There are every kind of actions included out of the field. You may add calendar appointments and reminders and set timers. You may ship textual content messages or begin FaceTime calls. You may even set devoted keyboard shortcuts for any of those actions.
It is also the precise sort of factor that, till now, Raycast did that Highlight couldn’t. The distinction is one in every of implementation. Apple’s strategy at present solely works with Mac purposes that implement the Highlight characteristic. Proper now, it’s mainly restricted to simply Apple’s personal instruments, however that’s going to vary; based on Apple’s presentation for builders, third-party purposes may also be capable of add actions which are executable from inside Highlight. I could not discover any non-Apple purposes that at present implement this, however I am certain that can change as we get nearer to the autumn.
Justin Pot
Raycast, in the meantime, may be enhanced by user-built extensions you can simply set up from the built-in retailer. This has a draw back, largely that if you wish to join an utility, you are going to have to put in and configure the extension your self. That is not onerous, although—the built-in retailer gives a whole lot of those extensions, and you may set up them with a couple of keystrokes. These extensions can also join with any service, not simply people who have Mac apps, which means web-only companies like Google Docs are supported. Many of those extensions supply options that Highlight by no means will, equivalent to customized menu bar icons for issues like calendar appointments or the at present taking part in music in Spotify. I might go on; Raycast’s strategy is solely extra versatile.
Proper now, for energy customers, I believe Raycast is the higher alternative. Which may change as extra purposes 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 every part you have copied currently. There have at all times been many third-party purposes that offer you 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 sort of characteristic you do not understand you want till you begin counting on it, and I am glad macOS lastly gives 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 suitable with far more purposes and companies than Highlight can 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 save lots of issues that you end up retyping always, so you’ll be able to shortly paste them. There’s additionally a distraction blocker software known as Focus. Raycast has, over time, added every kind of options that had been beforehand widespread bits of devoted software program, and Apple is not more likely to copy all of them.
The Raycast group, for his or her half, is not nervous in regards to the newly enhanced Highlight. In a put up on X the corporate’s CEO, Thomas Paul Mann, stated the brand new options will give customers a style for an utility 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 look ahead to seeing how every part develops. I, for one, will in all probability use each choices for some time and see which I desire.