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November 6 2015

Time Tasks Faster with Maple

When a tool comes out that increases the speed with which we can do our daily jobs, we take notice. It's this notion that sparked the initial launch of Pancake. Helping people complete their day to day activities in an efficient, easy manner is part of what we love about our jobs. That's why when we heard about the release of Maple App, we knew that it would be a great addition to the Pancake Store (which you can find in your Pancake).

What is Maple?

As the folks over at Maple put it, Maple is "the perfect sweetener for your pancake", and we have to agree. Maple is a new app for Mac OS X that lives in your menu bar. It's a small, fast, and lightweight timer that integrates right into your pancake install. It's a nimble way to start a timer from the window you're in. Have a new email come in? No need to load up Pancake to start a timer. Just click the timer icon in your menu bar, select your task, and click the start button.

It's Fast…

…like, really fast. Instead of waiting for multiple website page loads, everything is available from easily accessible dropdown menus right next to the timer. Selecting a task and starting a timer takes seconds. If you're having a hard time finding the discipline to use timers due to how long it takes to start them, Maple is the app for you.

It's not just fast when starting a timer, however. Maple loads pretty much instantaneously, and runs in the background. It's a pretty lightweight app that's meant for a refined purpose: managing your tasks and timers.

It's User Friendly…

Timers are quick to start and easy to use. There's even an option to display your current time right in your menu bar. While working on a task, you can simply glance up to see how long you've spent.

Need to see tasks assigned to every user in your Pancake install? You can enable a setting and instantly see any task. Do you like to keep things simple? If so, you can turn off completed tasks and choose to only show tasks which are assigned to you.

To make things even sweeter, Maple features an automatic update system. Once you've installed the app, you can turn on automatic updates from the settings page, and every time the app is opened it will find any new versions and give you an option to download and install them. If you need to start a timer quickly and don't have time to update, there's an option to dismiss the update until the next time the app is loaded. The updater does everything automatically. You just push a button and watch it go. Oh, and if you don't like being pestered about updates, you can opt to turn off automatic updates and simply check for new versions from the settings page on your own schedule.

It's Fun!

Ok, I'm sure you're wondering how on Earth tracking time can be fun. I'm not sure what it is about Maple, but it really is fun to use. The design is very refined and the app performs quickly. I've even caught myself running timers for less than 30 seconds for quick email replies just because of how quick and easy it is. I enjoy using Maple, which in turn pushes me to be more diligent about how I track my time. A nice side effect of this is that I actually find myself logging more billable time each day, meaning more money in my pocket.

It's Available Now

I could talk about my experience with Maple all day, but a blog post really just doesn't do it justice. If you're looking for an easier way to time tasks and you're a Mac user, head on over to mapleapp.info. If you have any questions, you can easily get in touch with Maple support using the LiveChat option on their site, or by sending an email to support@mapleapp.info.

We're proud to feature Maple as an exclusive Pancake add on. You can purchase Maple right from your Pancake Store. If you have any problems purchasing the Maple plugin from your Pancake Store, open a support ticket and we'll be glad to assist you.