ControlPlane1.6.6

Name: ControlPlane
Rating: 4.5455 (16 reviews)

25 March 2017

Context-sensitive configuration for your Mac.

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Overview

ControlPlane makes your computing environment context-sensitive. Reconfigure your machine based on what is going on or where you are at. Set the office printer as your default while in the office or enable the screensaver password when away from home.

ControlPlane is a fork of MarcoPolo, which is now unsupported.

Note: While the software is classified as free, it is actually donationware. Please consider making a donation to help support development.

What's new in ControlPlane

Version 1.6.6:

New:

Icon supports dark interface theme in OS X 10.10 Yosemite
Default web browser now requires that ControlPlane act as your URL handler; this works around a new "feature" of Yosemite that causes it to confirm your new default browser choice with a dialog box

Fixed:

Fix crash when installing the helper tool fails

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24 Reviews of ControlPlane

Fishscale

30 October 2011

Version: 1.0.10

Most helpful

Haven't personally tried this app, but I am happy/proud to see a dev who has made software people seem to like (4 & 1/2 stars) and continues to keep it free and off MAS. @dev ... thank you.

(4)

1.6.6 works here with High Sierra. What a relief. This seems to be the only working software of this kind left for High Sierra, since Sidekick was discontinued recently (according to a sidekick developer)...

(1)

Chris78665

15 May 2017

Version: 1.6.7

This update is INVALID and BOGUS. 1.6.7 briefly existed and was pulled by the author due to to some issues in the updating process. Do not install this update. MACUpdate please remove 1.6.7 and put back 1.6.6 which is the current version.

(0)

Controlplane is a great app. It's one of very few location-based apps that exist for mac. Unfortunately the developer has not been updating the app lately. I am mostly using it to enable/disable screensaver password based on location on my MBP. It stopped working on MacOS Sierra. No word from developers so far on weather they're going to fix it.

(0)

Show comment (1)

I love this app, and have happily donated to the developer. It's great to be able to pause backup and file syncing jobs when I'm on the train, using my phone's hotspot. I disable notifications while I'm at my office so stuff isn't popping up if I happen to be presenting. I have it switch out IM accounts in Adium for me depending on whether I'm at work or home. The list goes on...

Extremely easy to configure and saves time and having to remember.

Thanks for writing and maintaining it!

(0)

Powerful, stable, not intuitive, free. Works well: background changes based on timeofday. UI and documentation limitations make user error more likely. Most of the evidence rules I can think of are there, but I tried only a few. Perhaps there’s a way to use shell scripts to do the others, but if so, I didn't find info on how. Likely bugs: sometimes some actions for a context do not trigger. Maybe bug: wifi evidence never respected.

(1)

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After many years using MacoPolo and struggling with different hacks to make it work in newer operating systems, finally a replacement comes out. ControlPlane is great, works with all modern versions of Mac OS X and incorporates many of the functions that didn't work under MarcoPolo. As a consultant that moves around all the time, changing configurations anywhere I go, ControlPlane is a real time saver. Thank you for continuing what MarcoPolo started

(0)

This new version on Sept. 013 works perfectly on my OSX10.8 and features every action trigger I could dream of :)

(0)

Cool idea, but it's just way too fiddly to set up, and nowhere near reliable enough to actually use. It's far too spastic about suddenly changing contexts for no apparent reason — e.g. every time I plug in *any* USB device, it changes contexts, even though I only have *one* USB rule (which checks for a USB Ethernet adapter). Obviously it's a bug, and if it was the only one, I'd be willing to work around it until it's fixed, but unfortunately this is just one of many. The "confidence" factor is hard to figure out — I have no idea how it decides that two conditions set to 60% confidence add up to 85% confidence (what voodoo math is going on here?). The inaccurate sliders don't help (why not just use text fields if you're going to track percentage values with one decimal point?), and there's basically no documentation either. None of this "confidence" crap should be exposed in the UI in the first place. Basically these are all problems the developer couldn't figure out, so they just left it up to the user to spend hours tweaking everything until it stops switching contexts at the wrong times. In short, good luck actually getting this to do what you want without triggering false positives and causing more problems than it solves. Buggy underlying technology + terrible UI = lousy experience. I recommend not wasting your time trying to get this working.

(2)

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I'm excited about this little app. Using now 1.3.14. But: Since the last 2 or 3 versions there is sometimes (not really repeatable) a CPU use of 140 % to 150 %. Only chance to get back a working MacBook: Press the on-off switch (not funny). Using a MBP (Late 2009, 8GB, 2.8 GHz, 500GB). Just because of the troubles no better ranking!

(0)

Excellent tool, thanks a lot to the developer! I have tried a few of them but none really worked for me. I use my mac at work and and at home and I really need to switch a bunch of settings between these locations. This tools does everything I need.

(0)

After many years using Marco Polo, even at the end when the app was no longer maintained, I just hoped that someone would pick that project up and bring it to the modern days... and my dreams came true with ControlPlane. Anybody looking to automate their machine based on contexts should try ControlPlane.

(1)

v1.3.6 breaks my installation of ControlPane. I had to roll back to v1.3.5 Seems to "loop" to invalid contexts, and end up on the wrong one. Otherwise I love this program.

(0)

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Chaloots

06 September 2012

Version: 1.3.4

Not really a review, but according to their website, version 1.2.3 was the last to support OSX 10.6

(0)

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ok, got it! and developer was seriously helpful. switching wifi/ethernet automatically...impressive. gonna explore other options as well. a GREAT app!

(1)

Fking

05 September 2012

Version: 1.3.3

same thing as happened to me in august: app shows as open in activity monitor, but am not seeing it anywhere else. ???? is there a trick to getting to this?

(0)

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I frequently take my MacBook Pro between work and home and ControlPlane does a fantastic job at determining my location at start up/wake from sleep and setting the network settings and default printer automatically. Love the discreet menu bar icon. 5 star app all the way! Keep up the good work! "Siri, remind me to make a donation to ControlPlane when I get home."

(0)

Fking

02 August 2012

Version: 1.3.2

not showing up here (10.8); nothing visible, but showing as open in Activity Monitor. so no settings, anything...

(0)

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It's Marco Polo redux! If you've never tried Marcopolo you don't know what's you're missing, imagine your mac can automatically change printer, smtp server and whatever every time you change your location... whether you are tethering your iPhone, in your office, or at home....

(0)

Fishscale

30 October 2011

Version: 1.0.10

Haven't personally tried this app, but I am happy/proud to see a dev who has made software people seem to like (4 & 1/2 stars) and continues to keep it free and off MAS. @dev ... thank you.

(4)

The latest release is always crashing on my 10.6.8 MBP. I hope the developer is updating soon. It's one of the most handy tools, when you have to switch your working environment a few times a week. In my case it's at least twice a day ;)

(0)

Show comment (1)

I use ControlPlane to automatically configure my computer when I'm at the office and at home. It's an app that while I've lived without, I wouldn't want to anymore. I come into the office, and it automatically takes care of mounting my network drives, enabling the screensaver password, changing the wallpaper and opening mail and ical. It's made going to and from work a lot less annoying. The only downside to this app is that it's still very text based. It's not a fault of the developer as he used the source code for MarcoPolo. I do hope that he changes it though so that it becomes a little bit more friendly. Such examples would be instead of having to type in a share name to mount and umount, it would be nice to have drag and drop support from finder to select the share. Being able to organize actions into folders so it's easy to see would also be very helpful. Overall, it's an app I'd actually be willing to spend $15 on, it's a life changer.

(0)

ControlPlane1.6.6

Overview

What's new in ControlPlane

New:

Fixed:

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24 Reviews of ControlPlane

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