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Frustrated with Spotlight? Want instant results when searching for documents? Tired of filing through Finder window after Finder window? Quicksilver solves all this with a simple interface and instant generation of results.

Download Quicksilver from VersionTracker.

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22549

Safari users, scroll down one paragraph.

If using Firefox, Go to Window -> Downloads (Cmd+J). Click Open, next to the Quicksilver listing. Then, Control+Click the listing and select Open Containing Folder. This will popup a Finder window. Drag Quicksilver.app to your Applications folder. Double Click the Quicksilver application. Scroll down one paragraph.

In Safari, Go to Window -> Downloads (Option+Cmd+J). Then, Control+Click the listing and select Open in Finder. This will popup a Finder window. Drag the Quicksilver.app to your applications folder. Double Click the Quicksilver application.

The QS logo will appear briefly, signaling that Quicksilver is running. A Quicksilver icon will also appear in the Menu bar at the top right of the screen.

Once installed, the default key command to activate Quicksilver is Ctrl+Space. Some people prefer Cmd+Space. You can customize this in the preferences, which I shall explain shortly.

Hit Ctrl+Space to activate Quicksilver.

Basically, you type in an item in the first field and then select an action in the second field. Start typing right after the window pops up. In the example above, I typed “itunes” and selected the action open. Hit Return or Click Execute and the action will be performed.

What sets Quicksilver apart from Spotlight, is that it indexes your search results in the background. Spotlight makes you sit and wait around while it searches your computer. So, when you enter something into Quicksilver it finds the information lightning fast.

Now, let’s customize Quicksilver to search for what we want, when we want.

Click the QS icon in your menu bar. Select Preferences from the drop down menu. A new window pops up that explains all the different areas of the preferences pane. Select General, from the tab on the top right of the Preference window. Make sure Start at login, Warn before quitting, and Enable advanced features are all checked.

Select Command, from the list on the left. You can customize the key command that activates Quicksilver here. Simply, Click Edit and then perform the key command you want. I set it to Cmd+Space. You can keep it the default or make it whatever you want. If you do choose Cmd+Space, remember to change the key command for Spotlight in your Keyboard System Preferences.

Select Catalog, from the tabs on the top right. At the very bottom of the window, you can select the time interval QS scans your system for new files to make then searchable. Set Rescan to Every 10 minutes. Click the refresh icon just to the right to index your system manually.

Now, Click the Plug-ins tab in the top right. Select Recommended Plug-ins on the left. Check anything that isn’t selected.

Close the preferences.

Hit Ctrl + Space to activate Quicksilver again (or whatever Keyboard Shortcut you specified in the Preferences).

Now, Type in the title of a website you have in your bookmarks. You don’t even need the whole title, part of it will suffice. Take notice of the list that pops up. If Quicksilver doesn’t get it right the first time, select the website from the list. Quicksilver will learn what you really want to get out of it. You can toggle the list by clicking the arrow. The action has a drop down menu too. So, not only can you Open the URL, but Copy to the Clipboard, Send in an Email, Lookup in the Dictionary too.

Get out of the habit of opening Finder windows and searching through endless folders for the files you need. There you go, you are now a Quicksilver Pro.

Check back soon on how to integrate useful plug-ins into Quicksilver, like mouse gestures.

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Written by Steve Blue
steveblue@iuseapple.com