[Macworld.com]

Quicksilver offers an alternative to LaunchBar. [more]

[leicaman]

Nice little program. I probably wouldn't have tried it, except on my slow 867 PowerMac at work, Launchbar seems to be a bit hefty in resource needs. So I'll give it a try. So far I'm pretty impressed. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[mandaris]

I've been using quicksilver for over 8 months now and it's made me sometimes forget that I can use spotlight.
But I guess that's because I use it for the same group of applications over and over again and rarely go on the hunt for specific files.

[daveedvdv]

I've used Quicksilver for a while as well and feel "odd" at a system that doesn't have it.
Some month ago, Alcor added a Spotlight plug-in that I use to populate the catalog with applications. I.e., instead of having Quicksilver scan the various Applications directories etc., I ask it to add to the catalog the result of a "kind:app" query. It works well for me because I've got little apps strewn all over the disk (they're in various stages of development).
I agree that Butler offers pretty much the same functionality. Quicksilver has (optional) flashier graphics for/against it.

[gillo]

Don't forget the Clipboard History feature. There are other programs that do just that, but why having another one when Quicksilver can do it?

[jacobolus]

In reply to:

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For example, unlike Launchbar, Quicksilver wont let you easily scan through a list of open recently used files when you select an application.

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Um... wrong. Get an application in your command window and hit the slash key or the right arrow, and it will drill down into the recent documents for that app. Doesn't Macworld do a fact check? /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
I know you're trying to give LaunchBar some props, but quite frankly I don't think there's anything LaunchBar does that Quicksilver doesn't do, and prettier.

[kms007]

I used to use Launchbar, until I discovered QuickSilver. It does everything I want, AND it's free. Productivity is up because I never have to navigate through my hard drive searching for apps. As a result, it's also eliminated the need to pile on app icons on the Dock. 5-star program. What could be better?
-Krishna

[whitedog]

Wow! I tried this about a year ago and took a pass. It has really evolved since then. Ive been using Drag Thing as a launcher for years now. It will be interesting to see if Quicksilver is easier to use or not. Certainly the search function will be useful. Searching in the Finder or in Spotlight is a less than optimal experience.

[d00d]

In reply to:

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Nice little program. I probably wouldn't have tried it, except on my slow 867 PowerMac at work, Launchbar seems to be a bit hefty in resource needs. So I'll give it a try. So far I'm pretty impressed.

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That's interesting. I originally started with LaunchBar, went to Quicksilver, then recently went back to LaunchBar because Quicksilver... was... too... slow, particularly when I added my entire Documents folder. LaunchBar remains responsive while Quicksilver has started to crawl. LaunchBar also seems a bit smarter (forgiving?) when I type characters out of order than Quicksilver.
I'm running both right now and despite all of Quicksilver's plugin, I haven't used it in weeks (except to start LaunchBar back up after upgrading to the latest beta /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif ).

[doglesby]

In reply to:

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if I know the name of the file I need, Quicksilver is wayahemquicker.

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So you aren't searching, you just don't want to navigate to the file. Spotlight isn't intended to help you avoid the Finder, it's to help you find files when you don't know the name (you know, based on content or metadata).
True, those of us who keep our systems organized don't generally need it, but complaining it doesn't do something it isn't supposed to do makes no sense.
If a system that searches only names isn't faster than Spotlight, I'd be pretty disappointed.

[Mindflayer]

Ah, Quicksilver. I swear this blog is starting to mirror mine. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
I had to wipe my Powerbook last week, and as I put in my blog entry about the essential apps, Quicksilver is right up there among the highest. It is true that going to a Mac without it results in a lot of Control-Space aggravation.

[iSunfish]

In reply to:

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Get an application in your command window and hit the slash key or the right arrow, and it will drill down into the recent documents for that app.

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According to the QS manual, the commands to view an "alternative contents list (for example, invisible files or package contents)" for an application are Option-/ or Option-Right Arrow; however, I'm unable to get QS to display recent items for an application using those commands. Am I missing something?

[Brettcamp]

I like the way Quicksilver looks and works, but for some reason it won't include my documents in its scans, so that when I type in a search term, I only get applications, websites, email messages, etc -- but not all the articles I've read and written!
I went to Preferences => Catalog and my Documents folder is checked as being scanned, yet no text or rtf or other documents seem to show up in my QS searches, even when I know the term is in several documents.
So I've gone back to using Spotlight and EasyFind for searching, and based on another Mac Gems piece the other day, am thinking of trying out Butler to be my launcher/searcher, unless someone here can help me figure out how to make QS search my documents. I tried QS Help but the website it opened said help was temporarily unavailable.

[d00d]

Quicksilver, Butler, and LaunchBar do not scan document contents. They're great for finding and launching by filename, but they're not full fledged search tools (like Spotlight).