Software |

Apple Users! This One’s For You

Posted by | Software | Wednesday 27 May 2009 10:13 pm

Browsing around, I find there is a new version of LaunchBar. A new version of LaunchBar calls for a celebration. So now that LaunchBar 5 is available, lets get out the bubbly.

LaunchBar has been one of my all-time favorite Mac OS X applications for many years. LaunchBar gives you instant access to everything on your hard drive that’s of any importantance: applications, documents, contacts, bookmarks, songs, anything else you have stashed there. Press a hot key and type a few letters. In seconds, LaunchBar finds everything on your hard drive (or drives) that matches.

It’s very similar to OS X’s Spotlight feature, only it is smarter. It learns your preferences. For example, if you type “f-i-n” and select Final Cut Pro from the LaunchBar list a couple of times, LaunchBar assumes that you are looking for Final Cut Pro when you type “f-i-n” and moves Final Cut Pro to the top of the list. Now just press Return or Enter to launch it or press the Spacebar or right-arrow key to see a list of recent Final Cut Pro projects. The application on the hard drive is named “Final Cut Pro,” but LaunchBar knows that when I type “f-i-n,” I’m looking for Final Cut Pro. And it works just as well for other data, including documents, folders, contacts, songs and much more.
Great new features in LaunchBar 5 include:

• • Mac OS X Quick Look: After LaunchBar finds a file, you can press the Spacebar or Command + Y to preview the item.

• • Create new events and to-do items for iCal support with LaunchBar.

• • Clipboard History: Preserves data from recent Copy operations so you can use the copied data again later.

• • ClipMerge: Combine multiple Copy operations into a single Clipboard item so all of the items you copied can be pasted at once. I just love this feature to death.

This has been a tool on my systems since v4 of LaunchBar.
Don’t just take my word for it. Download LaunchBar 5 and take advantage of the free 30-day trial. If you are like me, you will buy it when the 30 day trial is over. You can download it here: