Mac Apps: QuicKeys
Posted by: kmikeym | From: June 22, 2006
Have you ever tried using Automator? While it may win the Cutest Icon award I find it to be the most frustrating underdeveloped waste of space ever. When I was at WWDC in 2004 they showed it off and boasted about how anyone would now be able to create work-flows using the very clean looking visualization tool of stacking actions on each other. I was pumped! But in the end, unless you want to automate Mail and Safari you are out of luck. Few apps are supported, and of those, even fewer have any actions worth using. I've given up on Automator.
There is a company that makes a great application to automate work-flows that will actually save you time. Startly is the creator of QuicKeys, an "automation utility specifically designed for Mac OS X."
There is a free 30 day trial, so while steep, you have the chance to try it out for a while to see if you really need it. Unfortunately QuicKeys has a steep price of $79.95. YIKES! But that is the only downside I have found. I wanted to make a pretty easy process and created it without any help in about ten minutes. There was a little fumbling just figuring out which command I needed, but once I found the right one it made perfect sense.
Any action that you find yourself doing over and over seems like a candidate for QuicKeys, and if it's enough that it saves you some work, it might even be worth the $80 price tag. I'm very happy with this app, and I might even buy it, but the high price hurts this app as it makes it difficult to recommend to anyone but the most dedicated Mac user.
I like it.
(Click below for a breakdown of how I created my first shortcut, a hotkey to launch Bananachat.)
Setting Up A Shortcut
When you launch the app you get the QuicKeys Editor window. There are a number of example actions that have been pre-built and they also offer examples of the kinds of things you can do. Without really looking at the current options I clicked on New Shortcut.
I was happy with the simple initial instruction of the arrow to the "+" symbol. Many apps provide no initial guide on how to start using them, which is a common frustration.
I started out clicking on the "+" for Steps. Under System there was Switch Applications.
Configuring this step took a little guesswork, but it was pretty intuitive. From Action I chose "Switch To Specified".
And then from Switch to: I chose iChat, and clicked on "Open if not running".
So now I have launched iChat and given it the focus. This is already outside the scope of Automator as iChat isn't an Automator enabled app. So now I click the "+" again and pick my next action. This is where I had a tiny bit of trouble. I kept looking under "Text", but what I wanted was under "User Actions".
Then I simply typed in the command:
This is the iChat command for "Go to chat..." Next I add an action for "Type Text":
And enter the text I want it to type..
And then I set one last action to hit return. (back to the User Actions, Type Keystroke)
And then we go up to the Scopes & Triggers and click the "+" button.
I changed "All Applications" to "Finder", and left everything else the same, so whenever I'm in the Finder (not in another app) and hit F3, I can launch Bananachat!
Then I saved the shortcut and closed all the windows for QuicKeys. I also opened the preferences of QuicKeys and removed the icon from the dock, as it is in the Menu Bar.
I also set QuicKeys to launch on restart, so all my shortcuts are ready to go! I'm looking forward to building some work-flows that are a little more complicated.
Turner is actually from "Ted Turner". I name my drives after Media Moguls. :)
Posted by: Mikey at July 7, 2006 10:29 AM
I seeeee. Very eenteresting.
And the little Mercury symbol in your menu? (I don't mean to pry; just curious...)
Posted by: David at July 7, 2006 12:00 PM
Ah, that is Quicksilver, which is a GREAT app I should write about.
Posted by: Mikey at July 7, 2006 1:41 PM
Quicksilver can do all of the automation/quick-key shortcuts that this app does ... and you already have it!
For instance, I built a keystroke that ties into Transmit, so when I update a web page and need to upload, I just command key it and off they go.
Check out Preferences/Triggers.
Posted by: mathew at July 12, 2006 10:22 AM
Wow, really? I haven't messed with Quicksilver beyond just the launcher... I will check it out!
Posted by: Mikey at July 12, 2006 10:50 AM
This looks very cool. However, what I really want to know is how you came to name your drive "Turner." I recently discovered that a friend of mine and I had both named multiple drives after staple-type food items. I'm wondering if drive-naming tendencies might be one of those important personality indicators, a sort of digital astrology...
And speaking of which, do you have some sort of astrology thing in your menu bar?!? What is that?
Posted by: David at July 7, 2006 1:46 AM