Quicksilver — Act without doing

One of my favorite programs for OS X is Quicksilver.  Quicksilver is the first program I install on any Mac I buy, and I feel helpless when I use a Mac it's not installed on; that's how ingrained Quicksilver can become into your workflow.  It's a simple little program that is extremely powerful once you dig into it.  Let's take a look.


There are many uses for Quicksilver, but lots of people use it simply as an application launcher, which is mainly how I use it.  It's simple to set up, and easy to use.


Once it's installed on your system, you need to decide how you want to use it.  Basically, you hit "trigger" keys, and Quicksilver springs forward, waiting for your next command.  It's always running in the background, and uses very few resources.   Here's what the interface looks like:

The Quicksilver basic interface.

Once invoked, Quicksilver waits for you to type what you are looking for.  If you want to launch Chrome for example, you would simply type "chrome."  I'll bet Quicksilver won't let you get that far though.  Quicksilver is smart enough to try to guess what it is you're looking for, and will present that guess in the window as you type.  Hit the Return key to launch the program that is shown in the Quicksilver interface.  


But what if it guesses wrong?  No worries.  Type what you are looking for, and if Quicksilver doesn't guess what you are looking for correctly, simply wait.  After a few seconds, a menu will appear below the basic interface listing everything that it could find that matches the letters you typed.  

Quicksilver tries to find all everything that matches your search term.  In this example, I typed "snap," as seen in the title bar of the white window, as well as underlined in the name in the grey box.  Quicksilver updates in real-time.

By default, the Quicksilver trigger keys are Option and Spacebar.  You can change these keys to anything you want in Quicksilver's preferences.


Notice how in the above example, Snapz Pro X is highlighted in Quicksilver, and to the right it says "Open"?  This is a visual representation of what Quicksilver is going to do for you.  But what if you want to get to that box on the right?  Can Quicksilver do anything besides launch applications?  Absolutely!


To get to the other box in the Quicksilver interface, type what you are looking for (the program or document to be acted upon) and once it's been found, hit the Tab key.  Now press any arrow key.  Huzzah!  All new options that you can do to the file or program in the first tab!

Quicksilver is no one-trick pony.

From the second tab, you can do things like reveal the program (or document) in the Finder, move it, copy it, paste it and more!  All that without having to stop what you are doing, go to the Finder, double-click through folder after folder to get to what you are looking for.  Quicksilver is always on, and always available from any program.  Hit the trigger keys, and Quicksilver is ready to go.


There's plenty more Quicksilver can do; so much that you could almost write a book about it.  Explore the program, and you will most likely find a way to make it work for you.


Direct link to Quicksilver download here.