Tips¶

A collection of tips for Quicksilver, originally posted on the @LoveQuicksilver Twitter account.

Pressing ⌫ while typing resets the search text without removing the Object in pane 1. Press it again to clear pane 1.
Dismissed Quicksilver and want to search the last object's folder again? Activate QS, press ← then → and it's ready to search.
Instead of using → and ← to browse in Quicksilver, try / and ?.
⌥→ into folders when browsing in Quicksilver to see hidden files and folders. Also allows you to directly get into packages (e.g., .app, .pages, .rtfd).
Paste a path like ~/Downloads directly into pane 1. Quicksilver will change it to a file. Or type it in; its icon will show when QS finds a matching path.
Get the last Quicksilver object by invoking QS and hitting ⌘[ (Last Object Proxy). Useful if the 1st pane is wiped accidentally.

Actions and Execution¶

Hit ⌘⇧(letter) in Quicksilver to launch the default Action for ⇧(letter). For example, ⌘⇧O executes Open (if it's the default for "O").
Reveal in Finder instead of Open: With a file in the 1st pane, ⇥, ⌘↩ to use the "alternate" Action. Check it out with other Actions!
Enable "Capitalized keys modify action in command window" in Preferences → Extras to avoid having to tab to alter the Action.
Right-click on an Object in pane 1 to see its alphabetical list of available Actions. Great for an overview.
Hold a key for a tad longer in Quicksilver to avoid having to press ↩. Try it: Press and hold "a", and the default for "a" is acted upon.
If you press ⌃↩ instead of ↩, Quicksilver combines the panes so you can choose Run after Delay in pane 2, and enter a time period in pane 3. Cool for Triggers!

Make a Trigger for Downloads ⇥ Show Contents. Instant results without putting the contents in the Catalog or waiting for a rescan.
Make a Trigger for Airport ⇥ Show Contents to get a list of available networks. Instant access.
If you've installed the iTunes module for Quicksilver, check out the iTunes-specific triggers, e.g., "Show Playing Track".
Can't find an Action when making a Trigger? Try ⌘C from pane 2 of Quicksilver in normal use, then ⌘V into pane 2 of Trigger creation.
Launch and hide your most common applications with Triggers in Quicksilver: Set up a Trigger: (application(s)) ⇥ Toggle Application.

Quicksilver as Launchpad: Make a Trigger for Applications (Catalog) ⇥ Show Contents. Fully searchable!
To search by file extension, make sure Quicksilver's Search Mode is set to "Filter Results".
Make a custom Catalog entry for /Volumes (⌥→ into /) with a depth of 1. Quick access to any connected storage from Quicksilver.
To add to the custom Catalog, don't use the "+" button at the bottom — drag a file/folder from Quicksilver's interface into the list.
Bump results up the list by clicking the dot beside the entry to "Set as Default". Or use the Assign Abbreviation Action.
Plugins labelled with a "(+)" need "Enable advanced features" in Quicksilver's Preferences → Application pane to work.

Use the Shelf/Clipboard to store/paste special characters. Make Shelf ⇥ Show Contents into a trigger.
Navigate folders from Quicksilver's Shelf. Find them with a Shelf ⇥ Show Contents Trigger.
Add a color to Quicksilver's Shelf from the Color Picker, then paste it onto selected text to change its color.
Remove clipboard text formatting/make plain text in Quicksilver. Set up a Trigger with: pbpaste | pbcopy (Run Command in Shell).

Alter Quicksilver's command window colours in Preferences → Appearance. You can enable/disable glass/shadows and alter colours.
Open the Quicksilver interface with a single key by enabling the "Modifier-only Activation" setting in Preferences → Command.
Set up Quicksilver to activate with a single or double tap of either ⌘, ⌥, ⌃, ⇪ or fn in Preferences → Command.
Set the spacebar behavior to "Jump to Argument Field" in Preferences → Command. Space gets the first Command using pane 3. Default: Open, space: Open With...
Make Quicksilver even faster! Try setting "Show other matches" to "Never" or "Delayed" in the Preferences → Command.
Show results in Quicksilver's 1st pane more quickly by reducing the "Wait before searching" time in Preferences → Command. Try 0.00s.
View more results in the drop-down Results List by altering the Row Height in Preferences → Command. Try setting it to 26.

Pipe files to Quicksilver from Terminal by installing the Command Line Tool plugin. Usage: qs file or put on the Shelf using qs -s file.
Get selected text into Quicksilver: check "Send to Quicksilver" in Keyboard System Preferences.
Type = in the 1st pane to enter Quicksilver's Calculator mode. Simple math only, and requires the Calculator Module.
Use plain text files as snippet libraries searchable from pane 1: make a Trigger for (plain text file) ⇥ Show Contents.
Quit and Relaunch multiple applications with the comma trick. Invoke Quicksilver, type your applications (comma separated) ⇥ Quit or Relaunch, ↩ — done.
Use the first pane to locate files and then drag and drop, e.g., for attachments.
Relaunch Quicksilver easily by activating the interface and holding ⌘⌃Q.