App for organizing dock items by task and into folders?

[macstatic]

Ever so often I find myself looking for an app to do a specific task, but I can't remember which app was used. This is especially true for tasks I only do once a while.

So it would be great to somehow access a list of tasks with brief descriptions (i.e. "convert WAV to MP3") and a pre-defined app suitable for that would pop up when clicking on that description. And having this organized into groups or folders in the dock (i.e. groups like "Image tools", "Audio tools" and os on). Is there something like this available?
It need to work with MacOS 10.13 (High Sierra).

 

[chown33]

I just made my own.

I made folders with names like "Audio" "Pix" "File Tools" and so on. I then put aliases of the relevant apps in each folder. Drag each folder into the Dock. Done.

I used to have a folder "My Tools" that had subfolders "Audio", "File Tools", etc. and that was the only folder in the Dock. I didn't like that as well.

For me, the tools change rarely, so it doesn't need updates often.

 

[gilby101]

And having this organized into groups or folders in the dock (i.e. groups like "Image tools", "Audio tools" and os on).

I just made my own. I give Finder tags (like "AudioTools") to apps. I then have Smart Searches for each tag. I know others use Finder comments.

@chown33 has a much simpler way with folders of aliases.

 

[macstatic]

Cool! I've done that in the past (created aliases and put those into say a new "Audio tools" folder in the Applications folder which I've dragged to the dock). This helps but I was hoping for something more streamlined, so perhaps someone had made an app for this.

But once in a while I do specific tasks where I don't remember which app I used for that. It would be great to have a listing somewhere I could just look up "convert video to MP3 audio file" (bad example, but I can't think of anything more complex right now. EDIT: a better example is "Add illustrative red circle to image" as shown in the screenshot below, and Affinity Photo would pop up where I've pre-defined several circles like that which are great for pointing to something in a screenshot), and the appropriate app would pop up.
I suppose I could just create an alias to the app in question, then rename the alias with the example above -even add several aliases to the same app if needed, to do different tasks....

@gilby101: Using Finder tags sounds interesting and useful. I'm not quite sure how though. Is this the part I've circled in the screenshot below when you do a "Get info" of an app? Will that be searchable in the Finder?
How do I use a Smart Search for the dock, or do you mean that you just have it in the Finder windows (alongside the other favourite folders, hard drives etc.)?

 

[gilby101]

EDIT: a better example is "Add illustrative red circle to image" as shown in the screenshot below, and Affinity Photo would pop up where I've pre-defined several circles like that which are great for pointing to something in a screenshot), and the appropriate app would pop up.

That is (to me) a really interesting question where you have some quite precise actions and want to be led to the most appropriate application. I don't have an answer but will think about it!

I think tags are for broader classification of apps - so Affinity has the tag "photos" (as do other related apps). I have a limited set of such tags - anything more than 20 becomes too cumbersome to use or manage. This is really categorising apps.

Comments can be used in a similar way and are perhaps better suited to a more chatty style.

Both Tags and Comments are searchable with Finder and can be included in Saved Searches. Tags survive app updates (I have never tested Comments).

But neither are well suited to your, I assume large, list of activities.

 

[chown33]

I was thinking Comments, too, but if it's a big list of attributes or tasks, I don't think they'd work well.

How about just a plain text file?

Name it something like "Affinity Pro tasks.txt", then add all the tasks and whatnot into the file. Spotlight will index it, so add red circle would show a result in a Spotlight search, and point to "Affinity Pro tasks.txt". You wouldn't even need to open the file, just read its name. Then you delete add red circle in the search box and type "Affinity" then launch the application.

Collect all these text files in a folder, say named "Tasks", and keep it somewhere convenient.

 

[gilby101]

Name it something like "Affinity Pro tasks.txt", then add all the tasks and whatnot into the file. Spotlight will index it, so add red circle would show a result in a Spotlight search, and point to "Affinity Pro tasks.txt". You wouldn't even need to open the file, just read its name. Then you delete add red circle in the search box and type "Affinity" then launch the application.

That could work. Difficulty I see (using command-space for Spotlight) is how to restrict the initial search to just the folder of task files. Might need a Finder window with the folder selected.

I would probably use Alfred with its optional Powerpack to create a workflow which would search the folder of files for "add red circle", offer a choice of appropriate apps, and start whatever chosen. But that is more complex.

 

[chown33]

That could work. Difficulty I see (using command-space for Spotlight) is how to restrict the initial search to just the folder of task files. Might need a Finder window with the folder selected.

I think a Smart Folder would work:

Create or change a Smart Folder on Mac

In the Finder on your Mac, use Smart Folders to automatically find and organize files by type and subject matter.

support.apple.com

 

[Nygaard]

Depending on the volume of apps you have/use, you might be able to get away looking at "Applications" under "Recent Items" from the top left Apple menu to jog your memory. You can adjust the number of items in this list from System Preferences -> General.

Otherwise, a more direct approach is simply rename the application itself to something you can remember. For example, you could rename "Audacity.app" to "Audio Converter.app" or "Convert WAV to MP3.app". Then, you can use either the aforementioned Recent Items to browse, peruse the Applications folder, or just type what you want to do in Spotlight.

Note that Apple prevents you from (easily) renaming their own built-in apps, so you can't change "Safari.app" to "Internet.app", for example.