Comments on: Mac OS X: Keyboard shortcuts to launch any application

By: Anusha

Anusha — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 02:19:02 +0000

it works always if you use AutoHotKey. the shortcut keys in windows is broken, in that sometimes it takes a long time to open the app.

By: conrad

conrad — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 19:43:01 +0000

Thanks, I didn’t know about NotLight, even though I’m a fan of Matt Neuberg’s work including MemoryStick. That’s a great tip for finding anything with Spotlight, although the scope of this post is largely concerned with software in the Applications and Utilities folders, which are successfully found with Spotlight itself.

Where NotLight might come in handy with applications is when you’re trying to launch one that’s buried in a folder hidden from Spotlight, like an Epson print queue or the Character Viewer.

By: J.parish

J.parish — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 18:59:42 +0000

The problem with this spotlight solution is that Spotlight does not allow nor use the full index available on the Mac. So many file and or folders are not available via spotlight. A free search utility, NotLight by matt neuberg does use commands that will allow a user to search for files, including via file name, content, kind and others, that Spotlight and even 3rd party apps such as Houdah Spot will not find.

By: conrad

conrad — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:59:20 +0000

Cool…thanks for adding information to the discussion. I might try that software too.

By: Yasha

Yasha — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 07:51:36 +0000

follow-up to my Aug 6 post: have been trying Nulana’s Shortcuts 1.3. It’s very simple, not intended for power users, but – so far – it’s doing the job.

By: Yasha

Yasha — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 20:52:45 +0000

They were simply examples… If you’re curious: I set Ctrl+Alt+P to launch (and subsequently switch to) the Palm Desktop, which is (still…) the software I use the most. Ctrl+Alt+H launches an excel spreadsheet with my time sheet and other useful stuff (for the life of me I can’t recall when or why I opted for that combo!).
Thanks for suggesting QuicKeys: I am not upgrading to Lion yet, so it could be worth a try

By: conrad

conrad — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 16:16:32 +0000

You are correct, of course; I’ve known about that Windows feature for years and Mac OS has never had a way to assign a key to an application. And in that case Witch will not be exactly what you’re looking for. To assign a single key to launch an application on a Mac, you need to use a third-party utility such as QuicKeys (http://startly.com/products/quickeys/mac/4/), but their web site says they’re not Lion-compatible yet.

What I wasn’t sure about were the Ctrl+Alt+H or Ctrl+Alt+P shortcuts you mentioned…what do those do in Windows? Or were they simply examples of the shortcuts you had chosen for your application?

By: Yasha

Yasha — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 07:03:24 +0000

Thanks Conrad, I’ll check Witch out later today. As to shortcuts in Windows 7, you don’t need a third party software. Right-click (almost) any icon, pick “properties”, you’ll find a field labelled “Shortcut key”: you can enter (almost) any combination there. If you do this with one-window programs (such as the Palm Desktop) or single files, you can jump to that program/file immediately, no matter how many windows/programs you have open. It is definitely faster than CMD+TAB or ALT+TAB.

By: conrad

conrad — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 17:52:50 +0000

I just pressed Ctrl+Alt+H or Ctrl+Alt+P in Windows 7 and they did nothing, and Google only lists those shortcuts for third-party Windows applications. Are you using third-party software on Windows to enable those shortcuts?

On the Mac, see if the useful Witch utility will do what you want, because it lets you access any open window immediately with a keyboard shortcut.
http://manytricks.com/witch/

By: Yasha

Yasha — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 17:27:55 +0000

four years on…. spotlight’s still great but it still doesn’t beat windows’ way of jumping between applications/files. When you have a couple dozens of them open, nothing beats using shortcuts such as Ctrl+Alt+H or Ctrl+Alt+P to make a certain window active. Anyone knows of a Mac App that could give OS X the same functionality? LaunchBar does not seem to tackle this well.