Raycast can also move and resize currently open windows—for example, you can move one window to take up the left half of the screen and another to take up the right half. There’s a built-in tool for searching your contacts, making it easy to quickly find and copy anyone’s email address or phone number. There are even commands for making quick system changes, such as switching between dark and light modes or putting your computer to sleep. You can even enter the word “Schedule” to see all the appointments on your calendar; if a meeting is online, press Enter to open the meeting.
I could go on, but the best way to use Raycast is to just open it and start typing whatever you want to do. Odds are the app might work for you, and if not, there’s an extension that might.
Plug-ins do much more
RayCast via Justin Pot
Raycast can add even more features with extensions, allowing apps to find information from other apps. For example, I use Google Drive to collaborate with editors. The Google Workspace Extensions which means I can open any document in my Drive with just a few keystrokes. There is a similar extension for Spotify, allowing you to quickly find and listen to any album or playlist. There is an extension for the password manager 1Password And Bitwarden, which means you can find and copy passwords quickly even without using a browser. There is an extension for Quickly find animated GIFs.
And it gets even more complicated—you can do things like install software using Homebrew or even run Terminal commands. Don’t worry if you don’t know what those are, though: The point is you can set up almost anything you can imagine.
Installing these couldn’t be easier—just type the word “Store” in Raycast, press Enter, then search for the extension you want. You can also browse online storeIf you like.
Create keyboard shortcuts for everything
You can set up a universal keyboard shortcut for everything Raycast can do, which is probably my favorite feature. For example, you can create a shortcut to launch a certain application or to open any file. It also means you can create custom shortcuts to quickly launch different types of searches.
Open Raycast, then type “General” and press Enter to open the settings. Go to the Extensions tab and find the specific app or action for which you want to create a keyboard shortcut. Click the Record Hotkey option for that entry and think of a shortcut that won’t conflict with any other keyboard shortcuts.
There are very few apps that have really changed the way I use my computer. Raycast is one of them. Anything I can think of is just a few keystrokes, which means my only reason for not getting more done is due to the multitude of distractions on the internet. That should be easy to pass, right?
