own. You mark files as managed and then you select view managed files. Both Leap and Yep can accept ANY file type, so don't only think that Yep is only a PDF manager. And them being so simlar in the other ways means that should you want both you can easily jump between Leap and Yep without thinking. Learn to use one and you master both. Well, what i can say is it depends on how your style of working is. If you are going to start tagging only new/important files, you are going to be dealing with a mix of tagged and untagged files. In this case Leap is a better choice. If you are like me who is going to tag every file and all my files are in one place (one tidy mess), you can just add them all into yep and start tagging. Use the GO Deep in your trial version of Leap to see them all at once. If later on I have new files i will drag them from desktop into yep when my desktop in starting to clutter up. It takes a bit more work because you have to tag ALL your files. But it benefits you in the end. And Yep is cheaper :) And you get web-clipping and scanning helps you go paperless. I have tested editing a tagged jpeg in photoshop, moving a folder of tagged files using Finder, and the openmeta tags stay, so no problem here. But if you want, the Description field below the tag box actually writes spotlight comments. Paranoid peeps may copy and paste the tags over while they are tagging a file. As for Leap vs. Pathfinder as replacement for Finder: Leap is a file-organization tool (tags and search). Pathfinder is a file-operation tool, which is e.g. f you want to let's say copy files easily you can use Pathfinder's dual pane view. They complement each other, and Finder can do both, but doesn't do well in any of them. What i hope to see improvement in Leap/Yep for now is that the user interface is too busy. It is too 'wordy' (bookmarks and status bar can get some simplifying), there are so many words in the file names, tags and folder names already. Wow, long post, i'm a wordy guy afterall :) but it clears up my mind, and hope it helps you!

$59 for a file tagging interface? Did the US dollar take another drop or what?

I love Leap 2.beta and plan to purchase when 2 becomes official. Only gripe is that I now wish I could REPLACE Finder with Leap. It would be great to have the Leap interface when I open folders and drives instead of Finder. Oh well, I guess I will just have to retrain myself to always start in Leap. Unless someone knows of a way...???

Odd that this software has "Leaped" from version 1.1 to 2.0. Sounds like they're trying to squeeze more money out of users who got Leap through the MacUpdate bundle last year.

I use Leap as a supercharged search engine. Superb at letting me see the content of a stack of folders or narrow down the search to specific file types. So a useful and unique complement for finder and Pathfinder. I commented below, saying I was underwhelmed by Leap, so in fairness I have followed this up. I have to say this version seems much faster and less buggy, and like the comment below, with the plumbing cleaned out. I payed for the upgrade. However, like other commenters, I found the spotlight comments location for tags and keywords did not work for me. I placed my own keywords in the spotlight comments using Hazel but Leap did not see them. I could see them in the Get Info box, but not Leap. I am a visual thinker so file structure work for me. I can see the organisation. Tagging doesn't do it for me. I don't get it. The tagging thing works for imported pdf's really well, but they are a small part of my HD content.

Like many reviewers, I really like the idea but struggle with the execution. I too struggle with odd buggy niggles. I create a tag, ask it to suggest completion and sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, or adds the wrong one itself. Sometimes a tag it shows is there in one list, doesn't show in the inspector or tag window. I will highlight a file in list view and tag it then the highlight will jump up to the file above. The loupe seems to have a mind of it's own at times and stick with a document I looked at two documents ago. The beach ball spins frequently whilst it 'does something'. Like many apps, the help menu is more like an sales brochure or upgrade list, and lacks an index of menu items or features or a structured contents guide. The app needs you to understand a different way of working ie tags not folders but in 'Preferences' it seems like a general chat about all the clever things the app can do, but no clear guide to what the given options mean or do. I have to go back and forth through the whole document page by page to find what I want. I see menu items but cannot find a reference to them in the help doc. So the knowledge I need to work with the app means the idea of tags over folders is hampered by the my failure to 'get' app not 'get' the idea. I keep finding uses for it but give up when I try and use it. It seems like an app designed by a committee with too many ideas that don't quite gel. The developer also seems quite keen to tell reviewers they are wrong or 'don't understand'. Maybe all in all, it works for people who don't like file structure or organised help documents. Maybe it's me ?

Update. Unfortunately Leap, which I would love to give a 5 star rating, continues to be, in my experience, frustrating as the software seems to have control issues. I tag a file, close the tag window, and within seconds Leap removes it. I move a few files to a folder to be tagged and when I open the folder in Leap, some of the files are already tagged - incorrectly. When I try to remove the tags Leap returns them as soon as I close the tag window. I can't imagine why this is happening but the old saying about looking before you leap may be applicable.

I am a small business owner that uses Leap daily to tag files on a dual core iMac and I find my productivity hampered by performance and unreliability issues. I have little icons in my menu bar that measure processor use. Launching Leap sends them shooting through the top of my machine where they remain while Leap is in use. The culprit isn't Leap directly but something called syslog which apparently is antagonized by Leap and it slows everything on my iMac, Leap included, to a crawl. This gives the seemingly simple process of tagging files a feel like one is slogging their way through thick viscous liquid. Leap is also the only tagging software I have encountered that handles the task of writing tags to Spotlight Comments unreliably. I have to check every file I tag to make sure Leap has tagged the comments field. If not I must go back to Leap and open the tag window, remove a tag, close the tag window, reopen it and put the removed tag back in. And this is no guarantee the problem is solved. I have had to this numerous times on certain files. I find this somewhat incomprehensible as this is a core issue and for a product like Leap to not handle this flawlessly boggles the mind. Make no mistake about it, Leap, in concept, is remarkable software that has the potential to vastly improve one's computing experience but until the developers solve these issues I cannot give it a higher rating.

Now that a zillion of you own Leap from the bundle promotion, what's your take on it? I've owned and enjoyed Yep for a while now but I haven't tried Leap... How is it?

Me too - I purchased Leap in the special software bundle and am still waiting for the serial number. All these similar remarks on this subject could deter possible customers in the future. Please can someone assist ?

A brand new, clean replacement hard drive after a crash was my impetus to take many test drives of recent shareware offerings. Leap appealed to me as a way to make sense (i.e. find things) of the gigs of data, documents and projects, that I've been carefully re-loading onto my HD, hopeful that I'm creating a more workable organization scheme. Leap suffers by comparison and due to my expectations. The latter were set by the instantly appealing interface of Yep!, a PDF manager/ tag browser also from Ironic Software, and by Leap's pricetag. (IMO, any application over $49 better be "excellent" not just "good.") The Leap interface is an obstacle to overcome rather than a facilitator of a multiple attribute search. The interface utilizes a "drill-down" approach similar to that of web retailers NewEgg.com or Beauty.com, and shares the same limitation: The drill-down path can be traversed only "in sequence" -- you can't "turn off" an attribute anywhere other than the end of the search string. I'll entertain the premise that Leap is more attuned to searching by tags, but for anyone who, like me, is just now implementing a "tag-onomy" for their files, using Leap as a "Finder replacement" is not viable. I didn't know that file tags were making use of Spotlight comments, and therefore I could tag and retrieve files myself using Spotlight (thereby obviating my need to purchase Leap), until I read the Ironic Software marketing about Leap. That IS ironic. A quick Google search and a few minutes later, and I learned to use Automator or Quicksilver to modify file tags in batches and to tweak the Spotlight search preferences. Admittedly I've sacrificed some neat-o features like Leap's loupe but I've saved $69.

Very tempting to purchase, but quite a bit buggy right now: Spinning beach ball happens quite frequently when trying to perform some functions. Doesn't recognize In Design documents in filtering set up. Not all documents are identified in a particular folder/section. Thumbnails don't come up much of the time. Loupe quits working after a while. I'm using a PBG4 on 10.4.11

However good this app is, it has far fewer features than Pathfinder and that only costs $35. $69 is just too much. Sorry.

One of the more ingenious, useful, and fun apps I've seen. Really unique. I hope the purchase with Yep deal includes previous owners (and not just new purchasers) since I've owned Yep for awhile now.

Anyone know if Leap stores file tags as Spotlight comments or extended attributes or …?