Expert’s Rating
Our Verdict
If you ’re a Launchbar or Butler drug user , there ’s probably little reason to switch to Quicksilver . But if you ’re not using any of them , you should be . And , if you asked my advice , I ’d severalise you to try Quicksilver first . But I ’m not going to stress to argue that it ’s your only desirable option . Just because I ca n’t live without it does n’t intend you ca n’t .
When I give back to the Mac after wandering in the Windows wilderness for a couple of years , Quicksilverwas one of the first apps I download . The master reason : I wanted a quick manner to launch any of my applications programme or document from the keyboard .
Of course , that still go away me with several alternative , LaunchBar ( ) and Butler ( ) among them . But I prefer Quicksilver , mostly thanks to the reputation it had acquired among someproductivitygeeksI make out and value .
Now Quicksilver (; loose ) is the diligence I Can Not Live Without .
Like LaunchBar and Butler , Quicksilver is first and foremost an excellent program catapult . It load when I enter , then sits quietly in the background knowledge until I strike Control - spacebar to call forth it . ( I interchange to that combo from the default Command - spacebar , which OS X ’s Spotlight has allow . ) After Quicksilver pop up up , I get typing and it pop notice stuff — software , document , iTunes tracks , Firefox bookmark , and anything else on my scheme I ’ve told it to catalog — whose names correspond that text I ’ve typed .
Like Launchbar , Quicksilver is adaptative , imply it learns my predilection the more I practice it . The first span of times I typeEX , for example , it might call up I want to open up my expense composition form . But by collide with the right arrow key , I can select from a list of other matching items . Over time , as I repeatedly select Microsoft Excel from that last , Quicksilver learn thatEXmeansExceland starting offering that first .
Once I ’ve discover the thing I require , I can make Return to spread it . Or I can tab over to Quicksilver ’s Actions back breaker and do something else . For example , if I ’ve found a document , those legal action could admit Open , Open With … , Email to , Move To , and on and on . With the advent of Tiger , possible actions include Search in Spotlight Window . ( That can actually speed up public eye searches , because it makes Spotlight search for the unadulterated text edition string , not each letter as I type . )
If hitting Control - spacebar then typewrite two or three alphabetic character is too much piece of work for you , Quicksilver permit you program QuicKeys - corresponding key stroke actuate to establish specific app program and document . It ’s also exceedingly extensible . you’re able to get Quicksilverplug - insfor everything fromAdiumtoTransmit FTP , including OS X ’s own Address Book , iChat , iPhoto , iTunes , Mail , Safari , and Terminal .
As a issue of all this tractability , I practice Quicksilver or else of Spotlight . ( It does n’t look for metadata , but if I jazz the name of the file I need , Quicksilver is way quicker . ) I also use it or else of the Finder , as it lets me quickly sail my doc folders without ever leaving the keyboard . If I really wanted to , I could even employ it as a front - end to Firefox ( as take note , it catalog my bookmark ) , iTunes , Entourage — pretty much everything I use .
Quicksilver is one of those freeware program that seems to be in a lasting nation of genus Beta testing ( it ’s currently at release identification number 48 ) . But except for a more or less hinky Halloween - theme version that appeared for a few weeks last evenfall , it ’s been tilt - firm for me for months .
As for comparing Launchbar , Quicksilver , and Butler , there are great deal of small differences . For example , unlike Launchbar , Quicksilver wo n’t permit you easy glance over through a list of open of late used files when you select an program . But it does some nifty thing with plain schoolbook that Launchbar ca n’t .
Those subtle difference away , though , let ’s be blunt : Quicksilver , Launchbar , and Butler each do roughly the same things , and the choice between them is more a matter of immanent preference than of objective equivalence . Like e - mail clients , text editor , and Web browsers , launchers are very personal . They either conform to the way you work and think or they do n’t . Once you select one and use it for a while , switching to another becomes almost unthinkable .
Which is to say that , if you ’re a Launchbar or Butler exploiter , there ’s probably little reason to switch to Quicksilver . But if you ’re not using any of them , you should be . And , if you asked my advice , I ’d distinguish you to try Quicksilver first . But I ’m not going to attempt to argue that it ’s your only suitable selection . Just because I ca n’t exist without it does n’t entail you ca n’t .
