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A lot has been written about quicksilver with the experienced Mac user in mind but what about the inexperienced users or people switching from Windows ?
A lot of experienced Mac users swear by Quicksilver. Some even call it the most productive application ever. However to most newcomers to Mac, it simply looks like a plain Launcher application, similar to Spotlight, which makes them wonder what’s so special about this application. Quicksilver is not just a launcher. It can send e-mails, move files around, append text to pre-existing files and has many other customizable capabilities. Quicksilver indexes everything that’s on a hard drive and catalogs it so that instead of navigating through the Finder, all those files, applications etc are available to the users using keystrokes. InstallationStart by downloading Quicksilver to the Mac. To download Quicksilver go here. Like most other apps for the Mac, installation of Quicksilver is very simple. After the installation is done, it’s very important to go through the configuration process. Though there’s not much that a user needs to do as far as configuring Quicksilver is concerned, there are two important points to consider. Firstly, if confused by the long list of plug-ins, check all of them in the preferences window. As a user becomes more experienced with Quicksilver, they will know what to get rid of and what to add on. And secondly, it’s very important to enable advanced features in the main preferences window. This requires a relaunch after which Quicksilver is ready to dazzle. These features can be configured by opening the preferences window, which can be accessed by pressing Cmd + comma. Working With QuicksilverCtrl+Spacebar is the default key combo that invokes Quicksilver. This can be changed by going to the Command sub-section in the Preferences window. Quicksilver presents a user with panels that can be used to select files and perform an action. Typing the name of a file or folder on the hard drive shows up a list of matching results. Using the up or down arrows a user can go through the various matches. Once the File/Folder/Application has been selected, pressing Tab moves the focus over to the second panel. Panel two is where the action to be taken on the file/folder/application is specified. For example,. A user can open the object selected in panel one, email it, move it, delete it etc. So to summarize, a user invokes Quicksilver, types the name of the file/folder, chooses the action that is to be performed (open, move etc.) and presses enter. That’s all! The best part about Quicksilver is that the more its used, the better it gets at adapting to a user’s preferences. This is extremely useful for folks who like using the keyboard a lot or the ones who use laptops and don’t want to spend the whole day putting their fingers through all that dragging and clicking. The best way to maximize it’s potential is to dive right in and start using it.
The copyright of the article Quicksilver for the Beginners in Mac Software/OS is owned by Yogesh Bakshi. Permission to republish Quicksilver for the Beginners in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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