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Intermediate Quicksilver tutorial

Dan Dickinson: The Primary Vivid Weblog: Quicksilver: From A Better OS X To Even More

Dan Dickinson wrote the tutorial that inspired me to first try Quicksilver, lo, those eleven epochal months ago (via Todd). It’s now my favorite app on the Mac, partly because of (or in spite of) the fact that it continues to yield the 10,000 secret functions hiding in its many alcoves.

Dan’s new tutorial is an equally swell intermediate lesson that walks you through some of the sexier features in a clear, unintimidating manner.

Here’s an answer to one that’s been confusing me a bit for a while now:

Step #8 - Shift Can Be Better Than Tab

There’s a very small preference stashed away in the Advanced pane, entitled “Capitalized keys modify action in command window”. This lets you effectively type into both halves of the QS window at the same time. I find it much easier to type as one long string than breaking everything up with tabs - “safariKILL” is easier than “safari (tab) kill”. Given how most people are pretty adept at hitting the shift key while they type, this may be faster for you. Give it a try.

Nice work, Dan.


Not sure I’ve ever asked here, so spill: What’s your favorite novel use for Quicksilver? What place has it found in your workflow?

Feaverish's picture

I'm addicted to appending text...

I'm addicted to appending text to to-do files without having to open them or switch programs. I love being able to send emails without having to switch to Mail, and the ability to attach and email files or folders directly from Quicksilver.

Also, I like how it can output any text as large type. I use it to leave messages for my coworkers when I'm away from my desk: Aaron is at lunch, Aaron is at the pub, or whatever in huge letters across my screen. It's like an IM away message.

 
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