Boosted productivity with Butler
Where to start this? Butler is simply one of those tools you won’t be able to live without, once you have it.
It will enable you to launch programs, remote control iTunes or open internet bookmarks. Butler can even enter text for you. And so much more. All this with only a bunch of keystrokes (or less).
Butler will react to a keyboard shortcut (default control-space) and bring up a little input window. As you enter text, the results will pop up on the fly.
You see, all search results, somewhere contain the letters “mac”. The results can be applications, web sites, contacts, bookmarks, etc. All ready to be launched only by a stroke of the Enter/Return key. A huge time saver. But let’s take it step by step.
Installation
Butler is freeware and available here.In brief (for more experienced users): Download, install into the Application directory and run Butler. Jump ahead to Did it start already?In detail: Just read on, we take it step by step.
Click the disk image in your Downloads Stack. After agreeing on the terms of license, the following window shows up. To install butler on your hard drive, you need to drag it to your Applications directory.
Click the button in the upper right corner to reveal the Finder Sidebar.
Now, drag the program icon (read the cartoon head) to the Applications directory.
Finally, unmount the disk image, by clicking the eject button next to it in Finder’s device list.
Now locate Butler in your Applications directory and launch it.
Did it start already?
After Butler has started, nothing appears to have changed. But it’s there - in the background - waiting for you to call for it. Like a real butler.
One thing however changed. Look at the icons in your menu bar. You see three new items - a computer, a globe and a Google search box. Take a look what they offer.
- The computer (an old iMac) allows you directly access Folder, Music or System Preferences.
- The globe contains some predefined bookmarks, as well as all bookmarks from every major browser.
- The Google search box allows you to perform a Google search right from the menu bar. Not even a browser needs to be open.
Usage
While this is nice for itself, it’s only one way of interacting with Butler. Let’s meet the more powerful abbreviation window.
Press and hold the control key and press the space bar. The empty abbreviation window pops up, waiting for you to enter the name of an application, bookmark, etc.
Let’s say, we want to start Safari to browse the web. Simply start to type Safari. As you type, the results list will be update on-the-fly.Select an item by using the up/down arrow keys.Press the enter/return key to open the highlighted item.
So far, so good. But I can launch programs by name also with Spotlight, you might say. That’s true, but Butler supports much more.
For example:
- Launch applications
- Launch bookmarks, created in any major web browser
- Launch Songs/Albums/Playlists from iTunes
- Launch Address Book information
- Launch web addresses (without being bookmarked)
And much more. Too much to go into every detail right now, but we will have more posts, on how to customize and tweak Butler, in the future.
We will have a number of posts, starting tomorrow, on how to use and customize Butler. Be sure to check back.
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Tags: Butler, freeware, internet, keyboard shortcut, launcher, productivity
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