
- #ALFRED QUICKSILER LAUNCHBAR MOVIE#
- #ALFRED QUICKSILER LAUNCHBAR FULL#
- #ALFRED QUICKSILER LAUNCHBAR MAC#
For example, you can ask them to look at only specific files or folders, or perform specialized Web searches for, say, Twitter users or IMDB entries.
#ALFRED QUICKSILER LAUNCHBAR FULL#
(You can see the full list of search categories in System Preferences > Spotlight >, where you can also disable or reorder the categories as you see fit.)Īlfred, Butler, LaunchBar, and Quicksilver display and open most of the same data types as Spotlight, but offer much more configurability.
#ALFRED QUICKSILER LAUNCHBAR MOVIE#
In Yosemite, Spotlight displays most results (including Wikipedia pages, movie trailers, maps, and so on) right in its pop-up window. In addition, Spotlight can search the Web (via Bing), perform currency conversions, show Dictionary definitions, and more. But Spotlight can find and open nearly anything on your Mac, including documents, folders, System Preferences panes, Mail messages, iTunes tracks, and contacts. The word launcher implies that you’ll be opening apps, and all the launchers (including Spotlight) prioritize apps in their search results. (If you want to use more than one launcher at the same time, that’s fine too, as long as each has a different keyboard shortcut.) What you can find and open Similarly, each of the non-Apple launchers has a default keyboard shortcut involving the Spacebar (LaunchBar uses Command-Spacebar, the same as Spotlight for Alfred, it’s Option-Spacebar for Butler and Quicksilver, it’s Control-Spacebar), but you can change this to whatever you prefer-just make sure your chosen launcher doesn’t conflict with Spotlight. Spotlight uses the Command-Spacebar shortcut by default, but you can change it if you like by going to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Spotlight >, double-clicking the keyboard shortcut next to Show Spotlight Search, and pressing a new key combination. Again, the convenience of this is just stellar.You can disable or rearrange categories for Spotlight searches in this preference pane. Preceding your search with “amazon” will search Amazon’s website, while “wiki” will search Wikipedia for your favorite topic. Like Quix, you can search these websites with just a few key words. As I was, my classmates were equally impressed by not only the speed of Alfred searches, but its accuracy. Sitting here in class, I demonstrated to a couple classmates a couple searches for things in Wikipedia, Amazon, eBay, IMDB, and Facebook.

If you’re searching the web, you can precede your search with “www” or nothing at all. The difference between “open” and “find” is that “find” will open the Finder window and show you where your file exists. Simply precede your search with “open” to search for a file and open it on your computer, or “find” to reveal a file. Usually you’ll initiate either an application search or a web search, but you can tell Alfred what to look for with a few keywords. So to initiate a search of any kind, just start typing. I’m amazed by just how robust this beta app really is - I seriously had to slick my hair forward after the initial rush left me blown backwards and wide eyed. I was impressed.Īnd searches are blazing fast. You can just start typing, and it’s smart enough to pull relevant data. I mean, I didn’t even have to wait for it to index anything. While certainly classy, how well does he dance? I don’t have an SSD or anything, but Alfred’s search was instant. He’s pretty nice looking, and in the preferences you can change his theme from a pearl white to a tuxedo black. Here’s how it works: pressing the control + command keys open up Alfred. It’s just a convenient, easy to use quick search application that launches applications, searches the web, and allows you to search shopping sites and social networks for the information you need. Imagine if you took Quix and Quicksilver, melded them together, and got this simple, easy to use application designed for everyone. However, today I’m going to show you the quick search solution for everyone. And Google’s Quick Search Box forces you to succumb to the Google singularity (and it’s not as fast). LaunchBar offers features that the casual user won’t even touch.

Quicksilver has a confusing plugins pane and lots of features still need updating. All of these applications however, either offer too much or too little.


Then we have Google’s Quick Search Box, which is half quick search, half application launcher. Some users have moved on up to LaunchBar, which combines even more powerful features into a slim search box - it’s a power user’s dream.
#ALFRED QUICKSILER LAUNCHBAR MAC#
For those having been on the Mac for a while now, you’re probably using Quicksilver - it’s really one of the first applications that brought this kind of instant power to us. These are all applications designed to put instant information at your fingertips.
