Oct 23
Quicksilver: how do you use it?
2005 at 03.55 am posted by Veerle
One of the very handy freeware applications for Mac OS X is without a doubt Quicksilver. It seems like almost every Mac user has a copy for doing awsome stuff with it.
The reason for today’s post is just that, I have the feeling that I only scratch the surface when it comes to using this great little gem. With a little shame on my face I admit that Quicksilver is only used to type the first letters of the app that I want to launch. So you could say that it hasn’t clicked yet for me.
So I want to learn all those little secrets that are hidden in deep vaults of this application and I need your help to get to them. Tell me about the way you have fitted Quicksilver into your workflow. Intermediate to advanced tips, I want them all ;-) It is my intention to get all those tips into one place on our server. Looking forward into learning some great stuff.
28served
1
At 43folders they have some nice articles on quicksilver : http://www.43folders.com/index.php?s=Quicksilver
ps. I, too, almost solely use it to open applications, so don’t be ashamed ;). But it is indeed a tool that offers great functionality if you take your time to explore it.
2
I also use it for folders, or sometimes to mail things faster (to make think friends I am a geek)
3
Yeah, starting apps and a opening bunch of pdf books for me too. Oh, and as a calculator, just start typing with = and then your calculation, press enter and presto!
4
I use it as a launcher too. It does a great job at that. It eliminates the need to have anything in your dock which is great I think.
The calculator trick is neat! I didn’t know that. I’ll be following this thread to see what else comes up! ;)
5
Huum, I forget : find contacts faster (type the first lettre of his name)
6
I love the fact that you can drag and drop any file onto the icon. So you can type the name of a folder and then drag items onto it to move files. Type the name of an app and then launch a file by dropping it on top of that.
If you use any applescripts at all, quicksilver can launch those as well.
Using the itunes plugin I have key commands set for PLAY, NEXT TRACK, PREV TACK and Show what’s playing. I really like the way it displays the track name and itunes art in a box on your screen.
7
I use it to move alot of files into folders. I have Quicksilver delve into my home folder to infinity. This will make it require much more ram (about 200mb physical in my case) but i got 2gb to go around…
If you want quicksilver to pick up multiple files, select them, hit cmd+space (or whatever) and then hit cmd+g (grab that crap) then hit tab, the mo (for move) then tab, then find the folder…
seems like a lot, but do it...you may like it…
8
I have it installed but I dont use it.
If I need to search a file in the system, which I almost never do cause I’m organised, I use spotlight.
When its time to launch application that is not in my dock and that I don’t use often, I use TigerLaunch cause I’m always having trouble remembering the name of the app I’m looking for and TigerLaunch shows them all to me with the name and the icon.
I find TigerLaunch better for poeple with memory problems.
9
You can perform actions on multiple items (i.e., open several apps at once) by hitting the comma (,) after you pick your file/app.
10
If have Transmit and you setup favorites for different FTP accounts and possibly even favorites for subfolders in those ftp accounts, you can open quicksliver and type the name of the favorite, drag the file(s) onto it and it will upload it to your favotire’s location.
11
For kde there is now a similar thing called Katapult. Not only does it search in applications, but it indexes your bookmarks, directories and files too.
12
The usual stuff, of course: opening apps, sending emails, and doing calculations.
You can send files through Transmit, of course, and add things to your Backpack account. Using the email functions, you can send stuff to Tada and Basecamp. I also use it to fetch bookmarks from del.icio.us and do quick internet searches. Most of these rely on plugins that you can install through the preferences panel.
Speaking of KDE, there’s a similar app for GTK/Gnome, but I can’t remember the name at the moment.
13
I use Quicksilver for opening apps, sending emails, moving stuff, opening documents, opening files in other apps than the default one (find your file > tab > type “ow” > tab > select app > enter), moving/copying/mailing (multiple) files, appending text to .txt documents (envoke QS > type “.” > write text > tab > type “append” > tab > find the text file you want to append the text to > enter), browsing websites: type “apple” - QS will probably find the apple website, press right arrow. QS will now list all the links on the apple frontpage. Using the up and down buttons select a new link and press right arrow.
14
Switching to PC at work is getting more and more difficult because of quicksilver on my mac.
Start? Programs? How many menu’s before I get my soft?
In mac I’m there in just a sec. Lovely.
15
One of my favourite uses for it is making my PC friends jealous. :D
I also like it for setting spotlight comments on multiple files at once, and file compression.
16
Is that Quicksilver screen shot the atest version? The version I’m using (b42) looks totally different. Or is it a preference somewhere to make it look like that?
17
Under Preferences, Appearance, Command Interface, select Bezel
18
Hello. I’ve implemented this:
Link
and find it invaluable to enter appointment dates and times when I get interrupted (which is very, very often).
Ron
19
Thanks all, excellent tips so far, however for some of them I’ll need to get my head around them as the write text thingy didn’t work at a first try. But I guess I need to turn on some settings in the Preferences?
20
I think you have to have ‘advanced features’ turned on the preferences and have the Text plugin installed as well.
21
I personally love the “triggers”, whereby you can set up a trigger to open a particular folder, or just pause iTunes with a key command. Very handy indeed.
Also, I think it’s a plugin replacement for the now MIA Keycaps application. Ok, it’s a script to call a system component, but it’s all the same in the end. “Show Keyboard Viewer.scpt” Plugin to show your keyboard mappings.
Cheers;
Poncho
22
First I added some of the plug-ins: the “Apple Address Book Module”, the “Mozilla/Firefox Module” and the “User Account Module”.
Just type in somme letters to find an Address in your Address Book, send a mail to it or open and edit it.
The Firefox Module gives me direct access to my bookmarks (which are regularly updated with my del.icio.us-Bookmarks using the Foxylicious Extension)
And the User Account Module ist quite handy to change my user accounts by some clicks…
Yours, Holger.
23
First install the iTunes plugin. Next create a trigger.
1. Music Library.
2. Search Contents.
That’s it. Now no matter what app you’re in, you’re one keyboard trigger and the first few letters of the desired song away. If any of you are ex-Winamp-users, you’ll love this.
24
Is this Quicksilver thing what in 10.4 is called Spotlight? It looks certainly like it.
25
@Ruud:
No it’s an application that runs on Mac OS X.
26
I find myself using it to launch applications, browse folders and most importantly, bring up the recently viewed items in textedit and preview.
Most of my university notes are in pdf and the folder browsing capability makes finding what I want EASY!!!
Quicksilver Preferences > Catalog > Custom
and clik on adding a new folder scanner and voila.
I use it A LOT!!!!
27
Sorry for the double post, but I forgot to mention, I use it to connect to websites in my favourites in Transmit.
at Alexis - #6, I didnt know about the drag and drop.
28
You Control. It Is the best. Way better than Quicksilver