Launching apps: Beyond the Dock

Smart Mac users explain how they open and manage their applications.

Sure, you could use the Dock and the Applications folder to launch applications. But there are plenty of ways to tweak OS X to make that everyday chore easier, from launchers like LaunchBar to customized hot-key shortcuts.

Launch only applications

While some folks use application launchers like Butler and Quicksilver to manage files and apps, We like to use my favorite launcher—Objective Development’s LaunchBar —only to launch apps and AppleScripts and to perform calculations; We like Spotlight just fine for finding files. So We configured LaunchBar to show me only what We want: We pressed Command-Y to open the Configuration dialog box and then deselcted everything except Applications, Preference Panes, and a customized list that contains the Java application We use to play Go (it doesn’t display as a regular application) and a handful of AppleScripts. We can then press Command-Spacebar, type a couple of characters, and launch just the applications We want, without wading through a lot of documents and other stuff We don’t.

Apps in the Finder toolbar

We put Preview and TextWrangler in the Finder toolbar. That way, We can drag just about any kind of file up there to open it. This is particularly handy when double-clicking a file doesn’t open it in the correct program. Also, it gives me some flexibility: Say that I’ve told the system to open .jpg files with Photoshop when We double-click on them. But what if just want to see what’s in the file, without waiting for Photoshop to open? We can drag the image file up to the toolbar and drop it on the Preview icon to preview it.

More apps in the Finder toolbar

We use the Finder toolbar to hold icons for utility programs that We use all the time: Fetch, my VPN client, Automator, Activity Monitor, Keychain Access, and others. We put them there because We was opening them a lot when working with files (to FTP them, for example) or when taking care of basic housekeeping chores. Moreover, when We need to perform system maintenance—such as sorting out an erroneous password in Keychain—it’s helpful to turn to the Finder, because We think of the Finder as my system’s main interface; We associate it with tasks that don’t require dedicated applications (Web browsing, productivity, and so on). We could put the shortcuts to these utilities in the Dock, but We prefer to reserve that for applications and documents.

Better services

I’ve seldom found a use for OS X’s Services menu, because We can accomplish most of the things it lets me do more easily in other ways. But there’s one exception: DevonTechnologies’ free WordService. You install WordService by dragging a file to yourusername/Library/Services, but that one file adds 34 commands to your Services menu, and they enable you to manipulate text in many useful ways with a single click. My most frequently used of these commands is Format -> Reformat (Command-Shift-7), which removes the line breaks from a selection, turning multiple lines into a paragraph—useful when pasting text from e-mail messages, PDFs, or Web pages. Other commands change the capitalization of selected text, sort lines, and turn quotation marks curly or straight (as you wish), for example.

A better clipboard

OS X’s built-in Clipboard is fine, but We prefer PTH Consulting’s $25 PTHPasteboard Pro. Like other OS X Clipboard managers, PTHPasteboard Pro saves a history of everything We copy or cut onto the Clipboard, so We can go back and paste something again without having to find its source. In fact, We can even search my Clipboard history for something We copied days or weeks ago (a serial number, say, or a paragraph from a document We was writing). In addition, PTHPasteboard Pro can alter the text on a clipboard, removing styles, removing certain characters, even performing complex pattern-matching transformations while pasting. If you copy a URL, for example, it can use a service such as TinyURL.com to paste a shorter version with just an extra click.—Joe Kissell

With PTHPasteboard Pro, Joe Kissell can search through weeks of his Clipboard history and transform text while he's pasting.

Type less

You probably know you can use TextExpander to insert blocks of frequently used text by typing far shorter “snippets”; when We type addy, for example, TextExpander inserts my full mailing address. But We also use TextExpander to run shell commands and AppleScripts whenever We type a few characters of text. For example, I’ve got a shell script that uses PlainClip to convert the contents of my Clipboard to plain text and then to paste that text into the current document or program. We set up TextExpander to run that script whenever We type ptp (for “plain text paste”).

Replicating Launcher

We still miss OS 9’s Launcher. We tried using the Dock, but We really hate the way it combines launching and switching apps. We tried DragThing, but We found it annoying. So instead We created a folder called Launcher, in which We then nested subfolders such as Apps, Internet, and Utilities. Then We put aliases of my applications in those folders. Finally, We put a copy of this Launcher folder in the Dock, right-clicked on it, and set it to List view. Now We get a nested pop-up menu that gives me access to all my programs, and We can use the Dock purely as an application switcher.—Matthew Cunningham

Configure hot keys with HotApp

While OS X has some support for universal keyboard shortcuts, We use HotApp instead. With its preference pane, We can assign keyboard shortcuts to launch applications; open folders, files, or preference panes; paste text; mount disks; trigger AppleScripts; open URLs; trigger system events (such as starting my screen saver or hiding all apps but the Finder); and way more.