Grila For Mac

Power users love their keyboards, but macOS and most third-party apps aren’t designed to be used with hotkeys alone. That includes the official Calendar app, so a keyboard-accessible alternative might be worth looking into.

Grila is designed to serve as a quick way to check dates and events without taking your hands off the keyboard. It lets you open the calendar, navigate, and see upcoming events without ever resorting to your mouse or trackpad.

You can bring up the calendar by just pressing ⌥\ (Right Option + backslash). The hotkey is customizable. Once open, navigation is done via the arrow keys, and you can hold down Shift to quickly switch between months. Typing numbers or letters will take you to a particular month or date.

If you press Enter, you will see a list of events on the right-hand side. You can choose which calendars are included, and all items are color coded. Pressing - or = cycles between the standard three-month calendar, a smaller single-month version, and the full-year calendar.

The app comes with a light and dark mode, as well as three themes that change the layout of dates in the calendar. You can also choose the calendar’s default position on the screen when you bring it up.

As far as UI colors are concerned, you are given full freedom to adjust the contrast, saturation, and hue, a degree of customization you don’t get in most apps. Animations can also be made more fluid or almost instant.

Aside from the fact that it can be easily used with just the keyboard, you can also pin the calendar to your desktop in a semi-transparent mode, allowing you to check it while another window is in focus. The level of opacity is customizable as well.

If you like using your Mac with hotkeys, Grila is the calendar app for you. It’s fast and intuitive, serving as a great way to reference dates and events without interrupting your current workflow. It can also be personalized to a great extent.