0+ Features, 1 Interface

Well, to be honest, we didn’t count them. But there are tons of great features that make LaunchBar the most versatile keyboard driven productivity utility you’ve ever used.

Adaptive Abbreviation Search

Find items via short acronyms of their name (e.g. SP for System Preferences).

Open Applications and Documents

Launch Applications, or access recent documents with the power of abbreviations.

Clipboard History

Use Clipboard History to access recently copied items.

ClipMerge™

Combine subsequent copy operations into a single clipboard object by just pressing ⌘C twice.

Music browsing and playback control

Browse your Music Library, find your favorite songs and enjoy your most beloved music.

Send To

Open a file in any application, copy it to another folder or send it to a contact. With Send To you have countless possibilities to use each item.

Instant Send

The most efficient way to send files or text selections to LaunchBar, and then hand them over to applications, folders, email contacts, search templates, services and more.

Instant Open

Open items even more quickly. Hold down the abbreviation character last entered and the selected item opens immediately.

Scriptable Actions

Extend LaunchBar’s functionality by writing your own actions. Supports JavaScript, AppleScript, Ruby, Python, PHP and several other scripting languages.

Invoke items from Services menu

No more searching for the needle in the haystack. Let LaunchBar find the Service you are looking for!

Web Searches

Searching the web has never been easier. Choose your favorite web service, enter your query and see the result instantly with live feedback or in your web browser.

Calculator

From simple numeric calculations up to complex scientific expressions – just type your calculations and get the result immediately with live feedback.

Info Browsing

View additional information about specific items without interrupting your workflow.

Access package contents

Navigate into packages to view its contents or show a folder’s invisible files.

File Operations

Manipulate your files efficiently from the keyboard. Move, rename, compress, assign tags, create folders and much more.

Themes

You now have the choice between several beautifully handcrafted themes.

Browsing

Navigate folders, contacts, bookmarks, recent items, libraries and much more using the arrow keys to reveal related information.

Calendar and Reminders

Create calendar events and reminders in seconds. Now with live feedback providing details about the event to be created.

Contacts

Enjoy convenient access to your contacts to quickly create new email messages, retrieve phone numbers, postal addresses and other contact details.

Web Bookmarks and History

Get instant access to all of your web browser’s bookmarks, bookmark folders and history.

Explore Features

Essentials

macOS Integration

Third Party Applications

Disk Navigation

Web

Other Features

Essentials

Adaptive Abbreviation Search

Ultra fast, adaptive abbreviation search (AASv5) for amazingly accurate results.
Find items by entering short acronyms of their name (e.g. SP to select System Preferences).
The ranking of the search result automatically adapts according to your usage.

Sub-search and Browse

Collections of other items (folders, bookmark folders, browser history, contacts, Music Library, photo albums, categories, etc.) can be browsed by pressing the Right Arrow key.
Alternatively (with a few exceptions) the space bar can be used for browsing as well.
Browse the recent documents of selected application. For example, type TED to select TextEdit, then press Right Arrow.
Browse Finder’s Recent Folders. Select Finder, then press Right Arrow.
Browse your contacts, contact groups and contact details such as email addresses, phone numbers, etc.
Browse your web bookmark folder hierarchy or sub-search a flat list of all bookmarks and folders.
Browse or sub-search your web history grouped by days as a flat list.
Browse your Music Library by playlist, genre, artist, album, composer or song.
File System Browsing: Navigate to any file or folder on your hard disk.
File System Browsing traverses folder aliases and symbolic links.
Press ⌘→ to see a folder’s contents sorted by modification date.
Sub-search while browsing with arrow keys, press Space to perform a deep sub-search.
Category sub-search limits the search scope to a particular kind of items. For example, type JPI to select the JPEG Images category, then press Space to search to trigger a sub-search that searches for JPEG images only.

Text Input

Press Space to open an optional text field for entering search strings or parameters.
Direct Input of URLs (either via ⌘L or automatically by entering a dot character).
Search Mac App Store: Select App Store application, press Space.
Pass parameters to AppleScripts, Unix Executables, services and actions. For example, select ping, press Space and enter a hostname.
File Content Search: Select a plain text, rich text or HTML file, then press Space.
Rename files (⇧⌘R), create new folders (⇧⌘N).

ClipMerge™

Combine subsequent Copy operations into one single clipboard object by just pressing ⌘C twice.
Collect portions of text from different sources and paste them all at once into a text document.
Collect files and folders to copy or move them to a folder, or to send them as email attachments.
Works with plain text, rich text and files.

Clipboard History

Seamless integration in LaunchBar’s standard interface.
Unique features such as stack operation (last-in/first-out), ClipMerge™, etc.
Paste as Plain Text option.
Paste a sequence of clipboard objects using Paste and remove from history.
Inspect clipboard objects using Quick Look.
Clipboard objects can be used for LaunchBar actions such as browsing, Send To, drag & drop, etc.
Customizable ignore list to protect sensitive data.

Configuration and Indexing

Powerful indexing engine, performs index updates in background.
Lots of indexing rules: Applications, Services, Actions, Shortcuts, Workflows, Music Library, Network Locations, Preference Panes, Dock, Contacts, Calendars, Web Bookmarks and History and more.
The Services indexing rule provides convenient access to commands from the macOS Services menu.
Indexes bookmarks and history from a variety of web browsers (Safari, Firefox, Google Chrome, Chromium, and more).
Development Resources indexing rule for quick access to system frameworks and header files.
Various configuration options to keep the index at a reasonable size (see the Options pane in the configuration window).
Live index updates. When a bookmark is added in Safari or when a songs was added to the Music Library, these items are immediately accessible via LaunchBar.
Disabling of individual index items.
Multiple items can be enabled/disabled at once via context menu or by pressing Space.
Categories: Quick access to items of the same kind (Applications, RTF Documents, Bookmarks, Email Addresses, etc.).

Keyboard Shortcuts

Fully customizable hotkeys for LaunchBar search, Spotlight search, Snippets, Emoji, Calculator and Clipboard History.
Modifier Taps: Tapping a modifier key can be used to activate LaunchBar, invoke Instant Send or access Snippets.

User Interface

Choice between several themes to customize the look of LaunchBar’s search window.
Option to hide LaunchBar’s Dock icon (see LaunchBar preferences > Advanced).
“Turn Hiding Off” (⇧⌘H) to keep the LaunchBar window visible, to make it a better target for dragging operations.
Customizable width and position of the input window.
The input window can also be resized via keyboard by pressing ⌃⇧←/→.
LaunchBar’s contextual menus can be opened with ⌃→ and ⌃⌥→
Customizable number of items shown while searching and browsing.
Customizable font size in the search result list.

Sending Items

Press Tab to send the selected item to the desired target.
Send to application to open items in that application.
Send to folder for move/copy operations.
Send file attachments to email contact.
Send text to search templates to perform a web search.

Instant Send

Press and hold ⌘Space to send file or text selections from other applications to LaunchBar.
A modifier tap can be used to invoke Instant Send even more quickly.
Once the data has been sent to LaunchBar, a target can be selected for further actions (open with application, move to folder, perform a web search, send email attachment, invoke service, etc.).
Combine Instant Send with Instant Open for even faster results.

Drag & Drop

Drag items from other applications to LaunchBar.
Drag files, text or URLs from LaunchBar to other applications.
The dragging target can be selected in LaunchBar even while the drag operation is already in progress.
When dragging to a folder in LaunchBar, use the modifier keys to choose the desired file operation (move, copy, make alias, etc.)
Press ⌘D to simulate dragging the current Finder selection to LaunchBar.

Actions

Actions indexing rule covering built-in an user defined actions.
Comprehensive set of built-in Actions:
- File actions: Add/Remove/Replace Tags, Empty Trash, Secure Empty Trash, Open Trash, Eject All Ejectable Volumes, Show Type and Creator
- Compress actions to create ZIP or tar.gz archives.
- Image manipulation actions: Resize, Recompress (High/Medium/Low Quality), Convert Format (PNG, HEIC), Rotate Left/Right/180°, Flip Vertical/Horizontal
- Application control actions: Quit, Force Quit, Quit All Applications, Hide, Hide Others
- Utility actions: Make TinyURL, Start Screen Saver, Set Desktop Background, Show Date and Time, Show IP Address, etc.
- Text manipulation: Enter Text, Display in Large Type, New TextEdit Document, Save Text
- Clipboard actions: Copy as Plain Text, Copy and Paste, Copy and Paste as Plain Text, Clear Clipboard History, etc.
- System management actions: Sleep, Log Out, Shut Down, Restart, Dark Mode On/Off
- Volume control: Decrease Volume, Increase Volume, Minimum Volume (10%), Medium Volume (50%), Maximum Volume (100%), Mute, Mute Off, Toggle Mute
- Text to Speech actions: Speak Text, Stop Speaking. Invoking the Speak Text action automatically selects the Stop Speaking action, so it’s easy to interrupt the speech output.
- Playback control: Play, Pause, Next Song, Back Track, Update All Podcasts
- Fast Forward / Rewind actions (invoking the action again switches back to playback).
- Email actions: Get Mail, Get Mail in Background, New Mail Message
- Creating Screenshots: Copy Screenshot of Selected Area, Copy Screenshot of Selected Window, Copy Screenshot of Selected Window Without Shadow
- Search in Spotlight
- Look Up in Dictionary
- See the Actions indexing rule for the complete list of available actions.
Add your own custom, scriptable actions
- Create custom .lbaction bundles that can contain scripts of different types (JavaScript, AppleScript, Shell script, Python, Ruby, …), resources (images, localization files, …).
- Actions can return live feedback for text input, e.g. for web searches.
- Action results can be outright LaunchBar items including title, subtitle, icon and even set other actions that should be run on open.
- Actions can be shared with other users and easily installed by opening a provided .lbaction file from Finder.
- A list of user created actions can be found on the Actions page.
- Information on how to create LaunchBar actions is provided in the Developer Documentation.
It is also possible to put simple AppleScripts or shell scripts in ~/Library/Application Support/LaunchBar/Actions. This folder is automatically indexed by LaunchBar.
The Reveal action (⌘↩) works with a wide range of items (Albums, Artists, contact groups, several indexing rules, etc.).
Support for sending items to contact groups (e.g. to send a file to multiple recipients).

macOS Integration

Calendar Support

The Calendars indexing rule provides quick access to all your calendars.
Create events via LaunchBar: Select a calendar and press Space.
Events are entered in the format description @ date [and time]
Optionally, enter a location: description @ location @ date [and time]
Various options for entering dates, times and durations.
The tab key can be used to enter @ more conveniently.
Press ⌘↩ to reveal newly created item in Calendar.
See the LaunchBar Help for details about the input syntax.
Option to create calendar events via third party utilities such as Fantastical or QuickCal.

Reminder Support

The Reminder indexing rule provides quick access to all your reminder lists.
Create reminders via LaunchBar: Select a reminder list and press Space, or while navigating through reminders press ⌘N.
Reminders are entered in the format description or description @ due date.
Exclamation marks can be used to express priority (low, medium, high).
The tab key can be used to enter @ more conveniently.
Press ↩ to mark reminder as completed / incomplete.
Press ⌘↩ to reveal item in Reminders.
See the LaunchBar Help for details about the input syntax.

Contacts Support

The Contacts indexing rule provides quick access to all your contacts and their details.
If available, the contact image is shown as icon.
Differentiate between personal and company cards with circular and square icons.
Browse contact details (email addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses, social profile and instant messaging handles, birthday, company, job title, contact notes, …).
Optional direct access to most of the details.
Option to prefix with title or phonetic name.
Option to include middle name.
Option to include previous email recipients.
Press ⌘↩ to reveal item in Contacts.
Press ⇧⌘↩ to edit item in Contacts.
Press ⌃⇧⌘↩ to open the contact’s address in Maps.
Press ⇧↩ to open the contact’s first contact detail (first email address, first phone number, …).
Sending an item to a contact creates a new email message (e.g. with the sent file as attachment).
Configurable default action for phone numbers (Display in Large Type, Send iMessage, Call with FaceTime, Skype or Dialectic, …).
Configurable default action for AIM buddies.
Birthdays category with chronological list of upcoming birthdays.
See the LaunchBar Help for more detailed information.

Calculator

Powerful, extensible calculator, based on Unix bc.
Dedicated keyboard shortcut (can be configured in LaunchBar preferences > Calculator).
Switch to Calculator automatically when typing a digit or pasting a numeric expression.
Instant Calculate: If a text sent via Instant Send appears to be a valid calculator expression, the results are displayed automatically.
Scientific calculations:
- Logarithms: ln (natural), ld (binary), log (base 10)
- Power: exp, pow
- Trigonometry: sin, cos, tan, asin, acos, atan
- Fractions: gcd (greatest common divisor), lcm (least common multiple), rem (remainder)
Trigonometry modes (Radian, Degree, Grad)
Function Shortcuts: Uppercase letters can be used to enter function names more quickly. For example, type S45 to get sin(45), or type Q2 to get sqrt(2).
Smart Brackets to insert closing brackets and bracket pairs automatically.
Smart Calculator Input for more efficient input especially on notebook keyboards.
Automatic decimal separator detection (dot vs. comma).
Extensible via custom macros. Put your bc macro files in ~/Library/Application Support/LaunchBar/Calculator

Quick Look

Press Space (or ⌘Y) to preview the selected item with Quick Look.
Press ⌥⌘Y to run Quick Look full screen.
Also works with contact items (cards, groups), text items, Clipboard History items.

Music

Browse your Music Library by playlist, genre, artist, album, composer or song.
Find similar songs: Select a song, press Right Arrow to find songs from the same album, artist, composer or genre.
Playback control: Play, Pause, Next Song, Back Track, Fast Forward, Rewind
Playback of individual songs but also entire playlists, albums, genres, artists and more.
Best-Of Lists: LaunchBar automatically collects your top rated songs.
Access the currently playing song: For example, type MU to select the Music app, then Right Arrow to show the currently playing song, then Right Arrow again to find similar tracks.
The Identically Named Albums category helps to find albums with identical names.
The Identically Named Songs category lets you find alternative recordings of the same song.

Command Line Operations

Invoke command line operations in Terminal or iTerm.
Open Terminal Here to open a new Terminal window for a given directory.
Alternatively, press tab to send a folder to the Terminal application.
Run Terminal Command Here to run a shell command in a given directory.
Run Terminal Command With to run a shell command with a given file argument.
Run Terminal Command to run arbitrary commands in a Terminal window.
Run Shell Command to run arbitrary commands in a background shell.

Third Party Applications

Tower

Browse and switch git repositories.
View change count.
View commits ahead / behind count.

1Password

Browse 1Password bookmarks
Open 1Password bookmarks and automatically fill forms in web browser.
Search 1Password

Path Finder

Show in Path Finder
Get Info
Eject Volumes
Move to Trash

Evernote

Search in Evernote
Copy Link of Selected Note
New Note With File
New Note With Selected Email
New Note With Text

Web Browsers

Chromium
Firefox
Google Chrome
Omniweb
Opera

Mail Clients

Airmail
Mailplane
Microsoft Outlook
Postbox
Sparrow

FTP Clients

Browse and open Transmit favorites or Cyberduck bookmarks.

Other Apps

Create calendar events with Fantastical or QuickCal.
Use Skype or Dialectic to call a phone number selected in LaunchBar.
Search in Dash with live feedback.
Create new to-dos in Things.
Execute commands in iTerm.

Disk Navigation

File Operations

Perform various file operations with a selected file or folder:
- Move
- Copy
- Make Alias
- Make Symbolic Link (Absolute)
- Make Symbolic Link (Relative)
- Make Hard Link
- Rename
- New Folder
- Duplicate
- Get Info
- Move to Trash
- Eject
- Eject Parent Volume
- Compress
- Add/Remove/Replace Tags
Send to Folder functionality. Select a file, press Tab, select the destination. The desired file operation (Move, Copy, etc.) can be selected by pressing additional modifier keys. For example, ⌘↩ moves the file(s), ⌥↩ copies the file(s).
Asynchronous file operations to avoid blocking when copying large files.
Option to replace existing files when performing a copy/move operation.
⌘A can be used to create multiple file selections.
When renaming a file, pressing Tab selects the filename extension.
Quick access to all currently mounted volumes through the Mounted Volumes indexing rule.
Eject All Ejectable Volumes action.

Opening items

Press ↩ to open the selected item.
Instant Open: Keep the last abbreviation character pressed to open the resulting item immediately, without pressing ↩.
Press ⌘↩ to show the selected item in Finder.
Press ⇧⌘↩ to show the selected item in the frontmost Finder window.
Open files with alternative applications: Press Tab to trigger “Open with” and select the destination.
Press ⌃↩ to open all files contained in a selected folder in one go.
Run AppleScripts.
Run Unix Executables.
Run Automator Workflows.
Invoke macOS Services.
Press Space to enter string parameters for scripts, services and actions.
Drag items from LaunchBar or from the search result list.

Web Navigation

Web Searches

Perform web searches: For example, select Google and press Space.
Comprehensive set of built-in web search templates (Google, Wikipedia, IMDB, YouTube, Flickr, Amazon, Wiktionary, Yahoo!, Merriam-Webster, and much, much more).
Add your own, freely editable search templates.
Press ⇧Space to reuse your most recent search string with a different search engine.
Open another search template with ⇧↩ to re-run the most recent search immediately.

Web Bookmarks and History

Access bookmarks and history from a wide range of web browsers (Safari, Firefox, Google Chrome, Chromium, Opera, OmniWeb and more).
Open a bookmark with ↩ to open it in the default browser, or press Tab to choose a different browser.
Use ⇧↩ to open a bookmark in the current Safari tab.
Press Space to edit the selected bookmark prior to opening it.
Use ⌘L to enter arbitrary URLs.
Start typing a dot character switches to URL input automatically.
Reveal other bookmarks from the same domain by pressing Right Arrow.
Browse your web bookmarks: For example, type SB to select Safari Bookmarks, then press Right Arrow to browse your bookmark folder hierarchy, or press Space to get a flat list of all your bookmarks and bookmark folders.
Browse your web history: For example, type SH to select Safari History, then press Right Arrow to browse your history grouped by days, or press Space to get a flat list of your most recently visited web pages.
Open a bookmark folder with ↩ to open all contained bookmarks at once.

Other Features

Modifier Taps

Activate LaunchBar search
Trigger Instant Send
Single or double tap can be mapped to any modifier key

Fully customizable hotkeys

Search in LaunchBar
Search in Spotlight
Snippets
Calculator
Show Clipboard History
Select from Clipboard History
Paste and remove from Clipboard History

Apple Development Resources

Reference Files
Developer Guides
Release Notes
Header Files
Frameworks

1000+ Features, 1 Interface

Adaptive Abbreviation Search

Open Applications and Documents

Clipboard History

ClipMerge™

Music browsing and playback control

Send To

Instant Send

Instant Open

Scriptable Actions

Invoke items from Services menu

Web Searches

Calculator

Info Browsing

Access package contents

File Operations

Themes

Browsing

Calendar and Reminders

Contacts

Web Bookmarks and History

Explore Features

Essentials

macOS Integration

Third Party Applications

Disk Navigation

Web

Other Features

Essentials

Adaptive Abbreviation Search

Sub-search and Browse

Text Input

ClipMerge™

Clipboard History

Configuration and Indexing

Keyboard Shortcuts

User Interface

Sending Items

Instant Send

Drag & Drop

Actions

macOS Integration

Calendar Support

Reminder Support

Contacts Support

Calculator

Quick Look

Music

Command Line Operations

Third Party Applications

Tower

1Password

Path Finder

Evernote

Web Browsers

Mail Clients

FTP Clients

Other Apps

Disk Navigation

File Operations

Opening items

Web Navigation

Web Searches

Web Bookmarks and History

Other Features

Modifier Taps

Fully customizable hotkeys

Apple Development Resources

0+ Features, 1 Interface