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In some situations it can be useful to rename index items. Say, you are using Microsoft Entourage as your preferred email client and you want to activate it by entering the abbreviation “MAIL”. This doesn’t work, since the name “Microsoft Entourage” can’t be abbreviated with “MAIL” (the letters of the abbreviation are not contained in the name of the application). However, if you define a proper alias name for Entourage you can use your preferred abbreviation.
Although alias names can be used to assign custom shortcuts to specific items, it is not recommended to do so. You should instead use long alias names whenever possible. Instead of renaming the “Entourage” item to “Mail” it would be better to name it “Entourage Mail”. This increases the number of possible abbreviations. You can now use MAIL as well as ENT, EMA, MA, EM, etc.
An alias name can be set in the Index pane of the index window. To edit an item’s name, either double click the name, or select the item and press Return. Once you have assigned an alias name, the item’s text color changes from black to blue. To delete an unwanted alias name you simply have to enter an empty string and the original name of the item reappears.
Please note that renaming an item in LaunchBar does not rename the original item (e.g. the corresponding file on your hard disk).