How I Replaced 5 Apps with Raycast: Boost Your Productivity!

There are numerous launcher-type applications for Mac, but in recent years, one in particular has stood out: Raycast. Let’s explore its key features that have allowed me to replace at least five other applications.

The Utility of Launcher Applications

I’ve been using launcher applications for many years. I believe the first one I installed was Quicksilver. Then, as is my habit, I flitted from LaunchBar to Alfred. More recently, I’ve fallen for Raycast.

You might wonder what the point of these applications is. Initially, they were useful for quickly launching applications or performing searches, kind of like a better version of Spotlight. Most importantly, they allow you to do everything from the keyboard without touching the mouse, saving a lot of time.

With Tahoe, Apple is trying to enhance Spotlight to bring it closer to what applications like Alfred and Raycast offer.

Raycast has become so integral to my daily use that its keyboard shortcut has replaced Spotlight’s. Thus, ⌘ Space triggers Raycast on all my machines. I no longer use Spotlight, which hasn’t really evolved since its release with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger in 2005 (the best MacOS in my opinion).

Raycast is free, with a subscription that unlocks additional features. However, I’m not using the Pro version, as the free version is very generous, much more so than Alfred. That’s partly why I switched from one to the other (and also because I find Raycast more stylish).

Text Shortcuts

I heavily use text abbreviations on Mac. For instance, if I type ;mns, it’s replaced by my personal email. I have dozens like this. Previously, I used software like aText, TextExpander, or Typinator.

I know that Mac natively manages text replacement, but I’m not a big fan of its implementation. Plus, I like having a dedicated place to manage abbreviations. Thus, Raycast refers to these abbreviations as snippets. You can not only create as many snippets as you want, but you can also share or import them.

Window Management

macOS has only recently improved its window management capabilities. However, I’ve been using keyboard shortcuts to move and resize windows for years. I previously used Magnet, but now I’ve replaced it with Raycast. Thanks to the Window Management feature, you can manipulate your windows with the keyboard.

Personally, I’ve created these few shortcuts:

• ⌥ ⌘ ⏎: to maximize the window
• ⌥ ⌘ →: for the window to take the right half of the screen
• ⌥ ⌘ ←: for the window to take the left half of the screen
• ⌥ ⌘ ↑: for the window to take the top half of the screen
• ⌥ ⌘ ↓: for the window to take the bottom half of the screen

Clipboard Management

Having a clipboard history seems essential to me. I don’t understand why this isn’t managed by default by the system. It actually is on Windows. The fact that you lose what you’ve copied because you decided to copy something else seems so archaic. Fortunately, Tahoe will add this feature to Spotlight.

For my part, I used a small open-source software called Flycut, but I don’t need it anymore with Raycast. I’ve set ⌃⇧V as the shortcut to access the clipboard history. Moreover, Raycast allows you to search through your clipboard history. It even finds text in images.

Using Symbols and Emoji

You may have noticed that I try to include symbols like ⌘ or ⌥ in my articles. For this, I use Raycast. I know some are big fans of the Rocket app, which does roughly the same thing.

Raycast has a Search Emoji & Symbols feature that lets you find the symbol (like keyboard keys) or emoji you’re looking for. I’ve even set up a shortcut for the symbols I use often.

Calculator and Conversions

Raycast includes a powerful calculator and conversion engine. It has replaced both the Mac’s calculator and Google. Yes, I often used Google for conversions, but Raycast has taken over that role. You can use Raycast for simple calculations as well as more complex ones, such as 20 + 10%, which actually calculates 20 + 20*10%.

But where Raycast’s calculator really shows its strength is in conversions. Whether it’s converting lengths, volumes, pressures, or even time zones and currencies, Raycast can handle it all. The only catch is that everything is in English.

Let’s take some examples. Want to know the time in Tokyo? Type: time in Tokyo. Want to know the volume of a cup because you got a recipe from an English-speaking website? 1 cup in ml.

You can do calculations with conversions. Time in Paris – time in New York gives you the time difference between Paris and New York. Days until Christmas calculates how many days until Christmas (you wouldn’t believe how often my kids ask me that…). 40 days from now tells you the date 40 days from now. One last example? 15% of $350 in Euro gives you €45.13. Powerful, right?

Finally, Raycast stores locally all the calculations and conversions performed.

That’s Not All

Raycast can also execute bash or Python scripts. For instance, I write my articles in Markdown but Mac4Ever uses a variant of BBCode. I made a small Python script, or rather, I had the AI Claude do it for me, which transforms the copied Markdown text into text compatible with Mac4Ever. Instead of going to the terminal to run the script, I can ask Raycast to launch it directly.

This is also possible for bash scripts.

Launching Applications

We’ve seen that one of the primary uses of a launcher, as the name suggests, was to launch an application directly from the keyboard. You can, of course, launch Raycast with the keyboard shortcut, start typing the name of the application, Saf for instance, and hit enter, and it will launch Safari.

But there’s a faster way. You can create a keyboard shortcut to launch a specific application directly in Raycast. For example, I’ve set the shortcut ⌃1 to launch Audio Hijack.

You can thus create keyboard shortcuts for the applications you use often. Not only does this launch the application, but if it’s already running and I’m in another application, pressing ⌃1 brings it to the foreground. This system almost replaces the Dock and ⌘ tab.

Extension

And if that wasn’t enough, know that Raycast offers hundreds of extensions allowing you to interact with a plethora of applications and services. If you frequently use an application, there’s a good chance Raycast has a corresponding extension.

There are simply too many features and possibilities to cover them all in one article. And I haven’t even touched on the additional features of the Pro subscription…

Let us know in the comments if a second article on the topic would interest you and how Raycast has changed your life.