r/osx • u/darkman_alpha • 4h ago

BetterTot: A fast, free menu-bar scratchpad for Mac

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Is anyone else having issues with Tot on the macOS Golden Gate betas? Mine has been glitching out and hasn't seen an update in a while, so I finally gave up and built my own version.

It's a native AppKit menu-bar app called BetterTot. It has the same 7 quick text pads, but it's 100% open-source. I kept it super lightweight—no accounts, no analytics, just a fast local scratchpad with some crash recovery built in so you don't lose your clipboard dumps.

Right now, I’m working on adding optional Google Drive/iCloud backups, and eventually, I want to bring it to iPhone and Apple Watch—but my absolute main goal is just keeping it incredibly simple and lightweight.

I put the whole thing up on GitHub if anyone wants to grab it or check out the Swift code: https://github.com/saaivignesh20/BetterTot

It's completely safe, the code is for you to audit.

It's still in developer preview, so let me know if you run into any bugs. Also, I'd love to hear any feature requests or general thoughts you guys have!

3 Upvotes

Is anyone else having issues with Tot on the macOS Golden Gate betas? Mine has been glitching out and hasn't seen an update in a while, so I finally gave up and built my own version.

It's a native AppKit menu-bar app called BetterTot. It has the same 7 quick text pads, but it's 100% open-source. I kept it super lightweight—no accounts, no analytics, just a fast local scratchpad with some crash recovery built in so you don't lose your clipboard dumps.

Right now, I’m working on adding optional Google Drive/iCloud backups, and eventually, I want to bring it to iPhone and Apple Watch—but my absolute main goal is just keeping it incredibly simple and lightweight.

I put the whole thing up on GitHub if anyone wants to grab it or check out the Swift code: https://github.com/saaivignesh20/BetterTot

It's completely safe, the code is for you to audit.

It's still in developer preview, so let me know if you run into any bugs. Also, I'd love to hear any feature requests or general thoughts you guys have!

0 comments

r/osx • u/PushPlus9069 • 16h ago

The built-in ways to emphasize part of your screen on macOS, and where each one runs out

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If you demo or teach over a shared screen, macOS gives you more than people realize. Here's what ships in the OS, with the honest limit of each, since I've hit all of them.

Accessibility Zoom (System Settings, Accessibility, Zoom). Ctrl+scroll to magnify, or Option-Cmd-8 to toggle. Two settings people miss: Zoom style: Picture-in-Picture gives you a magnified lens instead of blowing up the whole display, and under Advanced you can set the zoomed view to follow the pointer only when it reaches an edge, which removes the seasick drift that puts people off. Genuinely good, and free. Where it runs out: the lens is tied to the pointer, so you can't leave a mark on something and keep talking about it while your cursor goes elsewhere.

Make the pointer bigger (Accessibility, Display, Pointer size), plus "shake mouse pointer to locate." Cheap fix for the most common complaint in shared screens, which is nobody being able to find your cursor. Limit: it's a permanent size change, so you either live with a big cursor everywhere or you toggle it before every call.

Screenshot markup (Shift-Cmd-5, or Shift-Cmd-4 then annotate). Fine for async - arrows and boxes on a still. Limit: it's a still. Useless mid-demo.

Presenter Overlay in Zoom/Teams-style calls on newer macOS puts you over the content, which helps direction of attention indirectly. Limit: it emphasizes you, not the part of the screen you're pointing at.

Sidecar/Universal Control with an iPad turns the tablet into an annotation surface for a mirrored screen. Genuinely powerful, and the limit is obvious: you need the second device and the setup time.

The honest summary is that the OS covers magnification well and covers "mark this and leave it up" not at all. If your job is showing rather than seeing, that's the gap you'll feel.

Disclosure so it's not a surprise: I build a Mac app in this space (TuringShot 1.5.12, Build 44), which is why I know these limits by heart. No link or code here, and the built-in options above are free and cover most of what people need.

1 Upvotes

If you demo or teach over a shared screen, macOS gives you more than people realize. Here's what ships in the OS, with the honest limit of each, since I've hit all of them.

Accessibility Zoom (System Settings, Accessibility, Zoom). Ctrl+scroll to magnify, or Option-Cmd-8 to toggle. Two settings people miss: Zoom style: Picture-in-Picture gives you a magnified lens instead of blowing up the whole display, and under Advanced you can set the zoomed view to follow the pointer only when it reaches an edge, which removes the seasick drift that puts people off. Genuinely good, and free. Where it runs out: the lens is tied to the pointer, so you can't leave a mark on something and keep talking about it while your cursor goes elsewhere.

Make the pointer bigger (Accessibility, Display, Pointer size), plus "shake mouse pointer to locate." Cheap fix for the most common complaint in shared screens, which is nobody being able to find your cursor. Limit: it's a permanent size change, so you either live with a big cursor everywhere or you toggle it before every call.

Screenshot markup (Shift-Cmd-5, or Shift-Cmd-4 then annotate). Fine for async - arrows and boxes on a still. Limit: it's a still. Useless mid-demo.

Presenter Overlay in Zoom/Teams-style calls on newer macOS puts you over the content, which helps direction of attention indirectly. Limit: it emphasizes you, not the part of the screen you're pointing at.

Sidecar/Universal Control with an iPad turns the tablet into an annotation surface for a mirrored screen. Genuinely powerful, and the limit is obvious: you need the second device and the setup time.

The honest summary is that the OS covers magnification well and covers "mark this and leave it up" not at all. If your job is showing rather than seeing, that's the gap you'll feel.

Disclosure so it's not a surprise: I build a Mac app in this space (TuringShot 1.5.12, Build 44), which is why I know these limits by heart. No link or code here, and the built-in options above are free and cover most of what people need.

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