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'Quicksilver' Launch Utility Comes Out of Beta 10 Years Later

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blndcat

macrumors newbie
Jun 10, 2012
9
0
part of the story missing?

I'm an Alfred user now but used to install QS as one of the first apps when setting up a new Mac.

Unless my memory is faulty, I remember a period when the developer of QS stated in response to bug/quirk reports that no further development would take place on QS and to try out one of the alternatives. I think I went with Google's one and later on Alfred.

Does anyone else remember this?
 
L

LoveQuicksilver

macrumors newbie
Mar 25, 2013
3
0
Alcor

blndcat said:
I'm an Alfred user now but used to install QS as one of the first apps when setting up a new Mac.

Unless my memory is faulty, I remember a period when the developer of QS stated in response to bug/quirk reports that no further development would take place on QS and to try out one of the alternatives. I think I went with Google's one and later on Alfred.

Does anyone else remember this?
Click to expand...

He did:
http://lifehacker.com/330548/quicks...f-qs?tag=softwareexclusivelifehackerinterview

But he recently said:
“I’m amazed at what the Quicksilver team has accomplished since they took over the project a few years ago. They’ve created something truly worthy of a 1.0, taking Quicksilver from a flight of fancy to a fast, reliable productivity app. It has been a pleasure to use thanks to their frequent updates, countless refinements, and tireless effort.”
Click to expand...

It's part of this interview:
http://blog.qsapp.com/post/46268470658/quicksilver-an-interview-with-the-developers
 
V

vigorblade

macrumors member
Jul 6, 2008
75
8
New York, NY
kirky29 said:
Since using Alfred, I've never even given Quicksilver a second thought!
Click to expand...

I have been and still using Quicksilver, but I don't know why I did not know about Alfred, such a good app. Thanks to you and bobringer who mentioned it, I have downloaded it and plan to give it a lot of use.
 
tatonka

tatonka

macrumors 6502
Aug 25, 2009
495
40
Quicksilver used to be one of the first programs to install on a new system .. but I moved on to Alfred now .. which works very well for me, so no intention to go back.
 
numbersyx

numbersyx

macrumors 65816
Sep 29, 2006
1,155
100
Like many on here, I started with QS, moved onto LaunchBar and am now with Alfred. Can't see what motivated this emergence from beta. Quicksilver has a cool animation thing when switching apps but was well left behind when LaunchBar began to make progress. Still see Apple looking at some form of QS and Alfred built in to OS X.
 
N

NHProductions

macrumors newbie
Mar 26, 2013
15
0
Belgium
I'm a Spotlight user, I've never seen the use in installing an application to do what Spotlight already does. If anyone could educate me on this, I've been googling on this matter for about about 2 weeks since I "discovered" Alfred but never seen why I should download it or Quicksilver.

I've heard a lot about Quicksilver and Alfred though, guess Alfred is getting some competition!
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,137
15,602
California
NHProductions said:
I'm a Spotlight user, I've never seen the use in installing an application to do what Spotlight already does. If anyone could educate me on this, I've been googling on this matter for about about 2 weeks since I "discovered" Alfred but never seen why I should download it or Quicksilver.

I've heard a lot about Quicksilver and Alfred though, guess Alfred is getting some competition!
Click to expand...

If all you are looking for is something to launch apps and search for files, your intuition here is correct... you don't need any of these launcher apps like Alfred.

The big plus for me with these apps is the ability to add functionality through the use of addons. With Quicksilver it was plugins, and now Alfred calls them "Workflows". Just about anything you can think of that you might regularly do on your computer can be attached to a KB shortcut and automated.

For example, every damn time Skitch or Pixelmator come out with an update in the App Store the "Open with..." dialogue on my Mac ends up with duplicate entries for those apps. The fix is to run a long Terminal command that rebuilds OS X launch services. I have that Terminal command linked to an Alfred Workflow now so all I do is bring up Alfred and start typing r e b and hit enter. Done. The command runs and restarts the Finder and the problem is fixed.

K52E0ZD.png


I just uploaded this screen shot using another workflow that uploads a screen shot from my desktop to an image host and puts the link in clipboard to paste in here. I typed u p and hit enter.

rEQLGo0.png


You can also setup custom web searches. For example I have a custom Google search that only searches MacRumours forums. So I type m r space and type the search term, then enter.

Here is a nice list of workflows an Alfred user has put together.

I am not affiliated with the Alfred folks, I just really like the app. :)
 
rhett7660

rhett7660

macrumors G5
Jan 9, 2008
14,224
4,304
Sunny, Southern California
Weaselboy said:
If all you are looking for is something to launch apps and search for files, your intuition here is correct... you don't need any of these launcher apps like Alfred.

The big plus for me with these apps is the ability to add functionality through the use of addons. With Quicksilver it was plugins, and now Alfred calls them "Workflows". Just about anything you can think of that you might regularly do on your computer can be attached to a KB shortcut and automated.

For example, every damn time Skitch or Pixelmator come out with an update in the App Store the "Open with..." dialogue on my Mac ends up with duplicate entries for those apps. The fix is to run a long Terminal command that rebuilds OS X launch services. I have that Terminal command linked to an Alfred Workflow now so all I do is bring up Alfred and start typing r e b and hit enter. Done. The command runs and restarts the Finder and the problem is fixed.

K52E0ZD.png


I just uploaded this screen shot using another workflow that uploads a screen shot from my desktop to an image host and puts the link in clipboard to paste in here. I typed u p and hit enter.

rEQLGo0.png


You can also setup custom web searches. For example I have a custom Google search that only searches MacRumours forums. So I type m r space and type the search term, then enter.

Here is a nice list of workflows an Alfred user has put together.

I am not affiliated with the Alfred folks, I just really like the app. :)
Click to expand...

Ok this is some seriously cool stuff. Just went to the site after reading this and I am now downloading it! Long time quicksilver user, but after reading these going to give Alfred a try!
 
antonis

antonis

macrumors 68020
Jun 10, 2011
2,085
1,009
Since I'm very hesitate to 3rd party OS plugins, I'm using spotlight from day #1. Never looked back.
 
D

Diego7

macrumors newbie
Jul 12, 2008
24
0
Weaselboy said:
The big plus for me with these apps is the ability to add functionality through the use of addons. With Quicksilver it was plugins, and now Alfred calls them "Workflows". Just about anything you can think of that you might regularly do on your computer can be attached to a KB shortcut and automated.
Click to expand...

Can Alfred be used to add Microsoft's hotkeys (i.e., choosing menu commands by using the "Alt" key) which are available in Office for Windows, but not in Office for Mac? Or maybe there's an easier way?

I hate that hotkeys aren't available in Office for Mac. It takes too damn long to use a mouse to drill down into layers of submenus.
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,137
15,602
California
Diego7 said:
Can Alfred be used to add Microsoft's hotkeys (i.e., choosing menu commands by using the "Alt" key) which are available in Office for Windows, but not in Office for Mac? Or maybe there's an easier way?

I hate that hotkeys aren't available in Office for Mac. It takes too damn long to use a mouse to drill down into layers of submenus.
Click to expand...

Alfred should be able to use Applescript in a Workflow to do that. Then bind the Workflow to a KB combo (hotkeys) in Alfred.

The trick would be making the Applescript. It looks like Office for Mac supports Applescript, and you can use Applescript to simulate keystrokes/menu picks. For example, the Applescript below will run the Reset Safari command from the Safari menu.

Just bring up the Applescript editor to test/tweak your Applescript, then when you have it doing what you want, copy your Applescript into a Alfred Workflow and assign a KB shortcut.

Just follow this same convention from my example to drill down to the Office app menu command you want. If you can click down to it, you can Applescript it.

I don't have Office, or I would try and piece it together for you.

Code: 
tell application "System Events"
	tell application process "Safari"
		click menu item "Reset Safari…" of menu "Safari" of menu bar 1
		try
			click button "Reset" of window 1
		end try
	end tell
end tell
 
garylapointe

garylapointe

macrumors 68000
Feb 19, 2006
1,886
1,245
Dearborn (Detroit), MI, USA
blndcat said:
Unless my memory is faulty, I remember a period when the developer of QS stated in response to bug/quirk reports that no further development would take place on QS and to try out one of the alternatives. ...

Does anyone else remember this?
Click to expand...

I thought it was off for a while too. And then I thought it there was a compatibility issue with one of the major OS upgrades. Or maybe the reverse order.

The info I'm recalling I think was from a few MacBreak episodes a few years back (many years?). I think they even had the developer on one of those episodes. It was a product they were raving about so I'm thinking there was something incompatible or discontinued at the time or I would have gone and downloaded it...

Gary
 
tkermit

tkermit

macrumors 68040
Feb 20, 2004
3,582
2,909
This is so awesome! Once again, it's back to Quicksilver for me – works beautifully. So glad this application is having a renaissance. :)
 
B

blndcat

macrumors newbie
Jun 10, 2012
9
0
tkermit

tkermit

macrumors 68040
Feb 20, 2004
3,582
2,909
Diego7 said:
Can Alfred be used to add Microsoft's hotkeys (i.e., choosing menu commands by using the "Alt" key) which are available in Office for Windows, but not in Office for Mac? Or maybe there's an easier way?

I hate that hotkeys aren't available in Office for Mac. It takes too damn long to use a mouse to drill down into layers of submenus.
Click to expand...

In Quicksilver you could simply install the User Interface Plugin and use it to select any command from the menu bar of any running app, plus optionally define a keyboard trigger for it. Keep in mind though, that OS X already allows you to define application shortcuts for arbitrary menu items out-of-the-box (System Preferences→Keyboard→Keyboard Shortcuts→Application Shortcuts). There's also a search box in the Help menu that allows you to quickly gain access to any item from the menu bar (⌘? is the shortcut, which you may have to enable first).

EDIT:

By the way, for assigning shortcuts to your own applescripts without having to use Alfred or Quicksilver, you can create a Service in Automator which allows you to take advantage of the "Run AppleScript" action. Go into the Keyboard preference pane to assign a shortcut to the service you've created.
 

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