If you are anything like me, you probably are always looking for apps, add-ons and plugins that help boost your productivity and integrate into your workflow to save you a bit of time in some tasks, but then you realise that you spent more time in finding the tool than it would have taken you to do that work manually. If it sounds like you, then you are in for a treat. Raycast is a one-stop-shop for all your needs.
As designers, we continually seek the fine balance between creativity and productivity as we manoeuvre through a world of tools, files, and complex procedures daily. Presenting Raycast, a revolutionary productivity tool designed not only for Mac users but also to completely rethink the way designers approach their work.
Summary
What Is Raycast?
If you are a seasoned macOS user, you must be familiar with the native mac utility called spotlight. Now think of raycast as spotlight, but on steroids. Its faster, more versatile and the best part is that it's free!
Raycast isn't your average application launcher. It's a design-centric powerhouse that transcends the boundaries of traditional productivity tools. Raycast seamlessly blends intuitive navigation with an array of powerful features, catering to the needs of designers seeking to streamline their creative workflows.
To know more about raycast and download it you can go here.
How I Use Raycast In My Daily Workflow
Launching apps, finding files – it's all part of the routine. But I know you're here for the secret sauce, the nuanced extensions that add an extra layer to my design workflow with Raycast. Buckle up as I walk you through the nuances and personal touches that make Raycast more than simply a tool, but an essential component of my design workflow. These are the plugins that bring my ideas to life, from tailored workflows to seamless connections.
Clipboard History
Raycast comes with a builtin extension that stores your clipboard history which makes it convinient to simply paste it again.
I personally find myself using it a lot while working on design projects where I can access HEX codes of the colors that I am using in the project.
Window Management
While you may love your Mac for its performance, design and speed. We can all agree that window management on the Mac lacks seriously. So most of us end up using some third party window manager but they all come with their own nuances.
Raycast comes with a built in Window Management extension that can be used to manage your window and make custom layouts as you see fit for your desktop.
Snippets
Raycast enables you to store a frequenty written peice of text or information, say an email or a link to your portfolio, inside a snippet that can be easily accessed anywhere by an assigned keyword.
Color Picker
Color picker is an extention that you can install from the raycast store (You can access store by simply using the inbuilt store command in raycast) that enables you to pick the RGB or HEX code of any color on your screen.
Google Fonts
Google fonts is another extension that can be installed from the store which enables you to go through the whole google fonts library and even download a font without even opening a browser or leaving raycast.
Speed Test
I dont know about you but I am obsesed with checking my internet connection speed whenever a website takes more than a couple of seconds to load. This extention is a life saver for me as I can just run one command and check my internet speed. Like the other extensions it can be installed from the raycast store.
Random Data Generator
Random Data Generator is another extension that can be installed from the store which helps me generate random data like names, emails, phone numbers, etc for my designs.
Mailsy
Mailsy is a life saving extension that you can install from the raycast store. It can be used to create disposable emails that you can use to sign up for services where you don't want your actual email to be exposed.
Ruler
Ruler is another extension that can be installed from the store. It does exactly what it's name sounds like. Ruler can be used to measure the distance between two points on your screen.
All of these tools are just a fraction of what Raycast can do. There is a whole kingdom of extensions and addons that you can install and integrate into your workflow on the journey of becoming a productivity powerhouse.
Conclusion
Raycast is a fantastic tool that I use on a daily basis to make my life easier, so give it a shot and enhance your productivity.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you found the blog useful.