Quicksilver

[thewrinklyninja]

do we have any Quicksilver users here?. I have been trying it since reading about it on 43 folders (http://www.43folders.com) of Merlin Mann fame. I gotta say I must be using like 1 millionth of its power. All I seem to do is use it for launching apps. I know there are a bunch of plug-ins for it but my brain just doesn't seem to want to accept any more than that. Any tips on using Quicksilver for more than just launching apps

[John]

Yep, QS is amazing.

One of the most useful things for me is moving files around without having to use Finder.

Invoke QS, I have it set to Command+Space, still holding the Command hit G, which brings the selected file into QS, then you can for example perform Move and Copy operations, you select the destination folder/drive and then can arrow into it for sub-folders.

Make sure you enable advanced settings and in Extras tick "pull selection from frontmost application" for best effect.

You can also use the comma trick to select multiple files.

Not many people know that you can also drag and drop onto QS...sometimes useful.

Make sure you get the Extra Scripts (which allows you to perform system commands, such as restarting, emptying trash etc) and I find the Network Location Module plugin enormously useful (allows you to switch locations quickly, ie I have wifi at home, ethernet at office and mobile using my HTC S620, locations set up with different restrictions and settings), and can switch between them with a few keystrokes.

Regards, John

[thewrinklyninja]

Thanks John, I'll have to have a look at those extra scripts.

[wpholmes]

I used QS for a long time, and same as you, I just used it to launch apps. Now I use Google Desktop to do the same thing.

[Miles]

Very useful info guys, I too am a QS virgin. Will give it a shot this week.

[John]

The other very handy use is actions with Address Book (or Entourage) contacts. Type a few letters of the name, and you can then put up numbers in large type (useful when dialling), send email directly (or attachments directly with Command G first), copy an address to the clipboard (useful for letters, labels), go to contact websites...with the right syntax you can use it to create appointments and todo's in iCal also. It becomes second nature after a while.

I use it with the Transmit plugin too, for uploading files directly.

[Rebby Brarbs]

I use quicksilver ALL THE TIME. I use it to do searches. I use it to launch apps. I use it to eject mounted dmg files. I use it to delete old dmg files that I've installed the apps for. I use it to move files. I use it to send emails. Check out rebbybrarbs.wordpress.com. I wrote a few articles about it. Or just ask. One of the most useful things you can do is set up triggers for frequently opened apps. I have it set up that alt+space opens Safari, and alt+t opens iTerm and alt+m opens Mail.app and gets new mail.

QS is great.

--rebbs

[Rebby Brarbs]

I just watched http://www.theappleblog.com/wp-content/uploads/qsimgman.mov...It's REALLY easy to resize images, something I needed to do to get my avatar to the correct size. So much easier than having to do it in iPhoto or something else.

-Rebby

[Alex]

I use quicksilver a lot - mostly for launching apps, but also for controlling itunes

[Justin Laramee]

Used QS for a long time, but I switched to Namely

[Jack Cory]

these tutorials helped me alot

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=sr332603

[Kiro]

I'm a new QuickSilver user. I think that it does a really great job with what it's designed to do. It's soooo much faster than Spotlight it's crazy.

[John]

I find it complimentary to Spotlight. I use QS as a launcher and manipulator of files, folders and applications. I use Spotlight for locating items.

Note that if you are using QS to find files, you may want to adjust folder depth - by default I think it only searches one folder deep, ie it might not find sub-folders. If you do that though, QS might slow down a little...

You can get a Spotlight plugin for QS as well - which allows you to input complete strings, unlike Spotlight itself which starts searching as you type which can be annoying.

[Macwiz13335]

I used to use QuickSilver, but now I mostly use Google Desktop. The problem with using QuickSilver to search is that it's not constantly indexing your hard drive, so if you created a new file just a few minutes ago (or even an hour ago), QuickSilver won't have it in its database. But with Google Desktop, you have a launcher and a desktop search in one app, although its searching may not be as advanced as Spotlight and its launching not as advanced as QS.

[thewrinklyninja]

Can't you set the indexing for different times to re-index?

I think I need to check my grammar ;-)

[k0m]

Its set to rescan every ten minutes. though you can set it to manual

[Macwiz13335]

Its set to rescan every ten minutes. though you can set it to manual

How do you do this? I've looked through the QS preferences before but couldn't find it.

[Miles]

I tried QS for a few days but found I rarely used it. Uninstalled.

[k0m]

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/2972/picture2sf5.jpg

Its in the catalog pref and on the drop down menu

[voippm]

The other very handy use is actions with Address Book (or Entourage) contacts. Type a few letters of the name, and you can then put up numbers in large type (useful when dialling), send email directly (or attachments directly with Command G first), copy an address to the clipboard (useful for letters, labels), go to contact websites...with the right syntax you can use it to create appointments and todo's in iCal also. It becomes second nature after a while.

I use it with the Transmit plugin too, for uploading files directly.

Hi John,

You mention address book 'OR' entourage. Is it possible to do both? Do you know.

[baz1860]

The plugins are cool, most of them have far far more power than I ever use though, and unless you have a huge excess of processing power, i wouldn't install any you don't intend to use, certainly on my 12"PB I find that if i have too many plugins installed, the lag between using the command to initiate QS and it being available to use is pretty harsh. Also, the Firefox plugin is buggy as hell and will, i repeat, will slow QS down to damn near unusable speeds.

Its also really really handy as a iTunes controller, if you set up the keyboard shortcuts you can do pretty much anything you desire that can be done within iTunes... It takes time to learn QS, but once you do, its the biggest time-saver you will find. Certainly, within a GTD perspective, it *will* increase your productivity, and frankly, from a casual users perspective, if all you use it for is to launch apps, and control iTunes, its light, and speedy in doing that too.

[ktennant]

I recently installed Leopard and QS on my Mac, but now, whenever I run it, my computer's CPU usage skyrockets.My Activity Monitor tells me QS is using about half of it. How can I get this to stop so I can actually use QS again?