01.03.2011

Neu 1.0.1 Review

If you've installed Windows on your machine then you'll know that a traditional advantge it has over Mac OS is the ability to create new files inside the folder you are currently viewing by right-clicking and then selecting from the displayed options.

Compare this to:

opening or switching to the program you want to use,
creating a new file,
hitting SAVE,
navigating back to the folder you were in, and
saving the file.

Neu is a new app that is compatible with Snow Leopard (versions 10.6 and above) that allows you to quickly and easily create files as you go.

What files does Neu create?

The default list includes png, page, txt, html and rtf. The list is customisable in two ways: either via the 'Manage Templates' window or by adding files yourself to ~/Library/Application Support/com.elegantchaos.neu/Templates. You can have as many template documents of the same file type as you want.

How do you create them?

There are various ways to create a new file with Neu when working in a Finder window. You can use the (system wide) menu bar, the Dock, the 'Services' submenu or the contextual menus within Finder, or keyboard shortcuts (there are two available, both configurable). You can choose to hide the Dock menu or the menu bar options if you never use them.

One important tip here: you need at least one existing file in the folder that you have open to use all the file creation options. This is because to use the 'Services' submenu in Finder you must have a file selected in the active Finder window, and to use Finder's contextual menu commands with Neu you must right click an existing file or folder. However you can create a file in a folder that's not open by right-clicking on the folder when using Finder's contextual menus.

Flexible options

However you decide to create your documents, you have two main choices:

CREATE will create a new document in the active Finder window;
CREATE AND OPEN will also open the document in its appropriate editing program.

You can also configure Neu to show you your choice of document types either as a text list (with full keyboard control for scrolling) or an array of icons (which can only be selected using the mouse). Finally you can also have Neu prompt you to name new documents as you go using the standard OS 'Save' dialog.

You can't (as yet) order your templates within the various menus or customise the menu width or height (to display a longer list or longer names). Nor is it currently possible to set a keyboard shortcut for each template.

Neu is at present the only actively developed app of its kind compatible with OSX; and worth checking out for that reason alone. It's available from from Elegant Chaos for $10, or from the Mac App store.

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