14 DAY TRIAL // We probably complete hundreds of tasks in a month and, though some of them are part of our daily routine, others are quite unusual and require special attention. Being so completely dependent on technology, we often have to perform various tasks on a Mac too.
Moreover, because our nature is to forget things, we rely on reminders and task automation tools. Thankfully, the market is crowded with such apps, which come in all shapes and sizes. Scheduler for Mac is a self-explanatory reminder utility and automatic launcher of apps, documents and Applescripts.
Although it is free of charge, the app requires a free registration after 30 days of usage, as the developers need to decide, based on the number of users, whether or not to continue the development. Furthermore, the installation consisted of copying the utility to our Applications folder.
Working with Scheduler for Mac is quite straightforward, but the complexity of features might take a while to get used to. At first launch, you will see a standard-looking Cocoa interface with looks that resemble OS X’s Finder. The top bar features buttons providing access to basic commands, the main pane allows you to access your events and the bottom bar hosts the search box.
As mentioned before, a multitude of events can be scheduled using Scheduler for Mac. They are neatly organized into 4 distinct categories: alert, app and applet launcher, document / file launcher and Applescript executer. Each of the added events can be set to be periodically launched at any given date and time.
The configuration windows of each event have several options in common, such as entering the title, setting the due date and time, configuring the repeat and snooze options and the interval of activation.
Overall, the app’s scheduling options are quite impressive. For instance, you can schedule an alert to be repeated every hour of every first Monday of June, July and August until August 2018. However, you can also create simple events with only the date and time set.
In the Alert settings window, you can choose an audio notification. 14 simple sounds are provided, but custom sounds can also be added via the Sound Manager window. It is even possible to record sounds with your microphone and save them directly to Scheduler for Mac.
What’s more, an option to remind you of scheduled alerts is also available. Like the “Repeat” option, this one, too, is very powerful. To give you an example, it is possible to set reminders 5 and 30 minutes, 4 and 12 hours, 1 day and 3 weeks before the actual alert occurs.
As specified, Scheduler for Mac is also an automated launcher. The settings windows for launching app, applets, documents, URLs and Applescripts enable you to specify which items to launch and, if they are files or documents, which apps to launch them with. Moreover, the same launch options are shared: on computer startup, after a period of inactivity or at a specified date and time.
In our tests, we did not encounter issues with regard to receiving alerts and launching files automatically. Nonetheless, the snooze option seems to work a little differently than the snooze button in your usual wake-up alarm. In a nutshell, the snooze feature of this app is actually an option to delay an event before it even occurs.
On the other hand, events are executed even if the app is closed, thanks to a background helper process. When an alert is due, a “Viewer” window will be displayed and, although you can customize its behavior and date format, the snooze options in its menu don’t seem to do anything.
The myriad of time options that can be set might sometimes be confusing, even after reading the comprehensive built-in Help section. Therefore, as much as we appreciate being able to schedule an event with so much flexibility, having an additional “basic” mode would come in rather handy.
As such, it is quite likely that time conflicts will occur. When they do, a warning message will usually tell you to re-configure the settings. Speaking of conflicts, the app offers an option to defer events, meaning that those that become due when the computer is off will not be executed at system startup, preventing undesired effects.
In addition to this, you can activate or deactivate any event with just a click. This is great when you are no longer concerned about events that have already been dealt with, but which you wish to keep in your list.
Another important asset of Scheduler for Mac is the intuitive way you can view and access your events. First of all, each type of event entry has a different icon. Secondly, events can be browsed in 3 view modes: hierarchical, list and calendar.
The benefit of the first view mode is that you can sort events into any number of folders and subfolders. The second allows for listing events based on name, due date and active or inactive status, regardless of any parent folder.
Of course, the calendar view allows you to browse events from an actual calendar. We liked the fact that important holidays from certain countries could be displayed. However, the app froze unexpectedly when working with the calendar.
What further raises the value of Scheduler for Mac is its integration of simple keyboard shortcuts for creating new events and switching between views. On top of this, custom global hotkeys for launching events (even when the app is closed) are supported and easy to configure.
