There are every kind of actions included out of the field. You’ll be able to add calendar appointments and reminders and set timers. You’ll be able to ship textual content messages or begin FaceTime calls. You’ll be able to even set devoted keyboard shortcuts for any of those actions.
It is also the precise type of factor that, till now, Raycast did that Highlight couldn’t. The distinction is considered one of implementation. Apple’s method presently solely works with Mac functions that implement the Highlight characteristic. Proper now, it’s principally restricted to only Apple’s personal instruments, however that’s going to vary; in line with Apple’s presentation for builders, third-party functions may even be capable of add actions which can be executable from inside Highlight. I could not discover any non-Apple functions that presently implement this, however I am positive that can change as we get nearer to the autumn.
Justin Pot
Raycast, in the meantime, will be enhanced by user-built extensions that you could simply set up from the built-in retailer. This has a draw back, largely that if you wish to join an software, you are going to have to put in and configure the extension your self. That is not laborious, although—the built-in retailer presents lots of of those extensions, and you’ll set up them with a number of keystrokes. These extensions can also join with any service, not simply those who have Mac apps, which means web-only providers like Google Docs are supported. Many of those extensions supply options that Highlight by no means will, akin to customized menu bar icons for issues like calendar appointments or the presently enjoying tune in Spotify. I may go on; Raycast’s method is solely extra versatile.
Proper now, for energy customers, I believe Raycast is the higher alternative. Which may change as extra functions add assist for Highlight, although, particularly given the truth that customers don’t want to put in something or set something as much as get new capabilities in Highlight.
An Precise Clipboard Supervisor
Home windows has had a clipboard supervisor for years—simply press Home windows-V and you will see an inventory of all the things you’ve got copied recently. There have at all times been many third-party functions that provide you with a extra highly effective clipboard on the Mac, together with Raycast.
The brand new macOS replace provides this characteristic to Highlight, making it simple to return and discover that factor you copied earlier at this time. It is the type of characteristic you do not understand you want till you begin counting on it, and I am glad macOS lastly presents it.
What Raycast Has That Highlight Doesn’t
Justin Pot
With these new options, Highlight is a good deal extra highly effective than earlier than, however it is not a one-for-one Raycast substitute. The largest benefit Raycast has over Highlight, at this level, is the Raycast retailer, which makes the launcher appropriate with far more functions and providers than Highlight could have for a very long time.
However there are different options. Raycast can handle home windows, permitting you to set keyboard shortcuts for issues like docking a window to the left or proper aspect of the display screen. It has a built-in snippet supervisor, permitting you to avoid wasting issues that you end up retyping continuously, so you’ll be able to rapidly paste them. There’s additionally a distraction blocker device referred to as Focus. Raycast has, over time, added every kind of options that had been beforehand common bits of devoted software program, and Apple is not prone to copy all of them.
The Raycast staff, for his or her half, is not nervous concerning the newly enhanced Highlight. In a publish on X the corporate’s CEO, Thomas Paul Mann, stated the brand new options will give customers a style for an software like Raycast. “Individuals will run into limitations and wish extra from a launcher, which is the place we step in,” he wrote.
I am undecided how true that’s, however I stay up for seeing how all the things develops. I, for one, will in all probability use each choices for some time and see which I desire.
