Quicksilver Changes Everything
UPDATE:
I’ve noticed this post getting a lot of play lately. Glad to see it’s viewed as useful to so many! Look for a Quicksilver & Tiger piece with new and exciting Quicksilver goodness in the coming days, here on The Apple Blog.
Quicksilver is one of the most innovative applications to be found on OS X. That may be my opinion, but there hasn’t been a person I’ve introduced to it that hasn’t said [in some form], “It’s changed the way I use my computer!” That’s awfully telling I’d say.
To be fair, LaunchBar and Butler are two more popular alternatives to Quicksilver – LaunchBar is $30 for a 5 computer license and Butler is Donation-ware. In contrast, the founding developer of Quicksilver (known as Alcor on his forums – look for an interview with Alcor in the coming weeks) seems to spend more of his time working on QS than getting around to creating a donation section on blacktree.com.
Why is it better? Alcor is one of the most responsive developers I’ve come across. Beta updates seem to come – on average – about every couple weeks. He is constantly answering questions and listening to the multitude of fans on his forums. I’ve not seen a similar, consistent practice by a developer…in my memory. So not only is Quicksilver fully featured and powerful as all get-out, but it’s always evolving.
OK, what does it do?!
Short answer: It’s a launcher. It allows you to open files from a keystroke instead of clicking through the Finder for them.
Long answer: What doesn’t it do? QS indexes your hard drive into a Catalog. That Catalog is available at a single keystroke and then allows you access to everything on your computer. Not only can you open applications, but using QS, you can move files around, append text to files, locate a file and attach it to an email…The list goes on and on and on and…
But to really appreciate Quicksilver, you’ve got to dive in. Nothing I could write would explain it nearly well enough (you’re probably saying to yourself, “Yeah, that’s painfully obvious…”). Seeing absolutely is believing. And as it says on the Quicksilver Preview page:
In the end, Quicksilver has one very important effect. , The effort associated with frequent tasks fades into the background and you are able to act without thinking. After an adaptation period, Quicksilver becomes an extension of yourself; the process fades away leaving only the results.
So let’s get started!
- You gotta download it first. Get Quicksilver here.
- Drag Quicksilver (QS) to your Applications folder and Launch it.
- Run through the one-time configuration and make sure to read the explanations – they are good for giving some perspective to what QS is doing. I’d select all the default plugins during this process. You can download tons more later.
- CTRL + SpaceBar is the default keystroke to launch QS (in case it didn’t launch after its configuration).
- Let’s go through the Preferences first. With QS up, use the keystroke, CMD (or Apple) + COMMA.
- To get all the QS goodness, make sure to enable Advanced Features/Relaunch/Choose Beta from the drop-down/Relaunch The rest of the prefs can be left for later, once you’re used to using QS, though I’ll try to touch on some of them at the end of this walk-through.
# Let’s quickly explore the file system and open a folder or file.
- CTRL + SpaceBar to invoke QS.
- press and hold / for a second. This brings up the root of your file system. You can now arrow-right and/or down to navigate quickly through your directories.
- The 2nd pane defaults to “Open”, so when you get to the directory or file you desire, just hit return and it will be opened for you.
(See how fast and simple that was?)
# OK, now let’s use the 2nd pane’s actions. We’ll quickly add text to a file without even opening it.
- Create an empty plain text document in your Documents folder. Call it qs.txt. Close the text file.
- CTRL + SpaceBar to invoke QS.
- Press and hold . for a second. The pane will turn white. You can now type a text message in. Type, “QS is kinda neat.”
- Press TAB to get to the 2nd pane.
- In the second pane are actions that you can take on the selection in the first pane. start typing: “app” (minus the “s) for Append text to…
- TAB again to the 3rd pane. Now you’ll locate the blank qs.txt file you created earlier. QS probably hasn’t re-indexed your file system yet, so just typing qs.txt won’t return the file you want. Type: “Doc” to get to Documents.
- Right arrow when Documents folder is selected. When you’ve high-lighted qs.txt hit Return.
- Go to your Documents folder and open qs.txt to see your changes (or better yet, use QS to locate/open it…)
(The 2nd pane’s actions will become very familiar. arrow down through them to see some of the things you can do. Installing plugins will greatly enhance the list of actions you can employ.)
# Get quick access to your iTunes music at the touch of a couple keys.
- CTRL + SpaceBar to invoke QS.
- Type: “itu” to bring up iTunes
- Arrow right to get into the iTunes information
- Type: “mus” and you should go straight to your Music Library.
- Arrow right and you’ll get your full listing of iTunes music files. Choose one and notice that the 2nd pane says PLAY. Hit return and you’ll be playing that track.
(Again, lots of other actions to be applied to the iTunes track you located – add to a party shuffle, copy, email, etc. I thought there was a rating plugin, but I can’t find it now.)
# Run a Google search on the fly.
- CTRL + SpaceBar to invoke QS.
- Type: “goo” for Google Quicksearch
- TAB and you get Search For… TAB again and you automatically go to a text input mode in the 3rd pane.
- type whatever you want to search for on Google. Hit return. Your default browser is launched and the query results displayed for you.
(If you’re like me, you’ve almost always got a browser open, and a search bar in there. This exercise was to show another function of QS, though you may find yourself using this often when not in a browser.)
# Now we’ll work with a selected file and move it to a new location.
- You’ve got junk on your desktop in the way of tons of files, right? If not, put a file – or 2, 3, 4) there (jpg, txt, whatever) now please.
- Select that file, or group of files that you want to move by clicking on it (or clicking, dragging over the group).
- CTRL + SpaceBar to invoke QS.
- CMD (Apple) + g will take the selected files and load them to the 1st pane for processing.
- TAB and Type: “mov” for Move To…
- TAB and Type: “hom” for your Home Folder. Hit return. You just move that file or files to your home folder. no opening Finder and clicking meticulously through to your home directory at all.
(I don’t really use this, but again, shows some of the wide range of powerful things QS is capable of.)
# A couple other useful pieces of Quicksilver are the Shelf and the Clipboard History
The Clipboard Viewer
- CTRL + SpaceBar to invoke QS.
- CMD + L to bring up the Clipboard Viewer.
- Clipboard Viewer just shows the last 10 or so things you’ve copied to the clipboard. You can drag these to any application you want.
The Shelf
- CTRL + SpaceBar to invoke QS.
- CMD + OPTION + S to bring up the Shelf.
- You can drag any file from anyplace to the Shelf for keeping until you want to use them at a later time.
While in the preferences pane, you may notice the Triggers at the bottom. These are customizable routines that you perform in QS that you can assign your own key combination to. So you can cut the fast-use of QS down even more with a 2 or 3 key combination to launch some process that you do often in Quicksilver.
Quicksilver is smart too. It learns the queries that you use most. For instance, invoke QS and type “i”, then arrow down to iPhoto then launch it. After a few times QS will be smart enough to go straight to iPhoto when you type just “i”.
So hopefully you start to see the incredible power and flexibility that Quicksilver has to offer. Soon your dock will shrink, as you begin launching everything from QS. And then when you go to use your friend’s OS X machine (without QS installed), you’re going to drive yourself crazy when you automatically hist CTRL + Spacebar every few minutes to assist you in some common task.
Expand the possibilities further by going to the QS preferences, selecting plugins, and choosing to add more plugins. It’ll launch your browser with the plugin listing page. You can either download them to your system (the down arrow icon) or have QS install them directly without having files cluttering up your desktop (the plus icon). There are dozens of plugins to choose from, and more being developed all the time.
For more information and help, either comment here, and I’ll do my best to appease you, or checkout the Blacktree message boards. There’s tons of great information on the boards, so check them out for sure.
I hope I’ve helped change the way you use your computer. It’s such an awesome program, and I’m constantly picking up new things that I hadn’t known before. Lastly, check back soon for an interview with Alcor, the Quicksilver developer to be posted here on The Apple Blog in the very near future.
Check out “Tiger & Quicksilver” also. More Quicksilver goodness there.
Josh Pigford on February 18th, 2005 at 4:31 pm
This is such a fantastic application.
Kevin Ballard on February 18th, 2005 at 5:12 pm
Quicksilver is an amazing application. I’m surprised you waited until the end to mention plugins – one of the strengths of Quicksilver is the powerful plugin API.
One mistake in this article is you don’t hold down . for a second to go to string mode – you just press it and it jumps to string mode. Alternately you could use the ‘ key
And as to a rating plugin, I believe it was actually an AppleScript posted in the forums.
nick santilli on February 18th, 2005 at 5:58 pm
I didn’t get into the plugins, because I was trying to focus on using QS from a new user perspective. I wanted to get the use and power across, and let folks get the hang of things before they go nuts with all the extra options that are available out there.
thanks for the correction on the period (though it doesn’t hurt anything if you do hold for a second – I think most people will release the . when the text form pops up) – I was thinking about the / command for root.
Joe Weaks on February 19th, 2005 at 1:23 am
I DL’d QS a couple days ago, and it doesn’t have the Google Quicksearch feature you mention. I also do not see it on the plugins page. I have beta mode enabled.
Nick Santilli on February 19th, 2005 at 1:38 am
Joe – I believe it’s the web searches module, and if I’m correct, it comes default (not downloadable). Make sure you’ve got it on beta, and Versions: Final Releases.
other than that, try posting on the QS boards, as many people there are hugely helpful with EVERYthing QS related.
Dan Bruno on February 19th, 2005 at 12:15 pm
Nice article. I’m a big fan of Quicksilver; always glad to see it get more exposure. :)
Rob Deegan on February 20th, 2005 at 8:19 am
I downloaded and installed QS. It reduced the space available on my HD from 1.86GB to 471MB. I therefore decided to delete it until I have a bigger HD. However my HD space has not been restored even after emptying the trash! Did QS really waste 1.4GB of storage!?
Mike Hiner on February 20th, 2005 at 11:09 am
Rob, it is unlikely that QS is taking up 1.4GB of space. The app itself is only 7MB. Indices should total below 10MB, usually below 3MB.
If you deleted the app and ~/Library/Application Support/Quicksilver then you have removed everything. Check your log size, perhaps that is where the missing space went.
Mike Cohen on February 22nd, 2005 at 9:58 pm
QS is one of my favorite applications. I first started using LaunchBar 3 and registered it within an hour of trying it the first time. When I discovered QS, I switched. A big plus for me is that QS lets you get rid of the dock & menu icon, so there’s no visual intrusion when I’m not using it. I’ve become so used to hitting cmd-ESC and starting to type when I want to launch an application that I rarely go to my application folder. QS plugins add a lot of nice features – I just replaced SizzlingKeys4iTunes with the iTunes module in QS, which gives me the same functionality using trigger keys, and one less application running.
Lee on June 12th, 2005 at 8:29 am
Whenever I look at an example of quicksilver, there are always black boxes for the interface. My version has gray boxes that are stacked vertically?
Thomas on June 13th, 2005 at 9:14 am
@Lee: You can get the Bezel interface (the black boxes) by going to QS prefs and clicking on Plugins. From the drop down at the top left of this pane, choose Available. A list of available plugins will appear; Bezel should be in this list. Click the checkbox to install. Next, go to the Appearance pane and where it says Interface, choose Bezel. You might have to restart QS before the Bezel interface will show up; use Cmd-Ctrl-Q to restart QS from the preferences window.
Nick Santilli on June 13th, 2005 at 9:44 am
@Thomas – Thanks for covering that. I was slow on the draw.
@Lee – Yeah, the bezel USED to be the default UI a while back, but a few releases ago they switched to the Primer UI as default.
Definitely check through the plugins – there’s a ton of great stuff in there to make QS even more handy. (Hard to believe it can get better, I know. But it does) I’ll be doing an updated post on QS and Tiger soon, and I’ll be sure to highlight the plugins a lot more.
onga on June 17th, 2005 at 3:55 pm
control + spacebar does not open QS for me is this suppose to happen ?
Josh Pigford on June 17th, 2005 at 3:58 pm
onga, in the QS prefs you have to set what your hot-key is to open it.
onga on June 17th, 2005 at 4:29 pm
it says ^Space modkey = control
with checked: hide if pressed when already visible
onga on June 17th, 2005 at 4:59 pm
i got it working now thanks
onga on June 20th, 2005 at 3:07 pm
by the way is there a keyboard shortcut for actually opening up the quick silver app ? currently i have it on my dock any other alternatives ?
Josh Pigford on June 20th, 2005 at 3:38 pm
I have QS set to open on startup.
onga on June 20th, 2005 at 4:57 pm
i’m experiencing some odd behavior in QS, when i try to add a trigger, it reverts to a number, for both the item and the trigger command
onga on June 20th, 2005 at 4:58 pm
this is what it inputs 8:1048840
Nick Santilli on June 20th, 2005 at 5:08 pm
Hey onga -
are you in the beta, development versions? which version are you on? which version of OS X?
to answer your question, I actually use Spotlight to launch QS in the uncommon event that it quits on me.
check the forums at Blacktree.com too – lots of great help there for QS.
onga on June 20th, 2005 at 5:54 pm
i’m on mac osx 10.3.9 have not upgraded to Tiger yet and not sure what version of QS
fos on July 6th, 2005 at 4:32 pm
don’t want to be dumb… but how is this any better than spotlight?!? All the main function seem to do the same from spotlight… and its totally intergrated into OSX…
Am I missing a trick here?!?
Sigurdur Armannsson on December 7th, 2005 at 2:41 pm
I was wondering if anyone here had at the top of their minds where I could change the Command-/ command to something else as I am using a “foreign” keyboard where the / is not one keybutton, but a combination (Shift-7) which does not work in the same manner in Quicksilver
Andrew J. Cowell on December 21st, 2005 at 2:38 pm
Quicksilver->Preferences->Command->HotKey Activation.
jim on February 14th, 2006 at 4:54 pm
My quicksilver catalog shows some files on my desktop that have been erased. Is there a way to delete those out of my catalog and off my disk. (the files show up as question marks icons in quicksilver)
Nick Santilli on February 14th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
Jim – If you go into the preferences for QS, go to the catalog. Select the desktop (or whichever collection your Desktop may reside in) and click the little reload icon in the bottom right of the window. That should update it appropriately for you.
Also, check the frequency with which QS is re-scanning your catalogs – it may be spaced too far apart for your tastes.
jim on February 14th, 2006 at 5:21 pm
Nick,
thanks for the quick reply. Worked Great! now i can’t wait to really start using quicksilver.
Hyun on March 14th, 2006 at 3:44 am
What keys are you referring to here? Nice tips by the way. :)
“Press and hold . for a second.”
daap on March 20th, 2006 at 2:31 am
i changed my appearance of qs to bezel but the little menu that comes down still looks like premir, how do i change it to like bezel?
Nick Santilli on March 20th, 2006 at 8:22 am
daap -
you might just try selecting bezel as the appearance, and then restarting it. since it’s in beta, never know when something might need a little extra push to take effect.
Aaron on May 10th, 2006 at 6:44 pm
I just discovered Quicksilver and am in total awe. Comapred to it, Spotlight is like a footnote in the world of OS X. Quicksilver is utterly amazing.
Birger Nordoelum on July 16th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
I bow before your knees. This guide really helped me understand what QuickSilver is. Thank you!
Birger:)
Nick Santilli on July 17th, 2006 at 6:47 am
Hey Birger – glad it helped you out. I’ve got a couple more Quicksilver pieces that should be dropping in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for those.
MEP on August 1st, 2006 at 1:38 pm
@fos
It’s not a dumb question. Spotlight indexes the contents of your hard drive and a lot of your application data so that it can be searched for very easily. When you find what you want in Spotlight, you select it and Spotlight opens up the appropriate files in the appropriate application. And that is the key difference right there. Spotlight lets you find your data, but you still have to access the appropriate applications to actually use any of that data.
Quicksilver lets you find stuff much the same as Spotlight does, but in addition to that, you can access, view and manipulate that “stuff” without leaving Quicksilver. So not only can I find the file on my hard drive that I want to email to my uncle, I can, in the space of a few keystrokes, attach that file to a new mail message and address that message to my uncle all within Quicksilver. Spotlight lets me easily find a directory full of files I want to compress into a .zip archive. Quicksilver lets me easily find that directory, compress that directory, and attach the .zip archive to a new mail message ready to be sent to the recipient of my choice. The only thing I have to do outside of the Quicksilver interface is write the body of the mail message and hit “send”.
Spotlight lets you find your data. Quicksilver lets you find your data, access your data, operate on your data, edit your data and it can let you chain a series of simple operations together to accomplish complex tasks that might otherwise require you to open up or interact with several different applications and their interfaces. It’s like the power of the Unix command line brought to the OS X GUI.
Taldar on August 19th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
I just thought it was worth mentioning: You can easily select more than one file to perform an action on. Just find the first file in QS and press COMMA (,). Then find the second one and press COMMA. Keep finding files (as many as you want) and pressing COMMA. Then, press enter or choose an action, just like it was one regular old file.
Please note that this works in all interfaces, but it only works well in the Bezel and Primer interfaces. In others, you may not be able to see the current search results (easily).
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Azzurra on November 4th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
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Sten62506 on January 6th, 2007 at 3:14 am
I just don’t have anything to say right now. I haven’t been up to anything recently, but it’s not important. I’ve just been sitting around waiting for something to happen, but shrug.
Michael L. on January 23rd, 2007 at 7:06 pm
This comment is pretty late in the game, but I just wanted to say thanks for the above. I’ve been using a Mac for a little over a day — Quicksilver looks like an amazing tool.
David Shorter on March 15th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
When I try the “append to” task, as in the example, all I get in the second pane is “run as applescript.” no other options.
David Shorter on March 15th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
And when typing “goo” for google search, i don’t get search. i get google news, no matter what i type. no google search option is shown….
David Shorter on March 15th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
One last thing, when i find the folder, application, or document i’m looking for, why are “close” nor “minimize” any of the options i can choose? I appreciate any advice to three (i’m sure pretty ignorant) questions.
Tom on April 8th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
>
OK, I tried Quicksilver on at least three occasions and simply don’t like it–at all. So there you have it, you know of at least one person that thinks it is over-hyped. To see more, look at the latest Versiontracker reviews where the latest version has a 3.5/5 star rating.
Gabe on April 14th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
@David Shorter: I had the same problem with “Append To” — there’s a good troubleshooting guide at:
http://www.43folders.com/2005/11/21/qs-redux/
What solved it for me was:
– Open QS Preferences;
– go to the Plug-Ins panel;
– go to the All Plug-Ins page;
– make sure that “Text Manipulation Actions” is checked.
Hope that helps.
Xavier Kreiss on July 12th, 2007 at 4:15 am
Quite a few of the commands don’t work if you use a non-English (ie non qwerty ) keyboard.
Dave on April 5th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Nice intro to QS. I use QS primarily, but not exclusively, for working with iGTD. Works great, and speeds up some other tasks as well.
Art on April 22nd, 2008 at 7:31 am
I know I’m commenting on an old post, but I just wanted to say thanks for one of the posts that helped me get started with Quicksilver.
Apple Laptop Battery on July 1st, 2008 at 2:06 am
What solved it for me was:
– Open QS Preferences;
– go to the Plug-Ins panel;
– go to the All Plug-Ins page;
– make sure that “Text Manipulation Actions” is checked.
Hope that helps.