[Gerrit Vanoppen]

Here's my setup, for now - hoping to learn from you all.

[Pix0r]

Here's mine!

Btw, does anyone have a battery meter plugin for butler? That would rock, also a clock would be cool... I fail to see why we must use 3million different apps when butler can do everything

[TheGUiTom]

My setup

[bmzollinhofer]

I mainly use butler for the hotkeys. Wonderfully effective.

For Example:

shift+option+S launches Safari
shift+option+; launches System Prefs
shift+option+P launches Pixadex

The keystokes is also great for not having to remember logins and passwords. Now all I do is hold down Ctrl+option+command+Y and it will automatically login to Yahoo. Ctrl+option+command+Q will automatically log me in to Quia, my online Quiz center for school. I also use it to launch applescripts (like Hide All) to completely hide all the programs that are up. A lot like expose, but as soon as you select the window in Expose, all the other windows still clutter up the background. With Hide All, the window you select comes forward while leaving the rest hidden until you want to see them. Very nice.

-Brian

(I'll be posting my screenshot as soon as I figure out how to save it as a .jpg not .pdf.)

[Acrimonium]

Preview.app : menu File/Export

[monkeybrain]

I primarily use mine for keystrokes too, well actually just to customize the Function keys:

F1 Web search
F2 Enter Abbreviation
F3 Expos�
F4 Expos�

F5 Sleep Mac
F6 Blank (so I don't press sleep accidently)
F7 Open Gmail in Camino
F8 Open Activity Monitor

F9 Display current iTunes track
F10 Bring iTunes to front
F11 Rewind track
F12 Fast Forward Track

F13 iTunes play/pause
F14 + I can't set to do anything

I also have option-command-V to show the recent pasteboards menu wherever the cursor is: very, very useful. (Why doesn't Apple implement multiple pasteboards? They are so useful!)

I also have iTunes controls and a menu in the menubar, but I hardly ever use those.

Butler is amazing, and free! Does so many things; shortcut launcher, multiple pasteboards, iTunes control, etc. It replaces so many other apps (which are also not free).

[TheSpaz]

Ummm could someone pretty please explain Butler? I've never heard of it... what exactly does it do?

[bmzollinhofer]

First of all, go get the program. It is one of the best programs I have ever used.

It lets you set hotkey combinations for pretty much anything you would want to do. I use it to launch programs, launch menulets (I don't know what you would call them), create your own menulets which you can then launch, launch a website by a touch of a few keys. I use it to mount different servers, and then use a different key combination to automatically launch an applescript which automatically updates my website (for my student's homework).

The best way to understand it's capabilities is to get it and play with it. And best of all, it is donateware. It doesn't nag you, just asks you to donate if you think the program is worth it.

I hope this helps a little.

-Brian

[bentoon]

how does it compare to quicksilver?
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/14831

I just downloaded both - it seems QSilver is also free (at least for the meanwhile)

J

[monkeybrain]

Well there's a pretty huge debate about which is best over Quicksilver and Butler. I find Butler to be faster. key differences I see:

Butler lets you create menus in the menubar, and displays notifications for iTunes track change (like synergy).

Quicksilver is more a file launcher/manipulation program. What this means is that you press a key combo and a box comes up where you begin to type the name of program/file/folder and Quicksilver will find it for you quickly. Butler does this as well (for me it quicker, but usage is very varied). However, what Quicksilver has is that once you have that file selected you can do lots of things to it - open it, delete it, move it, email it etc. It's probably possible to replace the Finder with Quicksilver. I find Quicksilver to be slow on my system, but it certainly does look nice.

Other common capabilities between the programs: multiple pasteboards, assigning keyboard combos to perform actions, searching the web.

It is hard to learn all the features of both programs, just experiment. For the iTunes capabilities alone I prefer Butler.

[benign]

Originally posted by Pix0r:
Here's mine!

Btw, does anyone have a battery meter plugin for butler? That would rock, also a clock would be cool... I fail to see why we must use 3million different apps when butler can do everything :)

Butler is not 'freeware' but 'donationware' and if you use it
you should contribute a little cash Peter's way, especially
if you want to see updates and regular improvements.

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/20035

Calendarclock was Peter Maurer's answer to butler having
a menubar clock, It was eaten/merged with fellow German
programer 'object park soft' and its 'MenuCalendarClock'
which is free to run in 'simple' mode and $14.95 for the
full featured product.

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/11903

I contributed $20 and for the amount of usage I get out of it
it seems a fair deal and very good value. Please think of contributing -
even $5 would help to make it worth while for this 'single programer'
to continue improving this amazing utility.

[Gerrit Vanoppen]

Originally posted by benign:
Butler is not 'freeware' but 'donationware' and if you use it
you should contribute a little cash Peter's way, especially
if you want to see updates and regular improvements.

Nice of you to mention. I've donated twice, since I use it on both my computers, and promised myself to donate again the minute Butler comes out version 4 beta.
Here's to you Peter

[TheGUiTom]

Originally posted by monkeybrain:
F9 Display current iTunes track
F10 Bring iTunes to front
F11 Rewind track
F12 Fast Forward Track

Where do you have Expos�? In the hot corners? On your mouse with multiple buttons?

Edit: Forget it. Tried to delete the post but I couldn't

[TheGUiTom]

Originally posted by monkeybrain:
F10 Bring iTunes to front

In the iTunes 4.7 Prefs in Advanced you can set it to show above everything.

[macbert]

Here is my config butler_conf.jpg.

I use Butler as a launch menu and for the search hot keys. But the two biggest uses are iTunes control and the ^~ that launches the Screen saver. I just hit this before I walk away from my mac and it is all locked down. Quietly awaiting my return.

Cheers to Peter for such a wonderful app.

[monkeybrain]

Originally posted by TheGUiTom:
In the iTunes 4.7 Prefs in Advanced you can set it to show above everything.

yeah I know but that's not why I have the shortcut. If I close the iTunes window (which I've found can actually reduce CPU use), pressing F10 will reveal it, or get it from the Dock if i minimized it. I don't really want the iTunes miniplayer floating over everything I have open.

[bmzollinhofer]

The menu that is in the screen shot I created in Butler.

Butler Screenshot

Great Program!
-Brian