2003–12–04

LaunchBar Rocks the House

Thought I’d write up a review on yet another Mac software gem: LaunchBar. This is an app that I could not do without. In fact, I think it is the best utility yet for Mac OSX. LaunchBar will launch anything! Applications, files, websites, and as of the latest version (still in beta testing) even addresses in your address book!

LaunchBar resides quietly in the upper right of your screen. You can choose to have it’s menu item display or not. If you want to activated it via the mouse you’ll want to have it displayed in the menu. I have it hidden because I prefer the super fast keyboard activation Command-Spacebar. This makes more sense with this application because it is a keyboard driven application. No need to slow down to do a mouse action!

Here’s how it works. When it’s first launched LaunchBar will scan folders and files that you have set-up in the preferences. The default preference settings are a good start so you may not need to add anything. It’s a quick scan of about 15 seconds and you’ll hardly notice that it’s happening. This only happens when the application is launched. I have it set as a login item so it launches at login and I never shut it down. From then on all I have to do is hit Command-Space and then start typing. As I type it brings up applications, files, folders, addresses, Safari bookmarks.

If I need to send an email to my friend Casey I can Command-Space, type Casey, scroll down the list of her email addresses and when I get to the email address I want to use I hit return. Up pops an email addressed to Casey. How cool is that? If I need a phone number, again I begin typing a person’s name (first name or last, both will work) and instantly their name comes up with a separate listing for each phone number. Use the arrow keys or mouse and return/click on the one you want and the address is displayed in a nice, semi-transparent window stretched across the screen… large enough to be seen from across the room if need be.

Let me emphasize, that LaunchBar searches as you type and it is nearly instantaneous. To sum it up, at any point, using any application, I can jump to LaunchBar and in less than 4 seconds i can find any file on my hard drive (provided i know at least part of the name), any phone number or email in my address book, jump to any bookmarked website, or launch any application.

Sweet.