Apple has me so well trained on natural scrolling that when LaunchBar scrolls the old way through its lists, I panic a little. “Why is it going the wrong direction?” The LaunchBar gang has a post explaining their design decision. They also have a terminal commands for people like me that want a naturally scrolling LaunchBar. If you want natural scrolling in your LaunchBar, go into your terminal and type the below command. Then quit and relaunch LaunchBar and you’ll be all fixed up.

defaults write at.obdev.LaunchBar NaturalScrolling YES

I wrote a few weeks ago about the release of LaunchBar 6. I had moved over to Alfred but after spending a few weeks with the latest version of LaunchBar, I’m firmly back in the LaunchBar camp. Both apps are great but for some reason, the keyboard shortcuts with LaunchBar just resonate with me better. I’m in the throes of finishing a book, which means I’ve got files all over the place and a pile of emails from editors and other helpers needing assets and questions answered. I just caught myself this afternoon blasting through these items and finding files all with LaunchBar and thought I’d take a minute to pause and give thanks.

The LaunchBar team really stepped it up with this new version. I dig the new interface, themes, and the way it lets me drive my Mac so wicked fast. I can’t wait to dive in even deeper with its new power features … just as soon as the next book ships.

Yesterday Objective Development released LaunchBar 6, the latest version of their app launcher, phone number finder, file sender, calculator, calendar entry tool, do-just-about-anything with your keyboard application.

The new version features an improved user interface and the ability to select between themes for the entry window, including the somewhat translucent Frosty that seems a bit prescient based on last week’s Yosemite announcement.

The new user interface is a definite improvement and looks particularly good on my MacBook Pro’s retina screen.

LaunchBar also now has its own custom script–based actions that can be written in most scripting languages including AppleScript, JavaScript, Ruby, Python, and PHP.

Web searches also render live suggestions that populate as you type. This was always a feature that I had to go to the browser for. I’m happy to see it working from right in the launcher.

The index also receive some love. In addition to your files, calendar, address book, and the usual assortment of data, LaunchBar will now also index Finder Tags, Emoji, Reminders, Safari Reading List and Top Sites, and iCloud Tabs.

Another useful new feature is the ability to browse file info. LaunchBar can now display information on selected files and drives including file size, image dimensions, disk capacity, Finder tags, browsable file contents, word counts and more. The below screenshot is the text file on a post I did about Macworld 2014.

LaunchBar has really upped its game with this update and I’m looking forward to digging in deeper (particularly with the scripting).

Learn more from Objective Development here. Also, Shawn Blanc did a superb job of documenting all the features in this extended review. Finally, it’s a bit dated, but a lot of the content in this 2009 Mac Power Users episode still applies.

I love that there is some healthy competition in the app launcher, phone number-finder, keyboard-master, drive-my-mac software category that is Alfred and LaunchBar. LaunchBar is about to release a new version and I’m pickled. You can sign up for the beta right here. 

Thanks MacDrifter for pointing this out.