Essentials
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(6) 4.75

Shortcuts pad that appears with a keystroke.   Shareware ($6.99)
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Essentials app can easily become your favorite and irreplaceable shortcuts pad. Just press hotkey (default is Ctrl + space, but you can customize it in preferences) and Essentials will appear where ever your mouse cursor is (or not, if you choose so in preferences).

You can use it to:
  • quickly launch applications
  • access assorted folders, documents and files of any kind
  • act as clipboard or "dropbox" for your e-mail messages and text clippings
  • make YOUR OWN simple Terminal commands/scripts (that can act as droplets too! :) ...now which app can do that! :D)
What's New
Version 1.30:
  • Spacer item type (adds empty space between items)
  • support for "note links" from Evernote
  • items highlight on mouse over
  • bug fixes
Requirements
Intel, Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later



MacUpdate - Essentials




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Essentials User Discussion (Write a Review)
ver. 1.x:
(6)
Your rating: Now say why...
Overall:
(6)

sort: smiles | time
burypromote

+335
Xenophile commented on 26 Dec 2013
It looks promising but I cannot find any means of trying it out.
[Version 1.30]

1 Reply

burypromote

+335
Xenophile replied on 26 Dec 2013
Sorry, that comment was directed at another app. Essentials can be downloaded as a free trial.
burypromote
+1

+138
Rob.h commented on 22 Mar 2012
As a long time Bevy user I thought I'd give Essentials a go to see what it's like. First impressions are good, it's pretty intuitive and I like the way you can separate items into different categories, e.g. music apps in one view, art/graphic apps in another, etc. Also the ability to colour-code items is nice.

A few things (preferences) that would go on my Essentials wish list are:
- Ability to automatically scan Applications or other specified folder to populate Essentials (rather than relying on drag & drop).
- Ability to change the transparency of the Essentials overlay.
- Ability to launch folders using something other than Finder (e.g. PathFinder).

Also, I noticed that for all the apps you put in Essentials it shows the name with the .app extension visible. Would be nice if you could strip these off when importing them (rather than having to edit/rename each one in turn).

Overall a nice app though, will be interested to see how it develops.
[Version 1.30]

1 Reply

burypromote

gxs54 replied on 26 Jun 2012
I agree that Essentials needs to be able to automatically populate a group with the contents of a selected folder. I would also like to see the ability to navigate through a folder similar to DesktopShelves.
burypromote
+2

+317

Dana Sutton reviewed on 16 Mar 2012
Okay, I sprang for it, and I must say I like it. I prefer it to my previous launching app., Overflow, because, its easier to set up multiple panes and navigate between them. When I started with it, I kept thinking “this thing would be great except for thus-and-such a missing feature,”and then with a bit of trial and error I discovered I could indeed do the thing in question. So what’s not to like? Well, maybe just one thing: those big black windows, which i. m. h. 0. are ugly and needlessly obtrusive. It would be nice if the developer would give individual users some flexibility here in choosing a window background color, including the option of total transparency (as Overflow does). Other than that, I’m completely sold on this app., it’s going to be my fave launcher from now on.
[Version 1.3]

1 Reply

burypromote
+2
Habitatus (developer) replied on 16 Mar 2012
Thank you for review and nice comments.
Color customizations are already on our to-do list :)
burypromote
+1

+317
Dana Sutton commented on 16 Mar 2012
One small glitch: this page says the price is 0.99. Go to the Apple Store and you'll find out it's 6.99. Who's wrong? Presumably a typo on this page, right?
[Version 1.3]

1 Reply

burypromote
+1
Habitatus (developer) replied on 16 Mar 2012
Thank you for noticing and reporting!
We already updated the price here, twice, to reflect the price on the App Store, but it seems there is an problem when updating price here. We'll try it again.
burypromote

+1

Bacchus72 reviewed on 24 Oct 2011
So far it looks good time me. I'm also testing PrimeFiles, and that looks good, too. Don't know which will win out yet, but so far Essentials has the advantage.

1 quick question to the developers, or anyone else out there. What is up with the color feature? I can make a color, and then what. What would I need a color box for? I can't seem to put anything in to it.
[Version 1.1]

1 Reply

burypromote
Habitatus (developer) replied on 21 Nov 2011
Colors can be copied as "Color", to be used in system provided color pickers, or as hex number, which is commonly used in web development. It can also be dragged and dropped onto system provided color picker windows.
burypromote
+1

+21

Iangreig reviewed on 06 Apr 2011
Set up collections of apps, docs, images etc for work practices or individual projects e.g. I have one labelled "Comms" that has a couple of browsers, Mail, a diary app and MacJournal where I log what happens day to day, and I can set up one for each project with the relevant apps and folders. Good interface, easy to use, hot key brings up the window – it all just works. OK, there's no demo but advantage of app store is that the price point and therefore value is exceptional. My advice (no connection with developer!) – buy it.
[Version 1.01]


burypromote
+4

+377
Lvdoc commented on 21 Mar 2011
$15 and no demo? Not too essential for me. Tell the App Store that I'm sticking with Drag Thing. Pricier, but it does the same thing (and more), and at least I got to test drive it.
[Version 1.0]

2 Replies

burypromote
+3

+83
Macmaria replied on 21 Mar 2011
I agree. No demo, no gain. There are other — very reliable — apps on the market that do the same (I suspect that better too). Example: PrimeFiles, DragThing, Overflow.
burypromote
+3

+6
habitatus replied on 21 Mar 2011
yes, that is something that we agre that App Store has to think of changing. but in the meantime pls contact us http://habitatus.net/contact/ so we can provide promo code for you. we are working on putting demo version on our web site. thanks for commenting!
There are currently no troubleshooting comments. If you are experiencing a problem with this app, please post a comment.


+6

habitatus rated on 21 Nov 2011

[Version 1.1]



+14

Mr.Milk rated on 27 Apr 2011

[Version 1.01]



+6

habitatus rated on 22 Mar 2011

[Version 1.0]


Downloads:3,070
Version Downloads:2,305
Type:Utilities : System
License:Shareware
Date:16 Mar 2012
Platform:Intel 64 / Intel 32 / OS X
Price: $6.99
Overall (Version 1.x):
Features:
Ease of Use:
Value:
Stability:
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Essentials app can easily become your favorite and irreplaceable shortcuts pad. Just press hotkey (default is Ctrl + space, but you can customize it in preferences) and Essentials will appear where ever your mouse cursor is (or not, if you choose so in preferences).

You can use it to:
  • quickly launch applications
  • access assorted folders, documents and files of any kind
  • act as clipboard or "dropbox" for your e-mail messages and text clippings
  • make YOUR OWN simple Terminal commands/scripts (that can act as droplets too! :) ...now which app can do that! :D)
Customize it!
  • resize groups by holding Command key (⌘) and scroll up or down (or pinch it on trackpad)
  • resize items icons (⌘+scroll) and their titles (⌘+⌥+scroll)
  • hope this feature makes you say "sweet!"
  • group your favorite items in any way you like
  • reorder groups and items by holding Command key and dragging groups/items to desired position
  • mark items AND groups with colors from pop-up menu
  • you can finally make your dock look fancy by not overloading it with so many icons
Essentials is simply essential because:
  • you can keep your favorite/frequently used items really accessible and nearby
  • it has smooth and intuitive UI
  • it is responsive and fast
  • it can easily blend like it is part of the OS X


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