QUICKSILVER searching

[Mpulsive81]

Ok so I just downloaded quicksilver, seems like an incredibly useful tool. I find myself perplexed on a few things though. Does it not have the ability to search my email box? I typed in people's email addresses and i'm not getting a hit. Also it won't open up a shared folder from a PC sharing my internet connection. I'm starting to wonder if using the spotlight would be more beneficial. What are your thoughts on the program and what things do you find EXTREMELY useful?

Also, do I need to install all the plug-ins? And how big are those plug-ins? I don't want to clutter up my mac. I hate clutter.

 

[PlaceofDis]

you don't have to install all the plug-ins, only install the ones you'll need and use. and its sounds as though you don't have the Mail one installed, otherwise it should be searching your emails i think. or at least your address book if you have the contact in there and that plug-in installed. afaik, they don't take up much space at all. i'm still getting used to the power of this app. i love it.

 

[makismagoo99]

I'm also a relative newbie to the Mac (since November 06). However, I have used QS since the first day I turned it on because my roommate recommended it to me. As far as I have been able to tell, it won't search Mail. Or at least I haven't figured out how to make it do so. I don't usually use it for searching though. It is a simply amazing application launcher and because of it, my dock may as well not exist except for the trash can.

 

[Blubbert]

I dont think Quicksilver can index the emails themselves, but it does index the email addresses used by Mail, if you have the appropriate plug in installed. If you wanna search the emails themselves, use Spotlight, or download a Spotlight plugin for Quicksilver, so you can pipe stuff to it.

 

[eji]

QS and Spotlight are two different things. Granted, QS does piggyback on some of Spotlight's indexing, but sharing data doesn't mean shared functionality.

Spotlight finds things. Words. Tags. That sort of thing. You use it to locate files quickly.

Quicksilver also has speed and efficiency in mind, but it is used to manipulate and interact with those files. To copy them, to open them (or launch them, in the case of applications), to e-mail them, to rotate or compress them, and so on.

To apply this to what you were doing, say you're looking for fred@flintstone.com and all the e-mails he's sent you. You'd punch that into Spotlight's drop-down search box and voilà... all Fred's e-mails start to pile up.

But if you have a file you want to send to fred@flintstone.com, you would select that file, send it to QS (Command-ESC), then type "EMAI" (for "E-mail to...") and, finally, type FFLINT (if he's in your address book and you've got the AB plug-in installed). Which is usually loads easier than switching to Mail, creating a new message, attaching the file, then typing Fred's name in the To: field.

Does that better highlight how the two differ and how they're intended to be used?

I'd highly recommend checking out Lifehacker's ongoing QS tips and tutorials, as well as downloading and reading Howard Melman's continually updated QS user's guide.

 

[Mpulsive81]

Yeah that does make a lot of sense. I guess I'm just so used to using spotlight, and i need to be a lil more open minded about QS. I'm finding myself contemplating how to type things in to make an acceptable command for QS to do what I'd like.

For instance, I'm taking the example you mentioned, entering in the name of a picture > email to. And then when I type someones name from the address book, it doesn't find it. I just get a popup saying "invalid email address". However If i were to type my own name, it finds me just fine.

Ok I just tried it again and now it's working. I had to uncheck the AB plug-in and recheck it and now it's working. That's odd.

but yes your explaination made perfect sense, thanks for the imput and i'll check those sites out too!