Top 10 simplest Quicksilver solutions

[Jeffrey C.Long]

Quicksilver is on my list to learn. But unfortunately also on the list
is Greek (I'm a pastor and greek is the language of the new testament)
and some unix.

So, what are the absolute simplest and useful tricks for quicksilver
that I could use to get started.

My website is currently down. I'm in the process of getting it fixed.
In the meantime, a broken version of it is available at
http://jeffreyclong.typepad.com

Jeffrey
http://jeffreyclong.typepad.com
je...@jeffreyclong.com
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[charlie]

Use the comma trick:
Select a file, folder or whatever, then hit the comma key. You can then
pick more and more files before going to the next stage and doing
something with them.

Another variation is to drill down into a folder and hit cmd-a to
select all the files.

[jmc]

stupid question, but when I select a folder and hit comma, nothing
happens... so what am I doing wrong?

[jmc]

i figured it out:) i just gave myself a positive affirmation.

[Jeffrey Windsor]

Quicksilver became really useful to me when I discovered three things:
1. Using the '/' to drill into folders (and text files). If I need
something which isn't indexed, I can quickly get there by starting at
my home folder, hitting slash, and burrowing from there. Shift-slash
moves up a level.

2. Combined with that, add using the space bar to change selection.
(Be sure to have 'Select Next Result' as your spacebar action in
Preferences>Command.) I can get anywhere on my computer without moving
my hands from the standard typing position on the keyboard.

3. But what really makes QS a magic tool is the ability to use it to
perform one of many actions on a file. I played with LaunchBar and
Butler before I really discovered the beauty that is Quicksilver. At
least once I day I will select a file on my desktop (cmd-space,
'desk,' slash, space-space-space [to get to the file I need but can't
remember the name], tab [to select the middle pane], 'mov' [selects
'Move to...'], tab, 'doc' [selects my documents folder], 'gtd' [to
select the GTD folder], return.

OK, that seems long and involved, and would probably be clearer in a
numbered list. But the mental process is just a couple of steps: find
the file, move to, GTD. As a literature guy, it's humane enough to
work into my mental processes, and as a nerd, it's fast enough to
satisfy my need for immediate gratification.

Practice it for a week and it'll become second nature.

--jw

[Jeffrey Windsor]

[J.Shell]

Comma trick! I didn't know that one! Thanks!

A plug in I heartily enjoy is the dictionary-definition plug in. It's
good to double check your fashionable vocabulary. Select a word and
copy it to the clipboard, hit command-space (or whatever activation
combo you set up), and paste it in (command-v). Switch over to the
action window and select 'define' (usually just typing 'd' will work).
The definition will come up immediately. Hit 'esc' to throw the window
away. it's a good way of double checking that you're using the word
'vehemently' correctly in a sentence. :) It also brings up thesaurus
entries.

I've used OmniDictionary (usually pretty easily accessible from the
'Services' menu) and Google in the past to check my vocabulary, and
this plug-in for Quicksilver is the easiest and fastest because it pops
up and goes away so quickly without my having to hit the mouse. I love
it.

[Mando Escamilla]

[Peter Lindberg]

On 2005-03-30, at 01.58, J.Shell wrote:
> [...] Select a word and copy it to the clipboard, hit command-space

> (or whatever activation combo you set up), and paste it in

> (command-v). [...]

What about Cmd-Esc? (Invokes 'Services > Send to Quicksilver.')

/P.
--
Peter Lindberg
Software designer & developer
Sodermalm, Stockholm, Sweden
http://tesugen.com (my weblog/blog)

[Jacques & Tosha Perreault]

QuickSilver is amazing, the hands-down on-keyboard bestest gluey app
out there! It seems to put together things so well, it's own KUI.

A habit I picked up and learned, is to use QS to keep my ToDo list
updated on the fly. If I need to remember to "Grab mo' beans from
Porto Rico..", I can easily type - <CMD-SPACE> (grabs QS' attention),
. (enters text mode), Grab mo' java.., <TAB>, ap (which brings up
append to..), todo (brings up my TextWrangler ToDo list in my
Documents folder), <RETURN>. Viola!

Meanwhile, GeekTool (another great app) watches this file and shows me
a current copy of it consistantly over my desktop picture - that way
it's impossible to miss. I make it light and translucent, but it still
catches my eye.

Jacques

On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 23:58:42 -0000, J.Shell <eucci...@gmail.com> wrote:
>

[David Ham]

The Quicksilver interface to the Mac Address Book is one of my
favorites. Whenever I need someone's phone number or address, I just
cmd-space into Quicksilver and start typing their name. QS lets you
email them or IM them from this result, as well.

I also use Quicksilver to unclutter my Dock. I dragged everything out
of it except the Finder and the Trash, and I start all my apps with
Quicksilver. Now my Dock gives me actual useful feedback--the open apps
are the only ones that show up.

[benjackson]

My favorite trick of all, the one I use most often, is the fact that
you can drag anything to or from an item selected in QS. Try dragging a
folder to an "Open..." dialog box. Or, if you use TBird, dragging to
the attachments window. Of course if you use mail then you can just use
the "Email to" action.

Also use command-g to grab the current finder selection, command-; to
bring up catalog, command-' to bring up triggers (which merits a whole
other post in itself).

The "create archive" action is useful for zipping up albums to send to
my friends. If only there was some integration with the iTunes plugin
I'd be set.

Web searches are a must. I have them set for every search query I've
run more than twice. It takes me less than two seconds to search google
for anything, and I use it more than 30 times a day on average.

[Pitch]

Before running out and purchasing QuickSilver, wait a bit for Tiger,
the next Mac OS, to come out in the next few weeks. Its built-in
Spotlight feature may do what many of these great search programs are
doing now for Panther.

[jlc...@gmail.com]

Quicksilver is free...

[Andy J. W. Affleck]

And QuickSilver does much more than Spotlight will. In fact, I can imagine what QuickSilver can potentially add for it to work with Spotlight and it just gets that much better.

-A

--
Andy J. Williams Affleck
http://www.raggedcastle.com/webcrumbs/ (Site/Weblog)
http://www.podcrumbs.com/ (Podcast)

[Jimmy Montano]

Quicksilver developer is already working on a Tiger-aware version

[Kirk McElhearn]

Quicksilver's free...


Kirk

Read my blog: Kirkville -- http://www.mcelhearn.com
Musings, Opinion and Miscellanea, on Macs, iPods and more
Kirk McElhearn | Chemin de la Lauze | 05600 Guillestre | France

[LaredoDesign]

HI

I really disagree, QuickSilver is much more than a tool to find things.

BK