Quicksilver Tips

Tips contributed here may be used by future versions of Quicksilver to provide users with useful tips. Keep in mind that to be used, tips will need to fit into a 250×150 pixel textbox – the empty area under the “Resources” area in the initial Quicksilver Preferences window.

Tips submitted here should be quick and useful tips valuable to beginner-to-intermediate users of Quicksilver. Think about things like changing the activation key or the interface style.

• Type the right-arrow key to 'enter into' objects in the 1st and/or 3rd panes (Applications, Catalog Entries, etc.)
• Type the period or single quote key to enter text-entry mode
• Type Option-Return to insert a newline in text-entry mode
• Relaunch a running application using the 'Relaunch' action – even works for QS!
• Specific actions curiously missing? Check if the relevant plug-in is installed, whether the action is disabled via the Actions pref pane, or whether the object you are trying to operate on is the right type.
• Type command-g to put the Finder selection in the 1st or 3rd pane.
• In the Actions preferences drag actions to reorder their rank
• Paste URLs easily into any application with the trigger “Current Web Page (Paste)”
• Both ~ and ` represent your $HOME directory
• right-arrow and / can be used interchangeably, left-arrow and ? can too.
• Learn what a Plug-in does by choosing “by Plug-in” in the Actions Preferences
• Try changing the Spacebar Behavior in the General→Command preferences
• Install Interface plug-ins and select different themes or skins in the General→Appearance preferences
• After invoking Quicksilver, press and hold a single key to quickly performs whatever action is associated with it. Also works with a combination of several letters.
• Want to locate your mouse pointer/cursor easily? Install the Abracadabra plug-in and abuse the trail (and/or the zooming trigger window) that is rendered on the screen while gesturing to locate the pointer.
• Enable the 'Display: Show Window' checkbox for a HotKey trigger to receive visual feedback that a HotKey trigger was detected by QS. Similarly, enable the 'Show zooming trigger window' checkbox for Gesture (Abracadabra) triggers.
• You can create a custom web search by going to the site of your choice and searching for ***, and then adding the resulting URL to a custom search list in the catalogue. (this works with nearly every kind of search, from google to an intrenal search in the site of a small wine company, but, it won't work if the resulting URL is something like www.mysite.com/search.php).
• Select multiple objects by typing ”,” (comma) and then selecting another item. Great for batch commands. For example opening two image files at once: select first file in QS, hit ”,”, select second image file, hit return. Both files open.
• Send to Quicksilver. Highlight an icon in Finder or any text in a cocoa application, hit cmd-esc and it appears in the first QS pane ready for action.

Definition tips should introduce concepts of Quicksilver – triggers, objects, actions, etc.

• Commands are composed of objects, actions and possibly arguments
• Objects are things that are acted on, given in the first or possibly third comand panes
• Enter Actions in the second command pane. Most actions are available for specific object types.
• Some actions take an argument in the third command pane. Usually these actions end in …
• Plug-ins add more functionality to Quicksilver. Find and configure them in the Plug-in panel (⌃-space, ⌘-”)
• The Catalog is the list of objects you can directly bring up in the first command pane. AKA the Global Catalog. Manually rescan with ⌃-space, ⌘R
• Quicksilver periodically scans Catalog Sources to populate the Catalog. Configure them in the Catalog panel (⌃-space, ⌘-;)
• Interfaces are plug-ins that let you change the look of the Command Window. Configure them in the Appearance Preferences. AKA themes or skins.
• Triggers let you run commands with HotKeys, Mouse events, or gestures. Configure them in the Triggers panel (⌃-space, ⌘-')
• Proxy Objects represent other objects, e.g. iTunes Track Now Playing. Enable advanced features and find them in Catalog under Quicksilver. Use them with triggers.

Plug-In tips should introduce users to plug-ins they may not have installed, letting them know about the functionality they can add by installing that plug-in.

• Try the Convert to Units… action from the Unit Conversion Module to perform common conversions. E.g. 100 ft Convert to Units… meters
• Install the Services Menu Module plug-in to turn Services into actions

Advanced tips should focus on combinations of functionality that result in mystification by all those who watch you perform complex operations with elegance.

• Create a trigger using the qs://preferences#PrefPaneID syntax to quickly bring up a preference pane that doesn't already have an assigned key sequence. E.g. to get the Actions pref-pane to show up, use the URL 'qs://preferences#QSActionsPrefPane' as the direct object and 'Open URL' as the action when defining the trigger
• When creating a trigger with proxy objects, sometimes an appropriate action won't appear in the command builder window. To work around this, bring up the action in an ordinary command window and copy it (using Command-C). Then in the command builder window, paste the action in the appropriate pane (using Command-V).
• Use command-X to empty a pane when defining a trigger (e.g., for a web-search)