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Softonic Rating:
Excellent:9/10
License:
Free
Added:
January 11, 2006
Updated:
January 18, 2008
Publisher:
Website
File size:
1.9 MB
Downloads:
9,362
Cyril Roger

“Excellent multi-application launcher”

by Cyril Roger

Every productivity geek's dream, Quicksilver has become one of the essential applications on Mac.

For those of you not familiar with Quicksilver, it's an application that lets you reach any program, folder or file in a few keystrokes. You don't have to go searching through your files, you don't have to worry about how your folders are arranged. For many, Quicksilver was a godsend in the pre-Spotlight Mac era. Although it's lost some of its importance with the new powerful search and Finder features in Leopard it still remains very much an excellent Mac application.

The search function is very quick and powerful and once you've found what you're looking for you can apply a number of actions like simply launching it, emailing or moving. What's more Quicksilver adapts to the file it's found, so if it's a document you'll get to modify or send it, and if it's an email you'll get to email or copy it. Quicksilver users also like the fact that the application learns from what you search to bring up what you search for or use most.

Quicksilver wouldn't be what it is without its large library of plugins though. This includes everything from dialing a phone number to interacting with iTunes or image and text manipulation. This means you can really customize the application to work according to your needs.

The only downside is the stability issues that Quicksilver seems to have. The application is noted to crash every once in a while.

Despite this stability issue, Quicksilver remains an incredibly intuitive and powerful multi-application launcher for Mac. Recommended for productivity geeks.

Languages:

English

OS requirements for Quicksilver:

  • OS: Mac OS X

Minimum requirements:

  • Mac OS X 10.4 or later
Pros
  • Large library of plugins
  • Powerful search tool
  • Use of keystrokes to act on files
Cons
  • Stability issues
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20 of 31 users liked it (65%)

Quicksilver Softonic Rating: 9Featured program

Softonic gives special recognition to software of exceptionally high quality. More information

From the publisher of Quicksilver

Quicksilver is a unified, extensible interface for working with applications, contacts, music, and other data. When opened, it will create a catalog of applications and some frequently used folders and documents. Activate it, and you can search for and open anything in its catalog instantly. The search is adaptive, so Quicksilver will recognize which items you are searching for based on previous experience. It also supports abbreviations, so you can type entire words, or just fragments of each. When not in use, Quicksilver vanishes, waiting for the next time you summon it.

Quicksilver’s greatest strength, however, is not search. Any item you are able to find, drag, or otherwise pull into its universe is endowed with many potential uses. Hitting <tab> takes you to the action field, where you can use the same adaptive search to select what you would like to do. Among other things, files can be emailed, copied, compressed. Text can be modified, transmitted between programs, or searched for on the web. Some actions even support an indirect object, so you can send an item to a person, move files to another folder, or open files with a specific application.

Quicksilver can be given the ability to understand the data inside of files, allowing you to work with data in new, faster ways. Plug-ins add both new items and new actions, allowing you to run scripts, send instant messages, dial phone numbers, look up words in a dictionary, queue up songs in iTunes party shuffle, and much, much more. Frequently used commands can be bound to triggers, giving you the ability to execute them immediately by hitting a hot key or using the mouse on a corner or edge of the screen.

Posts about Quicksilver in our blog

Quicksilver options

Quicksilver Options

Reviews for Quicksilver in other languages

Softonic Rating:Excellent
10/10

User Rating

8 ratings
Usability
  • Currently 9/10.
Stability
  • Currently 9/10.
Installation
  • Currently 9/10.
Functionality
  • Currently 9/10.
Appearance
  • Currently 9/10.
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