What is Reddit's opinion of Quicksilver?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

I'd be surprised if most people here didn't tell you that they prefer having it pop up in the center of the screen, before they go on to suggest you download either Alfred or Quicksilver if you want a Spotlight-like search/application-launching tool.

There's many possibilities, but it really depends on your level of technical skill. You can do some pretty cool things with Automator and Applescript that could probably make your daily workflow a bit easier.

Something simpler you could do would be downloading Quicksilver and learning how to use it, which would also greatly increase our productivity.

This kmage has some pretty cool features you could show off as well.

I do. I'm the founder of @LoveQuicksilver on Twitter, and the LoveQuicksilver blog at blog.qsapp.com

If Quicksilver isn't running, it takes me about a minute of staring at my Mac to start doing anything. :)

Quicksilver stuff I do all the time:

• Fuzzy search that often forgives typos
• Access flash drives and DVDs in /Volumes
• Browse iCloud Drive like a normal folder
• Search and use apps' menu items
• Repeat last command (see previous)
• Opening files and URLs in other apps
• Clipboard snippets and Shelf
• Keyboard shortcuts for well-used folders, apps and scripts
• Searching Google/IMDb/Wikipedia
• Empty Trash and Eject volumes
• Sending text/URLs to iOS (with Launch Center Pro)

It does take effort to use Quicksilver at anywhere near its full potential, but there's a lot of support out there: http://qsapp.com/support.php

I don't develop Quicksilver.

Congrats. ;) Here are a couple of my favorites that haven't been mentioned:

Quicksilver as a general launcher.

Menumeters for system info (like CPU and memory usage) in the menu bar.

>- I want to run 10 virtual deskops

In the Mission Control overview you can add new specs on the right side

>- I want to log in and have particular applications automatically started in specific desktops.

Right-click (or ctrl-click) an application in the Dock and there's a setting to bind it to a specific desktop.

>- I want to be able to associate hotkey combinations to startup programs (e.g. Ctrl-Option-N might start Firefox) OR navigate between desktops (Cmd-Fx goes to desktop x, Cmd-Rt Arrow goes to next desktop to the right, and so on).

I use QuickSilver for this (Alfred is a popular alternative), you can assign shortcuts to launch applications or complex tasks.

>- I want the ability to press, say, F2, and have small launcher window come up that I can type the name of the command I want to run

⌘-Space opens Spotlight already. But I also prefer QuickSilver for this because it has some more customization options.

Quicksilver is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

It's free and customizable to a great extent. I use it to rename and move files, attach files to e-mails, and a bunch of other things that spotlight can't do.

Worth the time you put into it, if you ask me.

Spotlight showed up in Tiger 10.4 - That was released in Aplril 2005, so 6.5 years ago. The Mac OS X implementation predates Windows 7's. Linux has had this for applications at the command line for ages (tab complete.) Having universal search be integrated into the GUI and be positioned as a launching mechanism for apps has only come along with GNOME 3, Unity, and at some point during KDE 4's life cycle. GNOME-DO and Kupfer provided similar functionality as a third party app; those apps are based on the Mac OS X app Quicksilver which was available before Mac OS X had integrated app launching via Spotlight - probably 2003 or 2004 - maybe earlier. QS: http://qsapp.com/ GD: http://do.davebsd.com/

[sry for the slightly off-topic post]

Yes, i like the Helm & Unite "paradigm". Digging a little, I found out about the inspiration (when Helm was 'Anything'): the Quicksilver launcher (I don't work on Macs, so didn't know about it before).

Actually, it would be quite cool if an editor implementation with start by providing a Unite/Helm/Quicksilver interface as a core feature by default (internal, fast etc.) so that it would provide a standard interface for searching, filtering, providing sources and so on ... without plugin creators inventing a zillion ways of performing operations and greatly simplifying the key bindings. It could even be an external launcher (as quicksilver), but one which can tightly work with the editor (know how to split the ~~atom~~ window for example). I think neovim has its eyes on Unite, i just hope it can bring its type of functionality closer to its editor core.

It's nothing special now, but when the OS X launcher application Quicksilver came out it was a brilliant concept, well executed. It was ten times more efficient than using what was built into the operating system, with such a low learning curve that it became second nature within a few minutes. It was a different way of interacting with files on the desktop: using nouns and verbs and a keyboard, rather than clicking around with a mouse. It was the only thing I was jealous of on Mac at the time, fortunately it got recreated in both Windows and Linux pretty quickly.

(There may be an earlier application that did this, but I'm not aware of one)

Also. I recommend Quicksilver. I've used it for 3-4 years (there might be a better app nowadays). Also, if you use your MacBook much after dark f.lux will make it easier for you eyes. You'll get used to the "warmer" colors instantly, it feels kinda odd in the beginning.

> like rename or move directories inside a FILE>OPEN dialog box

That is rather specific, I'm not sure if I ever feel the need to do that. But whatever floats your boat (and your workflow) I guess.

I would argue that OSX has the best keyboard shortcuts between three OSs I've ever tried. The command key handle all sorts of basic function (save, open, quit, etc), leaving the ctrl key free to handle Emacs keybinding (very useful if you spend majority of your time in terminal, or an Emacs user) and the alt/opt key is used for writing special characters (compare that with having to remember all of those funky alt+whatever combinations in Windows).

One of the most underrated feature of OSX is Services which lets third-party apps to define their function to an object (usually files, directory or text object). It's very customizable, you can even define your own keyboard shortcuts in System Preference -> Keyboard -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> Services.

And there's nothing comparable to Quicksilver on Windows or Linux (Launchy, Gnome-do or Synapse are pale in comparison with Quicksilver).

Just because your designer friend doesn't know some useful keyboard shortcuts doesn't make OSX not a keyboard friendly OS.

I don't even use the dock because it's super lame. I use an application called Quicksilver to open other applications/programs. Cntrl + Space, then I type in the application I want to launch. Bam.

I just wish it had more of the powers of Quicksilver. Ever since I first used it it's been obvious to me that not touch or speech or brainwaves, but a smart self-learning graphically-slick command line is the (realistic, useful) future of ui interaction (for normal people doing actual work).

So Unity at least nodding in that direction is great. I'm just waiting for them to catch up to > 5 years ago, and add in verbs and arguments. Or just some better learning.

(I know about Gnome Do, but I want this built deep in to the Desktop/OS at every level. And GnomeDo was always a shadow of quicksilver in any case - slower, uglier, less hooks and actions.)

For Linux admin I prefer OSX even to Linux itself, you have all the standard commands built-in (bash/tcsh shell, ssh, scp, grep, tail, ping, traceroute, whois, host, dig, nslookup, perl, python, vi, snmpwalk, etc, etc...) and can use MacPorts to get basically anything else. Plus all the keyboard commands are the same (no more ctrl-c=copy nonsense :))

'Terminal' comes with OSX but I prefer 'iTerm' for the bookmarks and shortcuts (eg. apple-shift-Q opens a new tab and ssh's to a server automatically, apple-shift-W goes to a different one), plus its IRC-like highlight-to-copy.

Quicksilver is the most amazing program I've ever used, it indexes all of your files and programs for easy access (ctrl-space+first couple letters of file+enter) plus allows all sorts of cool things to be set up -- for example shortcut keys to insert passwords.

I don't do a whole lot of Windows admin, but Microsoft makes an RDC client that works really well, and there are a couple of VNC clients.. There are some management utils that won't run on OSX (VMware ESX, anything Microsoft...) but you can RDC into a server or use Parallels or VMWare Fusion to open and run Windows programs seamlessly in your OSX environment (like.. really seamlessly).

Hope that helps!

If you use Ubuntu, you're probably familiar with the command line. Pop up Terminal (or even better, Visor) and go to town.

Or get hip to the scheme and learn to use Quicksilver. Learning to use and apply Quicksilver effectively will revolutionize the way you interact with your computer.

In terms of, universally useful and important software that should be free of charge and available to all humans, I like the base install of Ubuntu desktop. It's pretty comprehensive:

• Document viewers / editor
• Media player
• Spreadsheet software
• Internet browser
• Email client
• Chat client

For me personally beyond the essentials

QuickSilver - I can't live without out it. It's an application launcher that can be accessed and fire off an application with a few key strokes. Helps to keep my hands on the keyboard and away from the mouse a bit in OS-X.

Audacity - Outstanding free audio editing and recording software.

This isn't an essential one, but i've really enjoyed messing around with software called Freewheeling. It's free looping software. Really good for sketching out musical ideas / grooves. Also for performance apparently, though i've personally never used it on stage.

Links

QuickSilver - http://qsapp.com/download.php Audacity - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/ Freewheeling - http://freewheeling.sourceforge.net

You could use an AppleScript like this one: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20030409015020645

(Note: When testing this I had to change default button 3 to default button 2 to get it to work.)

Or you could use an AppleScript to just wrap around the shell command. Some other alternatives here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20469894/how-to-make-a-script-to-show-hide-hidden-files-in-mac-os-x

Launchers like QuickSilver or Alfred also have the option to quickly call commands, or even bind them to keyboard shortcuts.

I do not know of any way to execute commands from spotlight directly without using some help such as this: >>http://algoholic.eu/spotcmd-launching-terminal-commands-from-mac-os-x-spotlight/ >>http://www.alfredapp.com/ >>http://qsapp.com/

Hole in one!

Thanks a lot. :)

I'll be damned if the Tab Manager feature only works in Chrome and not Safari. Bummer.

Still, here's a screenie of it in action in Chrome. You can just mash the delete key and delete as many tabs as your eyes can skim read. I recommend it!

I'm going to try scripting a Safari alternative, as I'm wedded to it atm. Quicksilver has an Open Web Pages (Safari) object that can get all the tab URLs in a list. Should be able to grab them for a tab-closing AppleScript.

Thanks again!

When I was in that boat about three years ago, the first application I installed was Quicksilver. My single biggest annoyance with OSX is that there are so few keyboard shortcuts. Quicksilver doesn't completely solve that problem, but it certainly helps add keyboard actions for a lot more than Macs have natively.

Unknown to me, but a permanent solution would be to use a launcher like Launchbar(paid), Alfred(Freemium) or Quicksilver(Free). What are your reasons for using Launchpad in the first place? I've found the function to be more for show more than efficiency compared to a launcher.

From one OS X power-user and developer to another – I'm surprised that you're using Launchpad to find/launch your apps instead of Alfred, Quicksilver, or even Spotlight. I, for one (and I think most power-users would agree with me), find it much faster to use the keyboard than the mouse or trackpad.

>Launchpad isn't some infectious evil in OSX either, it's totally ignorable.

I agree with you on this count. The best thing to do with it is remove or ignore it. It's like a skin tag on the back of an otherwise-attractive person: useless and maybe worth removing, but not infectious or malignant.

> I don't understand the outrage (especially compared to the multimonitor regression from Lion)

Oh god, don't get me started. 10.7 was terrible for power users.

I never used Moom but I use Divvy and I love it. I can assign global shortcuts for different window sizes and positions and it even works great with multiple monitors.

The only possible use I could have for Caffeine is when downloading torrents but Transmission takes care of that.

I tried Alfred a couple of years ago and didn't like it. I've been using Quicksilver since 2007 and I can't live without it.

I use Unarchiver and iCal. Also I'm happy with Mail so I never tried Sparrow.

Although the project was abandoned by Blacktree, it was open sourced and now resides at qsapp.com There have been a lot of nice little improvements since.

I could never justify the price of Alfred; the interface always seemed disjointed next to Quicksilver's minimalism.

I did, and I just discovered that you can trigger menu items. However I can't seem to get it to work (afaik I need a plugin called UIAccess). Do you know if this still works? The video/guides are a bit old...

edit: figured it out. You need to install the "user interface access" plugin from here.

I am trying to use Quicksilver more, but my dock contains the following:

Finder, Activity Monitor, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Camino, X11, Mail, KeepassX, Pages, Scrivener, Quicksilver, and Temperature Monitor

I spend the majority of my time using xterm, not Terminal.app

I've always used keyboard shortcuts for tons of things. I'm on a mac and for some reason I've never been happy to move my mouse cursor across the whole screen, click on a menu item, and then search around for what I was looking for. I use a launch bar pretty much for every action I need on my computer. I'm not sure what Windows equivalents are, but I use Quicksilver. It allows me to launch programs, empty trash, delete/move/rename files, open bookmarked and favorite webpages, do calculations, etc etc.

If you are coming from a Linux background and want to use your keyboard more than your mouse, try QuickSilver.

It is:

• Open source
• Allows you to select and move files just from the keyboard
• Extremely powerful.

While there isn't a ton of documentation, I'm sure you'll pick most of it up in no time.

GleeBox- an extension to Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. It's really amazing, and well designed. As a quick example, you can be on any page and type "!read" and it will make the page beautifully readable.

On OSX, Quicksilver is other-worldly for time-saving. I don't know if there is any analogous application for Windows. (Chime in if you do)

Another Chrome extension, Smooth Gestures, gets it right too. And no, i don't have any affiliation with any of them.