Discussion: BetterTouchTool Launcher / Spotlight Replacement (very much work in progress)

[Andreas_Hegenberg]

I have added a simple delete button for custom groups in 6.461 (uploading)

[yougotwill]

Thank you for the fast fix!

[StanN]

Please consider adding actions Quit and Force Quit:

[Andreas_Hegenberg]

if the app is running BTT already has quit and force quit:

I think your app is not running

[StanN]

hmmm, killed the proces and started again:

looks like espanso crashes silently

[tergiversation]

Very cool feature! I started playing around with it today to see how it compares to Quicksilver. A couple observations:

• I noticed that it currently doesn’t seem to be indexing applications in ~/Applications.
• Is it possible to add directories to scan for quick access rather than having to do a file search?
  • For example, I have a folder ~/Foo. If trigger the BTT launcher and type “foo,” it doesn’t appear unless I explicitly navigate to it in the File Browser.
  • Curiously, conducting a file search for “foo” doesn’t surface that folder even though it resides at ~/Foo

[yougotwill]

@Andreas_Hegenberg When typing a keyword for a launcher I would expect it to be the top search result if my query is an exact match. What do you think?

For example if I have the keyword “chats” assigned to a launcher, if I type “chats” I would expect it to be the top result.

[Andreas_Hegenberg]

ah yes, thanks. Will be fixed in the next build in a few minutes.

[yougotwill]

Thank you

Something else that I thought of is the ability to add launchers into groups. For example I have a number of named triggers for launching scripts. Would be great to add them to a “Scripts” Group.

Or are we supposed to use plugins for this behaviour?

[Andreas_Hegenberg]

Just create a group in the BTT UI and move your named triggers into that. Then make the group show up in the launcher:

[yougotwill]

Got it. Should have known there was a way to do this already. Thank you

[Andreas_Hegenberg]

This works for any group, e.g. if you have some trackpad gestures grouped in a folder but would like to make them available in the launcher as well you can enable that option on the group.

[yougotwill]

It works! But I noticed that the launchers are not using the title of the named triggers.

“Workspace” group/folder in launcher

The same named triggers found in the BTT actions section in the launcher

Triggers in main BTT GUI

I have already replaced 80% of my workflow in Raycast to the BTT launcher. You are doing amazing work!

[Andreas_Hegenberg]

Ah thanks, I'll fix that as well (you can override it per trigger, but that is extra work that should not be necessary)

[Andreas_Hegenberg]

BTT 6.468 is uploading now, it contains some fixes for the Launcher. Also I have updated the docs and added an example for dynamic content that is generated via some javascript - this can be very powerful:

Dynamically Generated Content | BetterTouchTool Documentation

Improvements:

• improved keyword search
• launcher window will no longer expand outside the visible screen area
• pressing the option key will now show items that have "Only Show If Prompt Matches Or If Nothing Else Matches" - even if the prompt matches some other item
• triggers included in the launcher now use the same display name as BTT's UI unless explicitly overridden via the launcher config
• the file browser now allows to add files or folders to the launcher (e.g. add some of your most used folders to the launcher)

[Frank1]

@Andreas_Hegenberg Just for your information. Certain sequences of actions only work via the launcher if you extend the pauses.

The sequence below takes 0.5 seconds with the launcher. With the shortcut, 0.2 seconds is enough.

I don't quite understand why. The first action is executed immediately in both cases.

[Frank1]

I've set up several lists that are triggered by different shortcuts.

The triggers in these lists don't seem to have an option to be added to the launcher. Can you add that, or how else could I solve this?

Edit: Ah, I can call up the entire list and then trigger something from that list.

Okay, but unfortunately that’s one extra step, and I have to know the names of the lists—I can’t call up the trigger names directly.

[Andreas_Hegenberg]

I'll add the launcher config to list items and to the configuration for "Show / Choose From List" (and for show custom context menu (new)) - so you can also just make the whole list available in the launcher as a subgroup

[Andreas_Hegenberg]

@Frank1 included in 6.470:

Either on list level:

Or on list item level:

Also updated the docs to show how to include dynamic webview items into the launcher:

Integrated Dynamic Web Content | BetterTouchTool Documentation

[Frank1]

Perfect, thank you!