App Review: Dropzone
Dropzone recently showed up on the Mac App Store. I’ve been using the previous incarnation daily for years now, and I was ecstatic to see it hit the App Store and still be under active development. As with any pre-App Store app that makes a 100% conversion to the App Store environment, plenty of users are bitching and moaning about having to pay again (as well as changes that were necessary to comply with Apple’s guidelines), but I’m not among them1. It’s worth every penny and supporting continued development is something I’m more than happy to do.
On Dropzone
Dropzone is an app with a simple concept: provide an easily-accessible palette for “Destinations” where you can drop text or files and have any number of operations performed on them. Zip them, install them, email them, add them to Dropbox, get a shortened link… a wide variety of default Destinations is available, plus there’s an easy Ruby API with which you can extend Dropzone to do anything you like. You can also include straight application destinations that will open the app when clicked, or open any files dragged to the icon with the target application.
When you click the Dropzone icon in the menubar (it used to be in the Dock, but the implementation had to change for the Mac App Store version) or drag files or text over it, a palette pops up with large (size customizable) icons that you can drop on or click. Different Destinations have different responses when clicked or dropped on.
My Dropzone
My Dropzone includes some default Destinations and some custom scripts:
- A filer that works with my OpenMeta tagging system. Dropping tagged files on it sorts them into target folders based on their tags.
- A media filer that sorts pdf, audio and video files into a date-based filing system.
- An app installer that handles DMG, zip and app bundles, installing the application and updating older files.
- A Dropbox destination that will zip multiple files or copy single files into my public Dropbox folder and place a public link in my clipboard.
- A shortcut to create a GitHub gist from contents dropped on it.
- Diff shortcuts to open multiple files for comparison, one for Changes and one for Kaleidoscope.
- One drop point to zip multiple files and one to Zip and create an email with the archive attached.
- Shorten a url with bit.ly.
- One to upload pictures to Flickr.
- One to set my Desktop picture to a dropped image.
- One to mount/unmount all of my Firewire drives at once.
- One to find all the links on my clipboard and create a Markdown reference list with them.
- One that’s just a link to ImageOptim which opens a dropped image and compresses/optimizes it in place (perfect for bloggers).
- A Destination that accepts one or more text files, concatenates their contents and puts them on the clipboard.
- My latest Destination, a link-opening script that accepts dropped text files, dragged text or clipboard input, opening all contained links in your default browser (more info on that coming soon).
This tool belt makes invaluable functions available to me at any time, from anywhere on my system. In short, I love it. It’s become a default part of the way I work. I can add and change destinations at any time as my workflow changes, and because I have a working grasp of Ruby, I can make just about anything that can be scripted happen. The API allows me to control the progress indicator, the text responses and what ultimately happens when the script is complete, including creating a clickable HUD that links to whatever resulting URL the Destination creates.
If you’re not already using Dropzone, it’s definitely worth a look. It’s $13.99 on the Mac App Store, and additional destinations are freely available at the website. There’s also a GitHub repo for contributing your own Destinations. Just fork it, add your contribution and make a pull request. I have several in there, and many of the custom scripts listed above are publicly available there.
A friend pointed out that it was stated at one point that there would be free upgrades through version 2.0. While that hasn’t specifically been brought up in the forum, it does have something to do with the shock. I’m still not bothered by it, but have some understanding of people who are. ↩
[…] Brett Terpstra has posted a full review of Dropzone which is well worth checking […]
Curious of the advantage over using launchbar or quicksilver for the same functionality. Easier to write addons?
I find it fits into my workflow differently. Personal preference, but when it comes to filing and uploading and clipping, I just prefer being able to drop the files and get an immediate action. It’s kind of like a palette of LaunchBar actions that are more quickly accessible.
Also, you can’t be posting a screenshot and not listing the other apps in that menubar.
Mainly the ⌘ icon is what I’m curious about.
http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/1/2531339/whats-in-your-menubar
Left to right: Skitch and Quiet for screenshots. Simplify for Spotify control. nvALT, 1Password, Dropzone, Droplr, TextExpander, Dropbox, Fantastical, Tags, GrowlVoice for Google Voice, Teleport, Apptivate, Air Video Server.
You’ll ask me why I use Apptivate with LaunchBar, too, but I like hotkeys, especially sequence hotkeys. I can hit F4-F4 to load MindMeister, or F4-m to load Mindjet, for example. It’s just muscle memory.
Hey Brett.
I know you’re a huge fan of Launchbar, aptivate etc, but I’d liek to recommend that you give Alfredapp a try (Powerpack). It is very scriptable, you can assign global shortcuts (key combinations) to apps, scripts and alot more. From what I’ve read you could possibly eliminate 2 apps with just Alfredapp.
Cheers, PL
While not directed at me and with the caveat that I haven’t used Alfred in a while, but do have the power pack: The problem with Alfred is that it has different interfaces for different things. With launch bar it tends to figure out what I want, without me having to tell it what I want. I want in and out quick, and I always feel like with alfred I get stuck in Alfred.
Navigating is also not as convenient, requiring the use of the arrow keys a lot. As a text mate user Brett may find this useful.
I’d really be happy to know that what I believe is wrong though, I’d love to use alfred if I could because it looks nice and is actively developed, there are just minor things that annoy me.
Hi Donald,
First off I have no affiliation to Alfred, just like it allot ;)
I admit that Alfred does require a small learning curve to use it to it’s full potential (I’m still not there yet ;) ) but once you overcome it I believe your minor annoyances will be vanquished.
Most interfaces can be accessed directly with a hotkey, extensions give you access to various services and tools. It is not necessary to navigate the list with arrows (cmd + # ) activates the corresponding item.
Another interesting possibility is the fact that you can activate multiple items at once as described in Alfred tips (makes opening all apps I need for work in the morning a breeze)
Cheers, PL
Same boat here. I own the PowerPack and have repeatedly tried to get used to Alfred. Part of it is that Launchbar is such an integral part of my workflow and I know it so intimately that the keystrokes are embedded in my brain. Alfred isn’t consistent with that navigation, so it’s hard for me to make the mental switch. If I gave it a solid run for long enough to build new muscle memory, I’d probably love it. LaunchBar offers everything I think I need, though, so it’s hard for me to justify that time.
It really is a great app, and for people who aren’t already settled into a launcher I do recommend it.
Fair enough… No need to meddle with what works for you ;)
Cheers and thanks for a great wealth of information and knowledge! PL
Hi Brett
How could you get the 1P icon on the menubar?
Claude
It’s 1P from the AppStore. Version 3.9 I believe. Website version is 3.8.