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TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 4 May 2015

Carbon Copy Cloner 4.1 — Bombich Software has released Carbon Copy Cloner 4.1 (CCC) with a new task progress window added to the User Agent menu bar application, enabling you to see detailed progress for all tasks. The backup utility also adds a Simple Mode that displays only the source and destination selectors plus the Clone button, ensures all interface elements can be accessed via keyboard navigation and with VoiceOver, adds a contextual menu to the task list, enables you to disable tasks globally from the CCC menu bar icon, and improves the task configuration portion of the CCC window so it can be resized for easier file selection.
($39.99 new, 12.0 MB, release notes, 10.8+)

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Quicken 2015 for Mac 2.5 — Intuit has released version 2.5 of Quicken 2015 for Mac with changes to investment reporting on the Calendar and improved Download/Financial Institution settings on the Account settings sheet. The Account settings sheet now has an option for showing the total percent day change (gain or loss) for the investing accounts included in a Calendar report. It also eliminates duplicate options, streamlines user flows, and simplifies the functionality of managing the connectivity status for either Direct Connect or Quicken Connect accounts, and enables you to set the date range of transactions to download for
Direct Connect accounts. Version 2.5 also addresses a number of bugs, fixing a hang when updating all accounts, resolving an issue where the sidebar would not remember the account expand/collapse state after restarting, fixing multiple issues related to QIF import from other personal finance applications, dealing with multiple display issues in the Calendar report, and fixing multiple Mobile Sync issues. Note that as of this writing, Quicken 2015 for Mac was still stuck at version 2.4.2 in the Mac App Store. ($74.99 new, free update, release notes,
10.7+)

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PDFpen and PDFpenPro 7.1.1 — Smile has released version 7.1 of PDFpen and PDFpenPro, a maintenance update focused on fixes. The PDF editing apps correct layout issues associated with the localized password prompt and save accessory panel, add free-form highlights to the annotations list, fix a bug where Find results wouldn’t permit selection of the result in Notes, resolve several encryption-related issues, remove duplicate entries in search results if there are highlights, prevent text boxes from extending right when in Wrap Text mode, and add language support for
PDF/A export. ($74.95/$124.95 new with a 20 percent discount for TidBITS members, free updates from version 7.0, 52.3/53 MB, release notes, 10.7+)

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Default Folder X 4.7.1 — St. Clair Software has released Default Folder X 4.7.1, fixing a bug in OS X 10.10.3 Yosemite that caused Carbon applications (such as Microsoft Word and Excel) to always default to using the Documents folder. The Open and Save dialog enhancement utility now keeps better track of the Finder’s windows when the Finder is hidden automatically by other utility software (if this problem persists, Option-click on Default Folder X’s Settings button and turn on the ShowHiddenFinderWindows checkbox). The release also prevents a crash that could occur after encountering an alias file that
incorrectly refers to itself, ensures that folders within DEVONthink databases no longer appear in the Recent Folders menu, and enables resizing of the filename edit box in Save dialogs on 10.9 Mavericks (as well as Yosemite). ($34.95 new, $10 off for TidBITS members, free update, 11.0 MB, release notes, 10.6+)

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Pixelmator 3.3.2 — The Pixelmator Team has released version 3.3.2 of its eponymous image editing app with added support for the new Photos for Mac app (offering direct access to your Photos library), as well as for the Force Touch trackpad found on the new 12-inch MacBook and 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (see “The 12-inch MacBook: A Different Mac for a Particular User,” 29 April 2015). With Force Touch support, Pixelmator will change the size of your brush according to how much pressure is detected by the force sensors. If this feature sounds familiar, it was predicted
(though not completely correctly) in our April Fools issue (see “TidBITS Watchlist for 1 April 2015,” 1 April 2015).

Pixelmator 3.3.2 also improves the speed of the Repair Tool (see this blog post to learn how Pixelmator improved the algorithm), enables you to repair images on a transparent layer placed in front (with the Sample All Layers option selected), ensures the New Layer from FaceTime feature works across all Macs, prevents the Layers palette from dimming after changing the image size, adds support for opening 16-bit Photoshop images exported from Aperture, and fixes an issue that slowed performance when working extensively with colors and styles of text and shape layers. ($29.99 new from the Mac App Store, free update, 42.9 MB, release notes, 10.9.5+)

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BBEdit 11.1 — Bare Bones Software has released BBEdit 11.1 with support for the version control system Git and the EditorConfig file format for maintaining a consistent coding style, along with a lengthy list of improvements and fixes. You can now access core Git features directly within BBEdit via the new Git menu, rather than switching to the command line or a dedicated Git client. The update also adds support for the EditorConfig settings file convention, which encompasses the majority of core universal and domain-specific properties plus
several properties that are specific to BBEdit (see this technical note for more details).

In addition, BBEdit 11.1 adds a Save All in Window dynamic command that’s enabled if any (or the only) document in the front window has unsaved changes; improves folding, keyword coloring, function navigation, and text completion in the new CSS/SCSS language module; removes the Subversion action bar item from disk browser and project windows; rearranges Editing preferences and adds the “Include system text replacements in completion list” setting; and updates the INI language module with improved navigation as well as folding. ($49.99, free update, 11.5 MB, release notes, 10.8.5+)

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