PETER MAURER  STORMCHILD: That's just my kind of humor.

RORO01: Download File List from http://www.manytricks.com/download/filelist  
(Version 2.0)

PETER MAURER  There was a small typo in the original source code for yFlicks 1.1 that prevented you from deleting groups. Just download yFlicks 1.1 once more if you're experiencing this problem.  
(Version 1.1)

PETER MAURER  Are you B.K.? The "Hägar" example sounds familiar...

Anyway, I think I've just fixed this. Could you please contact me via e-mail? Thanks!  
(Version 4.1.1)

PETER MAURER  Most likely, this is an OS X issue. I'm afraid I haven't found a viable work-around yet.  
(Version 1.2.2)

PETER MAURER  No. Sorry. Service Scrubber lets you change the structure of your services menu, but you can't change what a given service actually does.

If you want your (non-Mail.app) e-mail client to provide a service for sending e-mails, you'll have to contact the developers of that e-mail client.  
(Version 1.1.2)

PETER MAURER  Actually, the availability of italics depends on whether an italic font variant is available for the font you've chosen. (Italics is not just tilted letters.)

Helvetica, for instance, does include an "oblique" font variant, which is thus also available in Textpander.  
(Version 1.2.2)

PETER MAURER  @sjk: No, let me keep that 5th star -- I promise I'll implement that second suggestion ;-)  
(Version 1.0)

PETER MAURER  Please feel free to contact me via e-mail:

This is definitely not the way Textpander is supposed to behave, and I haven't heard of anything like that from other users.  
(Version 1.1)

PETER MAURER  I just checked again, and it works for me. Please contact me if this problem persists. Thanks!  
(Version 4.0b26)

PETER MAURER  > Today isddate (TAB) will erase the "is".

Send me an e-mail, and I'll tell you how to work around this.  
(Version 1.1)

PETER MAURER  Could you please contact me at ? Thanks!  
(Version 4.0b25)

PETER MAURER  Or write an e-mail to the developer...

BTW, creating top-level items is as easy as dragging them to the top level of the "Configuration" outline view.  
(Version 4.0b25)

PETER MAURER  Actually, he was asking for Growl support. BTW, why should I add Growl support? What's wrong with Butler's own status window?  
(Version 4.0b25)

PETER MAURER  Feel free to make suggestions ;-)  
(Version 1.0)

PETER MAURER  :-D  
(Version 4.0b24)

PETER MAURER  Here's the update some of you have been waiting for quite anxiously. I'm sorry about the delay. In fact, I have been working on this bug-fix release for a while. I just couldn't reply to your bug reports because the computer that was responsible for handling my e-mail correspondence was having severe problems.

Please note that Butler 4.0b24 has only been tested on Mac OS X 10.4.1 so far. Reports on bugs and/or regressions on earlier operating systems are very welcome. (Yes, I'm able to receive e-mails again. Yay!)  
(Version 4.0b24)

PETER MAURER  Actually, there are volume controls. Please have a look at the "iTunes: Volume up/down" Smart Items.  
(Version 4.0b23)

PETER MAURER  @Mudflap: Does this error also occur when you set the number of recent pasteboards to zero? Please contact me at .  
(Version 4.0b23)

PETER MAURER  Could you please e-mail me at ? Thanks.  
(Version 4.0b23)

PETER MAURER  Absolutely ;-)

(But then, some people never read the docs -- even if they are better than Butler's.)  
(Version 4.0b22)

PETER MAURER  > the "search these folders for applications...."

> should be "search these folders...." it took

> me 1/2 an hour to figure out how to search

> my 'documents' folder, all I had to do was

> add it to the "applications folders" list ....

I'm afraid I cannot guarantee that this will always work. In fact, I wouldn't have expected this to work at all, but I'm too busy to test it right now ;-)

The "official" way of searching document folders with Butler is as follows: Drag the files and/or surrounding folders in question to your configuration. For folders, dragging them to your configuration will give you a "Local folder contents" item inside a container. Make sure you check the "Search contents for abbreviations" checkbox for the "Local folder contents" item -- there is no such setting for the enclosing container. (Please note that their is a recursion limit of three levels as of now. In one of the next versions of Butler, you will also be able to specify infinite recursion.)

> In QS I can open something, reveal it in finder...

You can actually reveal items in Finder with Butler ([option]-[return]). Please have a look at the pin-wheel pop-up menu at the lower end of the abbreviations window for a list of options and their respective shortcuts.

> And my all time favorite QS feature is when

> searching for a folder in QS, I can arrow

> over and view its contents and quickly go

> through directories...

Try pressing the [space] bar after having selected a folder in Butler's abbreviation window. This is also available from the abovementioned pop-up menu.  
(Version 4.0b22)

PETER MAURER  Could you please contact me via e-mail? I'm very interested in hearing some more details about this.  
(Version 4.0b22)

PETER MAURER  Using [command]-[tab] as a shortcut requires tricking OS X into believing that Witch is the Dock. I'm still undecided as to whether I want to do that.  
(Version 1.0b3)

PETER MAURER  @rawsweets:

> you can't exit the dang "window selection" ... This

> just doesn't take with "switchers" like QS and

> LiteSwitch, where pressing escape cancels the

> selection pane, and you can get on with your

> work.

Have you ever tried pressing [escape]? Because actually, you can exit the window selector by pressing [escape]. Please refer to the "Switching Windows -- Advanced" section of Witch's documentation.

Moreover, you can configure Witch to always show a "Cancel" item at the top/bottom of its windows list.

> Once I get in the app, I expect to move around

> a simple list of items, as I would any other finder

> list - use the up and down keys!!

Have you ever tried pressing those keys? Because actually, you can navigate the window selector by pressing [up arrow], [down arrow], [return]/[enter], and the abovementioned [escape] key, of course. Please refer to the "Switching Windows -- Advanced" section of Witch's documentation once more.

Moreover, you can navigate the window selector with your mouse.

Do you think it's fair to complain about the absence of a feature without even checking if it's actually there?

> The interface options are cool, but it all seems

> like aqua overkill, and the author should focus

> more on the core features.

I tend to think that's just a matter of taste. However, I'd like to make two points here:

1. It is actually very important to many users to customize the looks of system utilities, such as Witch.

2. Providing users with some controls to customize the looks of Witch is easy. With modern development tools --such as XCode, for instance-- doing so doesn't take very long. Thus, you can rest assured that I didn't really have to take my focus away from the core features.

> The author really needs to set some limits to

> the user, instead of prompting them with a

> flimsy warning, about how setting the "escape"

> key as a shortcut could effect other

> applications... not smart, even if the user is.

While developing Butler and --most importantly-- dealing with feedback from Butler's users, I have learnt a few things about shortcuts (a.k.a. "hot keys"). And one of these things is: "do NOT restrict the range of possible key combinations". Most users know what they are doing, but the developer might not be able to anticipate what they are trying to achieve.

Here's an example: I have recently heard about a user who uses Butler to fake a [return] keystroke by pressing [enter]. (His [return] key is broken.) Honestly, I would never have thought of this way of using Butler. But it would have been impossible if I had restricted shortcuts in such a way that [enter] would not have been a valid option.  
(Version 1.0b3)

PETER MAURER  Thanks, Mr. Clancy! I cannot believe I forgot to put these instructions in Witch 1.0b2's read me file.  
(Version 1.0b2)

PETER MAURER  @JimW: "Some" is a slight overstatement. It was just one, namely Calendarclock. And who says you can't continue using software, just because it's not in active development anymore?

There are quite a lot of people who are still using Calendarclock. Personally, I'm still using ResEdit from time to time. Has ResEdit been updated recently? No.

And BTW, did you donate for Calendarclock? Because if you had donated for Calendarclock, then you would have received a free license for its successor. I still don't think that was a rip-off.  
(Version 1.0b1)

PETER MAURER  @Mr. Clancy: Kommt bald. Aber in der ersten Betaversion schien mir das uebertrieben.  
(Version 1.0b1)

PETER MAURER  I'm afraid I'm not quite sure what you're asking for...

OS X's default for switching windows is [command]-[  
(Version 1.0b1)

PETER MAURER  Bedienungshilfen stimmt. Ich sollte wohl ein Bildschirmfoto davon in die Hilfedateien setzen.  
(Version 1.0b1)

PETER MAURER  You'll also have to switch on "Search content for abbreviations" for your newly created "Local folder content" items.

If you need more information on this, just drop me a note: .  
(Version 4.0b21)

PETER MAURER  I'm curious -- where is this EULA you're talking about? I can't find it.

Moreover, what's this "gathering info from my computer" complaint about? I have been using TinkerTool for at least two years now, and I can't remember any unsolicited connections to any remote server.  
(Version 3.3c)

PETER MAURER  What does "iAlertHelper" do? Can I use iAlert without installing it? I'd certainly like to give iAlert a try, but I won't install an input manager without knowing what it does.  
(Version 2.3)

PETER MAURER  Butler does indeed need better documentation. In the mean time, feel free to contact me via e-mail.  
(Version 4.0b21)

PETER MAURER  Did you switch off zero link when you built LinkMenu -- i.e., did you switch to the "Deployment" build style? This is what I get when I try to launch LinkMenu:

--

Date/Time: 2005-01-18 18:18:19 +0100

OS Version: 10.3.7 (Build 7S215)

Report Version: 2

Command: LinkMenu

Path: /Volumes/LinkMenu/LinkMenu.app/Contents/MacOS/LinkMenu

Version: ??? (???)

PID: 413

Thread: Unknown

Link (dyld) error:

dyld: /Volumes/LinkMenu/LinkMenu.app/Contents/MacOS/LinkMenu can't open library: /Users/mark/Programming/LinkMenu/build/LinkMenu.build/LinkMenu.build/Objects-normal/ppc/libstdc++_ZeroLink.dylib (No such file or directory, errno = 2)  
(Version 0.9br1)

PETER MAURER  It's not a bug -- it's a symlink, AFAIK. They do this quite frequently for backwards compatibility reasons.  
(Version 2.0)

PETER MAURER  > But is there any particular reason this is on .gz? Their are other equally good compression schemes, all avaliable for free. Am I missing something?

No, you're not. I just had to choose a scheme, and I chose the one that was the most common when I initially released Butler.  
(Version 4.0b21)

PETER MAURER  > -i wish i would get a system error window when Butler crashes.

When does it crash? It really shouldn't do that too often... ;-)

> -make the docklet scalable; i would like to be able to size the icons similarly to those in the Dock.

That's one of the many things on my to-do list.

> ... half-useful unless i can get at my iPod through it.

I'll see what I can do.

> ... it would be great if the search box resized itself, or if the menus collapsed into a single icon (that perhaps would open in a docklet beneath the menu bar accordion-mode-style when moused over) when this occurred.

Right. Unfortunately, this is very hard to achieve, but I'll keep trying.

> ... if they actually launched in one tabbed window as Safari would do, rather than in a pile of separate windows.

Depends on your Browser settings. You can actually make Safari display these pages in tabs. Please have a look at Safari's "General" preferences.

> -finally, i would like it if the SmartItems for Application controls (Hide Frontmost, Hide Others, Quit/Kill Frontmost, etc.) picked up the name of whatever application is frontmost at the time (Hide Safari, eg).

I'll think about that. Thank you very much for your thoughtful suggestions!  
(Version 4.0b21)

PETER MAURER  You might also want to try using a different browser. If that doesn't work, please contact me via e-mail:

mail@petermaurer.de  
(Version 4.0b21)

PETER MAURER  Let's just try to calm down a bit, shall we? Everybody's entitled to their own opinion, and if someone finds EUR14,95 too expensive, then that's that. Use the freeware mode, which I'm sure Dirk will be happy to fix, or use another calendar. (There might also be a problem with your setup, which causes your preferences to get corrupted. When approached politely, most developers will be more than willing to assist you with solving such a problem.)

The word "theft" is somewhat misplaced, however. Objectpark Software did not steal Menu Calendar, and they certainly didn't steal Calendarclock.

Lastly, I want to say that --in my humble opinion-- Axel's comment was indeed inappropriate. Try to think of it as an immediate, slightly allergic reaction. I'm sure Axel would delete that comment if he could.  
(Version 1.5)

PETER MAURER  I had been looking for something like this for ages. Having used FinderIconCM for about a year now, all I can say is that it's one of those utilities I install on any Mac I encounter ;-)  
(Version 2.3)

PETER MAURER  Here's what he means: Go to the "Menus" preferences and move the "Menu cache..." slider to the right.  
(Version 4.0b20)

PETER MAURER  You can already do that. Just use a "Display IP number" item instead of a "IP number menu". Alternatively, you can move the IP number menu to any submenu of your Butler menus.  
(Version 2.0)

PETER MAURER  And you wouldn't have written this comment if you were Japanese ;-)  
(Version 3.3a)

PETER MAURER  I really thought I had included a "Not available for Mac OS X 10.2" warning for Jaguar users.

There is indeed no fast user switching in Mac OS X 10.2. Fast user switching was a new feature in Panther. I thought this was self-evident. Sorry.  
(Version 4.0b19)

PETER MAURER  Could you please contact me via e-mail? Thanks!  
(Version 4.0b18)

PETER MAURER  Installing TinkerTool is one of the first steps when I'm setting up a Mac. I could hardly live without it.

However, I have one minor request: Please consider making the tool bar customizable. Applying that change shouldn't take much more than a minute...  
(Version 3.3)

PETER MAURER  I would definitely have a look at these Tiger issues -- if only I had access to Tiger ;-)  
(Version 4.0b18)

PETER MAURER  > 1) on the detail panel, the blue "i" icon and the

> "mumenu" icon both link to the mac update

> page. pick the icon you want and just give us

> the link once.

Do you really think that it would be self-evident for all users to click the menu item with the short description for more information?

> 2) I was very disappointed that "Sort Updates

> by License" gives the updates by alpha within

> license. the purpose of this software is to

> show what is new, the sort should be "newest

> to oldest" within license, or a choice should be

> offered.

You're probably right about that one. Contact me via e-mail if you want to beta-test a version that behaves as you suggested.  
(Version 2.1)

PETER MAURER  Just wanted to second Joel's request: Could you please let us know a few more details about the application in question? Thanks!  
(Version 2.0)

PETER MAURER  Q: Will Calendarclock stop working?

A: It won't -- unless there are severe changes to the operating system.

Q: Will Butler go the same way?

A: No. Actually, having more time to focus on Butler once again was one reason for merging Calendarclock with Menu Calendar.  
(Version 1.0)

PETER MAURER  Try option-clicking on the striped button.  
(Version 1.0b2)

PETER MAURER  Try option-clicking on the striped button.  
(Version 1.0b2)

PETER MAURER  > if i use right, Calendarclock is positioned at the far left of my menubar

That's weird. Could you please e-mail a screenshot of this situation? Thanks!  
(Version 1.0b2)

PETER MAURER  As stated, in the Q & A section of Calendarclock's help files: It's fairly easy to create system-like "menu extras", but it's not supported by Apple. (Read: Might break with any system update.)

Moreover, doing so requires "hacking" the system -- you'll have to install MenuCracker or something like that. MenuMeters, for instance, does that automatically.

I don't want to do that. I'll wait until Apple officially supports menu extras. Sorry.  
(Version 1.0b1)

PETER MAURER  > I would also like to have the ability to switch between showing only today's iCal events and the larger list without visiting the preferences

As stated in Calendarclock's help files: Click on the header section of the calendar's events listing (i.e., where it says "Events" or "July 28, 2004") to toggle between current-day and current-month mode.

Or were you asking for something different?  
(Version 1.0b1)

PETER MAURER  > It has not active links to iCal so that you can select a day and go to it in iCal for further details or editing.

Doube click on any day and see what happens... ;-)  
(Version 1.0b1)

PETER MAURER  You're absolutely right. I have tried to do that before, but I haven't managed yet to make the system tell me if my NSStatusItem is visible or if it's not.

If anybody knows how to do this: Please let me know!  
(Version 4.0b16)

PETER MAURER  What exactly does "can't click on any of the items" mean? Do the items still invert? Does Butler log any errors in console.log?

Please contact me via e-mail. Thanks!  
(Version 4.0b16)

PETER MAURER  @Kevin: I'm afraid right now, Butler is only capable of reading favicons from Safari's icons cache. That might change, though... ;-)  
(Version 4.0b15)

PETER MAURER  :-D  
(Version 4.0b14)

PETER MAURER  D9, could you please e-mail me at mail@petermaurer.de? I'd like to ask you a question about the differences between Snard and Butler. Thanks!  
(Version 2.3)

PETER MAURER  As far as searching the web from the abbreviations window is concerned, I'm afraid it is indeed impossible to include spaces. I'll change this as soon as possible.

Thanks for pointing this one out!  
(Version 4.0b14)

PETER MAURER  Just wanted to let you know that there seems to be a problem with the Korean localization. I'll try to sort this out as soon as possible.  
(Version 4.0b12)

PETER MAURER  Actually, the iTunes library is on my to-do list.  
(Version 4.0b11)

PETER MAURER  Please ignore my last posting. Somehow, I must have hit the wrong "Reply" button.

Anyway, on to your requests:

1. icon from the site

-- Do you use Safari? Butler will use Safari's favicons, depending on the settings you've made in the "Menus" category of Butler's preferences.

2. it would be very nice if in docklet form, you could hold your mouse over the first layer of menu's to open them, instead of clicking

-- Works for me (and most other users). Could you send an e-mail with more details?

3. An easy way to browse menu's without using a mouse?

-- Use OS X's standard menu navigation keys: the arrow keys.

4. when you realize you have 15 applications open and only need three, there is still no easy way I've found to close those dozen applications

-- The fastest way to do this is probably Apple's command-tab keyboard shortcut. While holding the command key, you can switch applications by pressing the tab key, and you can quit applications by pressing the q key. Release the command key when you're done.  
(Version 4.0b11)

PETER MAURER  Have a look at the bottom of Safari's "General" preference pane. There, you can configure Safari to open URLs in new tabs instead of new windows.  
(Version 4.0b11)

PETER MAURER.  Have a look at the bottom of Safari's "General" preference pane. There, you can configure Safari to open URLs in new tabs instead of new windows.  
(Version 4.0b11)

PETER MAURER  I've never heard of that one before. Could you please e-mail Butler's crash log (at "/Users/(you)/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/Butler.crash.log").

Thanks!  
(Version 4.0b9)

PETER MAURER  Another slight bugfix in Butler 4.0b9...

There was a tiny little bug in the original Butler 4.0b9 which made the abbreviations window's reactions slower than necessary. Those who have downloaded Butler 4.0b9 before I posted this note might want to consider downloading it again.

Sorry for the hassle!  
(Version 4.0b9)

PETER MAURER  Send me an e-mail and I'll e-mail it to you!  
(Version 4.0b3)

PETER MAURER  From the developer: Does AL 3.2 crash on you?

Some users reported a crash while they tried to access AL's menus. If you're experiencing something similar, please contact me at mail@petermaurer.de! I'll send you a beta version of AL 3.2.1, which should solve this problem.  
(Version 3.2)

PETER MAURER  s_kalb: Feel free to send me your Data.plist file (to be found in (your user folder)/Library/Application Support/Another Launcher/).

BTW, version 1.0 will fix this problem automatically -- though I still don't understand how this could happen. Whatever, Another Launcher is now 10 lines of code longer, especially for you!   
(Version 1.0)