Judging by the varied offering found on download sites such asVersionTrackerandMacUpdate , among the third - party add - ons Mac OS X substance abuser most hunger are ways to promptly get at their applications , filing cabinet , and folders . I ’m personally a huge fan of LaunchBar ( ) , and other Macworld editors love Butler ( ) and Quicksilver ( ) , but keyboard - ground launchers are n’t for everyone . The alternative is a window- , dock- , or palette - based utility . A traditional favorite isDragThing , but I ’ve also been impress by Stunt Software’sOverflow 2.5.2 (; $ 15 ) , which integrates well with the Mac OS X Dock .
Overflow — so named because it ’s designed to hold all the stuff that wo n’t fit in your Dock ( or that you do n’t desire clutter up up your Dock)—provides elements of both the Dock and Exposé / Dashboard . It ’s Dock - like in that you could drag applications , folder , and documents into the Overflow windowpane , and then get at those token with a individual click ( or , in the case of applications or folders , pull items onto them ) . It ’s similar to Exposé and Dashboard in that Overflow ’s floating windowpane is usually shroud , but quickly appears whenever you tap the Overflow image in the Dock or press an impute spicy key ( F1 by default ) .
When you first launch Overflow , it displays its default window frame-up , which includes two category , Dock Applications and Dock Items . Each is a separate “ screenland ” in Overflow ’s window . The former includes a sample of applications presently in your Dock ; the latter is a sampling of all the booklet and files presently on the good - hand side of your Dock . Where this windowpane appear calculate on how you invoke it : clicking the Overflow image in the Dock makes the window come out just above the Overflow ikon ( as indicate at right ) ; weight-lift the blistering Francis Scott Key displays the window in the heart of your filmdom . ( A handy option in Overflow ’s preferences lets you change the latter behavior so that the window always seem like a shot underneath your mouse cursor . )
At any time , you’re able to sweep up an app , folder , or lodge into an empty space in the window to bring it to Overflow . you may create unexampled categories by right - clicking in the category list . By clicking the Edit button in the window , you could resize the window ; move items around ; dispatch items ( by dragging them off the window ) ; and even sweep an point to a dissimilar category to move it to that class screen . you may also add or murder items by clicking on the Add or Remove button , severally . If your category figure are too retentive , you could drop behind the left - hand side of the window to widen the list .
Although such customization is easy , I did discover a few minor annoyances . The first is that there ’s no Undo feature . I also wish that when you drag an item into a well with an existing token , the existing item would slide to an open well ; instead , the dragged item replaces the existing particular . Finally , when subdue the size of the windowpane , Overflow lets you make the window too minor for the number of item in some of your categories ; similarly , if there are unfastened wells in the middle of a category screen , items on the edge of the window do n’t mechanically switch to those wells to fit the smaller windowpane size . As a resultant role , you may finish up with hidden items that are only revealed when you increase the size of the window again .
As I noted above , you could chatter on any icon in Overflow to establish or open that detail ; clicking on a family switch the view to that family . However , keyboard - centric people can also pilot Overflow ’s window using the keyboard . you’re able to use Tab or the arrow key out to play up an detail , and then press Space or Return to start the particular . Page Up and Down cycle through categories . ( you may also skip directly to a category by pressing Command+ # , where#is the family ’s position in the category listing . ) As with the Dock , control - clicking on an detail reveals it in the Finder . cluck on any item , iron Escape , or switch to another app mechanically hides the Overflow window .
As with Exposé , you could expend these control condition while dragging a file . So , for illustration , you’re able to drag a Word document from an email or the Finder , activate Overflow using its spicy paint , practice the controls to throw to the class containing Pages , and then overleap the document on the Pages ikon to open it in Pages .
Best of all , you may access all of Overflow ’s feature without pressing a key or scuttle Overflow separately : If you drag an item onto the Overflow icon in the Dock , the Overflow window will pop up up and countenance you to do any of the actions draw above ; if you drag on an item onto a class name within the Overflow window , Overflow flip-flop to that category , letting you drop the item onto an ikon , or into an empty well , on that screen . These feature make Overflow find like a genuine extension to the Dock itself .
Finally , another cracking feature is the power to view — and access — the substance of any brochure you ’ve add to Overflow : right - dawn on the folder and its contents are lean in a hierarchical menu . opt an token in this fare to open it . ( What I’dreallylike to see here is rightful spring - loaded - folder functionality : it would be great if you could drop back a Indian file onto a booklet and have the contents menu appear , letting you set the file in a particular subfolder . )
Via Overflow ’s preferences , you’re able to customize the look of the Overflow windowpane : the windowpane color , the size of each ikon , vertical and horizontal spatial arrangement , and the font size of it for point titles . you may also opt whether or not to always display detail title ( instead of just when your mouse cursor is over an item ) , and you may add up a subtle well delimitation around each icon . runoff looks serious and exercise well even when you relegate everything up to its heavy values , making it a useful public-service corporation for the visually impaired . One quirkiness here : the Always Show Item Titles option does n’t display titles when in edit mode ; I find this odd , as you ’re likely to postulate to know the names of items when organize them .
If you ’re still not confident that Overflow is worth a effort , I encourage you to watch thedemo movieStunt Software has provided on the company ’s WWW situation ; it lets you see most of these features in action mechanism and is what convince me to take a look at Overflow in the first place .
Long - time DragThing users may not be impressed by Overflow , which is simpler than their pet , but for others who ’ve been frustrated by the limitations of the Dock — in terms of features or size of it — runoff is worth a try . It work well , is easy to expend , and looks great .
runoff 2.5.2 requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later and is a Universal binary .
