What is your productivity stack (most helpful programs)

Off-Topic
21

General:

  • Directory Opus paid version (central to pretty much everything I do on PC).

Separate software, most used:

  • ShareX (most productive one imho)
  • Agent Ransack for indexed searches
  • Also dnGrep to find stuff more specific in local html pages, on the spot
  • Logtech software for mouse gestures (I swear by Logitech)
  • Winxvideo AI for large downloads (excellent control over wanted filesize etc).
  • Smaller downloads via yt-dlp tool (standalone version for windows), launched via a Opus dialog and Powershell script.

Some of the most productive tools used from within Opus:

  • yt-dlp (see above)
  • Long series of shortcuts on a small Opus toolbar (appearance:no frame) fixed to the top of my screen, making windows start laucher mostly obsolete, as this bar can easily host over 50 small icons.
  • All sorts of specific column setups for visualizing lists of video's, ebooks, word documents, html files, text files.
  • One button for starting the right editor for anything I throw at it
  • One button for viewing anything I trow at it (detects video size before opening the Opus viewer, shows html files in a specific size, etc).
  • Massive use of Opus icon labels (but thinking of replacing it with sets of flags in the filenames - still managed within Opus).
  • Opus Sync for backups

Browsers:

  • Edge for most stuff (love its vertical tabs and its performance, and for me it has now “the edge” over Chrome)
  • Chrome with different profiles (and plugins) for specific tasks/ sites
  • Firefox: now only used for its cache (yt-dlp makes the best use of it)

Browser plugins:

  • Browser plugin Tampermonkey (e.g. for reading reddit with automatically opening sub-conversations)
  • As simple browser plugin to copy Url + Page title (separated by “|”) to the clipboard - both then immediately being picked up by aforementioned DOpus control (when it's open) in order to start a download.
  • Raindrop.io for bookmark management (+ next to Edge bookmarks)
  • SingleFile for saving interesting long-read pages to disk in a single html file (+ highlights)
  • The zillionth Youtube Ad Auto-skipper (only working partially: starts sound again automatically after ad)
  • Youtube Playlist alphabetical A-Z sorting

Following world & political news:

  • Ground news for most news (its assessment of left/right bias seems excellent)
  • Feedly Pro for its excellent AI-supported compilation of important feeds
1 Like
22

@Bennjamin,

The zillionth Youtube Ad Auto-skipper

Is it better than uBlock Origin? Because it just blocks the YouTube ads entirely.

1 Like
23

I love dngrep. It gets a 97 out of 100 it loses a few points for being an electron app. Which makes the UI a pain to automate and navigate. Otherwise I can't believe it free! It's epic.

Ive tried 5ish grep apps but everything pales next to all the bells and whistles in dngrep!

Inr the settings you can create custom open with cmds to include line numbers details in text editors.

I've even put my own open with dopusrt cmds in there.

I grabbed their theme editor and made my own theme. I love dark mode, but note cold blue dark modes. I also like separation between elements. I get way so many gui are flat these day but yeah. It's to easy to get lost in or focus on single tone GUI

24

Could you share this button? Or how you have it set up? I use a few editor for different extensions. I'm curious of the syntax and logic in it.

I be made a few hotkeys via autohotkey that checks the ext. It's kinda of simple but also tricky with setting up the programs to match the input it's sending.

25

I can’t tell, because I don’t pay for this extension. During the test period it did skip ads as promised. Without paying it just re-activates the sound that you dim once the ad is done.

I have uBlock Origin but it didn’t seem to block ads on youtube when I tried it. But that’s a while ago, I’ll give it another try, thx.

1 Like
26

The button to start up applications is a very simple one, using just standard function script:

@filesonly
@ifsel:type=*.docx
	C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\WINWORD.EXE {filepath}

@ifsel:type=*.cbz
	C:\Users\berna\AppData\Local\SumatraPDF\SumatraPDF.exe {filepath}
@ifsel:type=*.cbr
	C:\Users\berna\AppData\Local\SumatraPDF\SumatraPDF.exe {filepath}
@ifsel:type=*.epub
	C:\Users\berna\AppData\Local\SumatraPDF\SumatraPDF.exe {filepath}
@ifsel:type=*.pdf
	C:\Users\berna\AppData\Local\SumatraPDF\SumatraPDF.exe {filepath}

@ifsel:type=*.html
	C:\Apps\Notepad2\Notepad2.exe {filepath}
@ifsel:type=*.txt
	C:\Apps\Notepad2\Notepad2.exe {filepath}

@ifsel:type=*.js
	C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe {filepath}
@ifsel:type=*.json
	C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe {filepath}

@ifsel:type=*.mp4
	C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe {filepath}
@ifsel:type=*.mkv
	C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe {filepath}

@ifsel:type=*.opusscriptinstall
	Prefs SCRIPTINSTALL {filepath}

PS. It would be more practical to put multiple extensions on the same line, to open with the same application, but I did not yet find a way to do that (without switching to jscript or so).

But this is also about the pleasure of “throwing things” at one of those “big buttons” (on my special “big buttons toolbar”). I am a huge fan of file-throwing sports.

1 Like
27

Why do you think it is an Electron application? I would say it is written in .NET / WPF. It seems to bring all the .NET libraries with it, that's why it is so huge. I wonder if this is really necessary though, I would think having the correct .NET framework installed should be enough, but who knows. o)

28

I would think having the correct .NET framework installed should be enough, but who knows. o)

Installing .Net Core runtime requires admin rights. Also, they wouldn't be able to make a portable version.
Bundling the entire runtime with your app is more convenient. It just takes more space, but functionally it is the same.
However, there are options to reduce size, like trimming. I think they could reduce the deployment size several times without losing anything.

29

I am still using Textpad as a text editor.
I bought it in 2006 @ 16.50 GBP and my archives indicate I paid for an upgrade in 2016 @8.25 GBP.

It is still a bargain today at @16.50 GBP for a new license.

@Leo recommended it to me in 2006 and I am very happy I made the purchase .

30

Interesting idea. Clever application of AI to make something unique. However, I lost hope in finding a good news site. The 24/7 news cycle is evil. It is all Amusing Ourselves to Death and Manufacturing Consent and Kayfabe.

3 Likes
31

Haha - well, I think I have to reply in the same way I did a while ago to @jfour18 : as much as I love to “amuse myself to death” debating all things politics and its philosophical, religious, ideological & socio-cultural implications, this is not exactly the forum to start such a debate. Few would appreciate a diatribe about why Chomsky (and his friend, Edward Said etc.) are in my view amongst the most “keyfabe” folks I’ve ever read (ref. Christopher Hitchens for someone who has laid bare the flaws in Chomsky’s thinking many years ago - or just take Susie Linfield’s book “The Lion’s Den: Zionism & The Left from Hannah Arendt to Noam Chomsky”). I’m certainly no supporter of wokeism and leftism (but hey, I can respect opposite views).

In any case: we’re talking about productivity here - so let me just say this: I found Ground News really helpful in differentiating between articles that are more centrist and others that have a Left or Right bias, while also indicating - along another axis of analysis - the level of accurracy of the data these media are presenting. And of course, their short summaries of topics, focused on data-centric objectivity, are helpful too. It’s an aggregate application: it uses analysis done by other organisations such as Ad Fontes Media.

But no one can do the thinking for us, of course (not even AI). And real thinking isn’t really “amusing” at all: it hurts, when you find out some of your cherished ideas could be entirely false. (I changed my world view twice - it wasn’t a pretty experience). Still, that’s not a reason for being too pessimistic about the whole life experience: avoiding an overdose of social media craze has helped me to be more relax about the world. Ground News has almost certain “savior qualities” in this regard: it mostly looks at what official media outlets are saying - you know, those outlets who are still bound to some form of public accountability.

2 Likes
32

@Bennjamin,
Thanks for an optimistic take.

2 Likes
33

@Bennjamin

Here is example code to, in effect, put multiple extensions on the same line by using grp file types.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<button 3dborders="no" backcol="none" display="label" icon_size="large" label_pos="right" textcol="none">
	<label>Open Listed Programs per Extension</label>
	<tip>Open Listed Programs per Extension: doc, Books, pdf, html, txt, Music, Movies, Opus scripts</tip>
	<icon1>#Program Menu</icon1>
	<function type="normal">
		<instruction>@filesonly</instruction>
		<instruction />
		<instruction>@ifsel:type=grp:doc</instruction>
		<instruction>	C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\WINWORD.EXE {filepath}</instruction>
		<instruction>@ifsel:type=grp:Books</instruction>
		<instruction>	F:\SumatraPDF_64\SumatraPDF.exe {filepath}</instruction>
		<instruction>@ifsel:type=*.pdf</instruction>
		<instruction>	&quot;/f\PDF-XChangeViewer\PDF Viewer\PDFXCview.exe&quot; {allfilepath}</instruction>
		<instruction>@ifsel:type=*.html</instruction>
		<instruction>	C:\Program Files\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\Application\brave.exe {filepath}</instruction>
		<instruction>@ifsel:type=grp:txt</instruction>
		<instruction>	&quot;/p\npp\notepad++.exe&quot; {allfilepath}</instruction>
		<instruction>@ifsel:type=grp:Music</instruction>
		<instruction>	&quot;C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 35\MC35.exe&quot; {filepath}</instruction>
		<instruction>@ifsel:type=grp:Movies</instruction>
		<instruction>	/pDaumPotPlayer_64\PotPlayerMini64.exe {filepath}</instruction>
		<instruction>@ifsel:type=*.opusscriptinstall</instruction>
		<instruction>	Prefs SCRIPTINSTALL {filepath}</instruction>
	</function>
</button>
1 Like
34

I see. But then I need to make extra groups. What I meant was something simple, like:

@ifsel:type=*.txt,*.json

Just adding multiple extensions after one @ifsel
I didn’t find any syntax that works.

35

In that case, try this:

@ifsel:*.dop|txt
	"/p\npp\notepad++.exe" {allfilepath}

This will open either of these two extensions in notepad++.

Add more extensions with more "|" followed by the extension.

1 Like
36

That applies here as well. The pattern should be
*.(dop|txt)

1 Like
37

I stand corrected. OTOH, the command is successful without the parens - and I can imagine you saying "correct syntax is correct syntax".

38

In any case, I would recommend adding this to the @ifsel:type documentation. The separator between parameter values is usually a comma. But I’ll be happy to simplify my buttons setup now.

39

Wildcard syntax isn't specific to @ifset; it's used in hundreds of places and has its own page in the manual:

1 Like
40

Thanks Leo. Again, my sloppy (or “economic”) reading shows up - and also my Windows-oriĂ«ntation: when I see the word “wildcard” I don’t even pay attention - I think I never even had a glimpse at that page at all, because in the Windows & DOS world, wildcards are usually this very simple thing with ? and * (this changed a bit with Powershell though). And who wants even a slighly extended version of wildcarding if you have access to RegEx - I do most things in jscript, even in my Opus buttons. The few buttons using “standard functions” are a leftover from the past. But yeah I should have paid more attention.