Quicksilver

Name: Quicksilver
Rating: 5 (75 reviews)

1.6.0

13 March 2019

Application launcher and much more.

Overview

Quicksilver is a light, fast and free Mac application that gives you the power to control your Mac with keystrokes alone.

Quicksilver allows you to find what you need quickly and easily, then act upon these objets as you see fit. All with your fingers on the keyboard. As an example, if you want to find an application hidden in the depths of your file system, simply activate Quicksilver with a keystroke, type a few letters of the application's name, then hit Return or Enter to launch it, or tab and type to find an action such as Quit, Trash, Email To..., Run at Login, Move To..., Get Info, Reveal, the list goes on.

Quicksilver indexes and parses only selected parts of the contents of your hard drive in the Catalog, which means it locates and displays the items matching your search quickly. Quicksilver has a modular structure which means features for interaction with a whole host of of other applications (iTunes, 1Password, Safari, Microsoft Office) can be done after installing the relevant plugin.

What's new in Quicksilver

Version 1.6.0:

New:

Touch Bar support
Provide descriptions when permission to access Contacts, interact with other applications, etc. is requested

Changed:

Improvements to the disk image used during installation

Fixed:

Small fixes for the default string ranker

Quicksilver Screenshots

356 Quicksilver Reviews

See all

Version 1.5.9 is out, dated March 12, 2018.

I use Quicksilver all day, every day and am grateful for its existence. However, it has some consistent, long-term problems that the developers willfully ignore. Here are a few:

• The auto update process runs to what appears to be completion, then it FAILs, forcing the user to manually download the latest version, Quit running Quicksilver, then manually install the app and run it.

• If there are plugin updates available, the list window isn't smart enough to allow scrolling within the space provided by your desktop. Instead, it can run off the bottom of the desktop, making it impossible to see all the updates or click the button at the bottom to install them.

• The version Changes web page hasn't been titled. If you want to save it, you have to manually name it from 'Untitled'.

• It often provides geeky, obscure notification messages that are entirely useless. For example, "Unable to locate 1Password logins Please set the 1Password 3rd party integration file'..." means what? Good luck ungeeking the lingo..

I've also found it dangerous to update to the latest version, creating what is for me the unique situation of avoiding updates. When I do update, I save a copy of the currently working version first in order to be able to restore it if the new version of Quicksilver manages to break something, which it notoriously has in the past.

General conclusion: Great software with long term incoherent, geek inflicted quirks. As such, I'd never recommend it to Granny. Therefore, I knock off 2 stars in the score. Ungeeking it would earn it 5 stars.

Like (3)

Version 1.5.8

3 answer(s)

Derekcurrie

12 March 2019

Interesting: Exactly one year later, Quicksilver is updated at long bloody last to v1.6.0. If this version stops the crash Crash CRASH on macOS Mojave, I will be singing their praises again. Here goes! . . .

Derekcurrie

12 March 2019

...Never mind. v1.6.0 is from September 2018, and is the version that crash Crash CRASHES on Mojave. I'm moving back to v1.5.8 (since v1.5.9 also spontaneously combusts). Bleh.

dboc

05 May 2019

Do you have a link to the GitHub Issue for the crash you are seeing? Briefly searched open issues for crash + mojave and was unable to find anything:
https://github.com/quicksilver/Quicksilver/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+crash+mojave

Like (1)

Derekcurrie

26 March 2017

v1.5.3 is out today

Version 1.5.2

Good app, free and nice but I don't see any considerable differences from the Spotlight option on a Mac. I suppose, it will be helpful if you have huge amount of apps, folders and files which are not in a good order, then Quicksilver is a great decision.

Like (1)

Version 1.5.2

1 answer(s)

mugsuk

07 May 2017

this indicates that you are using Quicksilver as a launcher only - there is a MASSIVE difference between what Quicksilver and Spotlight do. Quicksilver is infinitely more than a launcher

Like (1)

This is an app that I must have. It provides much more than what Spotlight has. A bit confusing at first when trying to configure for more advanced operations but excellent nevertheless.

Like (3)

Version 1.4.1

Derekcurrie

21 June 2016

The current version is 1.4.2, which is what downloads. As ever, if your installed version of Quicksilver is working, either DON'T update it, or backup the current version first just in case the new version throws bugs at you and you need to revert back again.

Like (1)

Version 1.4.1

As usual: BEWARE updating Quicksilver. Every single time I've updated Quicksilver on my systems, it has CHOKED. I end up going back to the only version that I've ever found to reliably work for my setup: v1.1.3. Sadly, going back a version in Quicksilver can means your triggers are all screwed up with little "?" marks next to the, meaning you have to literally set them up from scratch all over again. And yes, if you complain to the project team, they'll get all defensive and denial mode on you. So don't bother. Just use the version that works. If you see a newer version, DO NOT UPGRADE until you've tested it out on some other test volume. Don't screw up your working Quicksilver setup for the sake of yet-another buggy update. And no, I won't honor rants in opposition to what I've said above. I've been through this damnable ritual too many times to bother going into flame warz over it. Just be glad if you figured out how to set up Quicksilver and have it working for you. What's wrong with version 1.3.0? It's activity simply drops dead without any notice or warning. Nothing programmed in it works any more. You have to reboot the thing and hope it now works again. Or better yet, go back to the version of Quicksilver that wasn't buggy for you. It's great that its free! But you get what you pay for. Headaches are not worth paying for.

Like (2)

Version 1.3.0

been using this for close to 10yrs - first app I install whenever I update the OS; can do almost anything, and I find myself adding it to different workflows all the time.

Like (1)

Version 1.2.2

Quicksilver

Overview

What's new in Quicksilver

New:

Changed:

Fixed:

Quicksilver Screenshots

356 Quicksilver Reviews

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