Our Verdict
LaunchBar , the keyboard - based app that offers a fast agency to start the applications and files you habituate most , started 20 years agoas a folder full of shell scripts that could be set off by a specific abbreviation typed into a Terminal shell . It was cagey , but gawky . It did n’t take long , however , for the developers behind LaunchBar , Objective Development , to realize that their booklet full of scripts would be much more sinewy as an genuine found app — as abarthat helps youlaunchthings — with an index number of everything on the computer , thus allowing the app itself to estimate out what it is you ’re searching for .
That ’s how LaunchBar was born , and it was forthwith useful . Today , however , LaunchBar , recentlyupdated to rendering 6 , is the unmarried most significant utility I have installed on my Mac .
For those not conversant with LaunchBar , using it to open an app works like this : entreat a keyboard shortcut ( Command+Spacebar by default , but you could choose your favored central combination ) , and you ’re stage with the Bar ( shown here ) . Then just start typing the name of the software you want to launch . Since LaunchBar is very clever at figuring out what you ’re looking for , it takes only a few letters before your app appear in the bar . Press Enter and you ’re off to the races .
But that , my friends , is just the beginning . LaunchBar literally gets more helpful the more you habituate it , as it larn which apps and actions you utilize most often . So , if you frequently launch Photoshop , Photoshop presently becomes the first result when you press the letterP , even though alphabetically it comes afterPages , Paprika , PDFPen , and the ? emoji .
In addition to the basics of launching apps , there are three other features I habituate constantly : LaunchBar ’s “ Instant Send ” lineament , the power to plunk into and act on documents , and Clipboard History , which tracks recent clipboard contents , letting you browse and glue any with a few central wardrobe . The app also offer scores — hundreds?—of other features and actions , too many to get into here , butMacworldhasalreadycoveredmanyof thesefeaturesin followup of previous versions ; we ’ve also published acouplevideosfull of custom tips and tricks . Instead , I ’ll focus on what ’s new in translation 6 .
Like premature translation , LaunchBar 6costs $ 29for a undivided license or $ 48 for a five - computer family permission ; current exploiter can advance for $ 19 or $ 29 , severally . Objective Development also offer a “ Relaxware ” trial run : you may use LaunchBar for free , with full access to all the features and social occasion , but the app can only be accessed every so often , create you take a “ break ” between your time using it .
What’s new
LaunchBar 6 is the utility program ’s most handsome update yet , and it is also one of the most significant . The company ’s site put up acomplete list of what ’s unexampled — there ’s a great deal there — but I ’ll cover a few of the new feature film that I think are the most celebrated .
A novel lookThe most obvious new feature of LaunchBar 6 is the look . It ’s bigger , bolder , more clear , and more beautiful than before . The Modern design also has options for bright , drab , frosty , small , and Yosemite theme . The snappy theme is my favorite , because it takes some clew from iOS 7 ( and Yosemite ) , and is just slightly transparent .
Live hunt result within the appLaunchBar has long had the potentiality to search Google , Wikipedia , and any other site . It now offers live search suggestion , right within the app , just like what you see to when doing a search on Google.com ; the suggestion appear in LaunchBar ’s consequence heel as you typecast .
DIY extension and tradition actionsOne of the most powerful and foretell features of LaunchBar is also one of the most nerdy : you could publish your own usage action , using a variety of coarse programming languages ( such as AppleScript or PHP ) and then relieve them as LaunchBar Bundles that you could install in LaunchBar and partake with other LaunchBar user .
The official LaunchBar site providesmore info on how to progress these custom actions . I ’m not enough of a programmer to pen my own , but I ’ve find many excellent extensionson the LaunchBar meeting place , such asone that work with Pinboardandone that lets me view all my presently open Safari tabs(and rapidly switch to one or open up it in another web browser ) .
Better integration with iCloud Reminders and CalendarIf you use iCloud Reminders you ’re going to love the deep integration LaunchBar now has with them : you could view , make , and even mark off your iCloud monitor right from within LaunchBar .
To create a raw reminder , institute up LaunchBar and get down typingRemindersto focusing on the Reminders app . Then just use the arrow keys to browse your individual iCloud Reminders lists . Once you ’ve choose the inclination you want , press Spacebar to bring up a textbook - entry box for create a new reminder . ( If you ’re unexampled to LaunchBar , this may all go a morsel complicated . But if the capableness vocalize at all interesting and worthwhile to you , I encourage you to give it a try — after a few solar day , these sequences become second nature . )
When creating your novel reminder , you could typewrite just a to - do - detail title of respect , but you could also put a day and time to it if you like . The syntax works like this : reminder @ day sentence — as you may see in the screenshot here , LaunchBar even shows you how the monitor info is being parsed .
In addition tocreatingreminders , you’re able to view each reminders list , and even denounce individual items as completed from within LaunchBar .
In curt , LaunchBar now operate as a full - fledged client for iCloud Reminders . This is reasonably great if you opt to use Apple ’s Reminders app over third - company option , but you ’ve always wished it extend better ready - entry feature .
you may likewise make new calendar events . just convey up Calendar in LaunchBar , apply the arrow keys to drill down into your list of iCloud calendar and select one , press Spacebar to bring up the text - entry boxful , and then punch in the contingent of the consequence . The syntax is identical to that of Reminders , except that you may also dress an alert for how soon before the upshot you want to be reminded of it .
Unfortunately , you ca n’t use purely natural language ( “ take out the ice at 8 am tomorrow ” ) for sentence and date assignments . If you ’ve ever usedFantastical , you ’ll certainly experience a morsel of detrition with LaunchBar because Fantastical ’s natural language parser is so superior . But for those who are n’t fantastic users , LaunchBar ’s new monitor and calendar - event features are handy .
Usage StatisticsIf you ’re really curious how much meter LaunchBar saves you , and how you use it , version 6 observe a tally of how often you practice the app and what kind of actions you ’re performing . My LaunchBar superpower is Instant Sender — I frequently use the app ’s feature for grabbing a document and “ post ” it to another app or otherwise handling it — and according to my statistics , I ’ve used LaunchBar to open various apps about 1,400 times in the preceding 10 hebdomad .
The Unquantifiable Statistics
LaunchBar ’s usage stats are fun , but what truly weigh is something the app ca n’t traverse . And that ’s the non - quantitative productivity and creativity gains you get by using the app . I ’ve used LaunchBar long enough that its actions have become second nature : When I want to establish an app , open up a particular filing cabinet , or perform one of the countless other activeness and labor LaunchBar can treat , it ’s a topic of sinew retention — I seldom have to stop my train of thought to remember about navigate my figurer . And as someone who does originative work with pixels and words every day , preserving my mental energy is just as crucial as , if not more crucial than , saving metre ( though the reality is that LaunchBar does both ) . In short , LaunchBar helps me to stay focussed on doing my best creative work .
