Expert's Rating
Pros
- Potential to speed workflow
- ability to find files visually
- choice of which files to track
- keyboard shortcut friendly
- simple, focused interface
- good developer pedigree.
Cons
- Need to get into the habit of using it regularly
- out of the box settings need fine tuning
- casual Mac users could live without it.
Our Verdict
If you value your time, and who doesn’t, Trickster does a decent job of finding recent and most used files on your Mac with little fuss or delay. Ultimately, its real usefulness depends your ability to embrace it fully and incorporate a clearly useful app into your every day Mac life.
Trickster, formerly the well-received Blast, is a Mac OS X app that hopes to bring order to your digital life. A cool, customisable interface, visible when you choose, shows users recently used documents, folders and applications so you don’t need to go digging around when you need them again. Cleverly, users can drag and drop files from Trickster to Finder or any other application, open files and applications from Trickster, preview them or reveal them in your Mac’s Finder. Files are previewed visually without the need to open them, which again helps cut down on repetitive or needless donkey work.
Files can be quickly filtered using various preset categories, including images, audio files, videos, documents, applications, folders and specific locations, shown as neat icons, down the left hand side of your interface. Trickster offers users the ability to fully customise what files and so on you wish to see, again potentially reducing the onscreen clutter. It’s a nice touch, which could speed productivity further once you’ve found time to customise those settings. If you’re a fan of hotkeys, Trickster has a wealth of keyboard shortcuts to save more time, while you can drag, drop and rearrange files with your mouse effortlessly.
Like all productivity apps, Trickster requires a little effort to fine tune and then remember to use on a regular basis. At first, it can be easy to forget that it’s sitting at the top of your desktop in your menu bar ready and waiting to be used. A handy, sticky ‘Favorites’ drawer can also give quick access to most used files and applications, including those stored externally on Dropbox. Full marks to developers Apparent Software, who have included a practical pop up visual guide to get you started and well-written in-built user manual.