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Enso Launcher Commands Cheatsheet

on July 1, 2011 in Tech for Life

Originally posted 2008-01-23 09:30:39.

I recently reviewed Enso Launcher – a free program launcher at TechieBuzz and have started using it in my laptop religiously and I am amazed at the productivity it brings with it. Enso caught my attention when it was made free recently and it was $40 before then. It is often compared to Mac’s QuickSilver application although it has its major differences.

As I am using Enso Launcher more, I like to have a quick list of commands that I use regularly at least in the first few weeks. After a few weeks, I should remember most of them without looking just like I use shortcut keyboard commands for a lot of my regulars like Gmail, Google Reader, Firefox, etc.

Enso Launcher Commands

Enso Launcher

Enso Laucher commands are run by holding down the ‘Caps Lock’, typing one the following commands and releasing the ‘Caps Lock’ to run the command. Enso auto-fills as you type so you are always just typing a few letters before it knows what you are after saving you a lot of keystrokes.

  • open – to open anything in your Windows Start Menu
    Example: open notepad
  • open with – to open any selected text (file or url) in any application
    Example: select a tect like ‘http://www.shankrila.com‘ and type ‘open with explorer’ to open in a browser
  • go – to switch to a tab in your browser (I still prefer the Ctrl-Tab shortcut in Firefox)
  • learn as open – to add your own custom shortcuts to file or website
  • unlearn open – to delete a shortcut you created or a default Enso command
  • maximize – to maximize a window without going for the mouse
  • undo maximize – to shrink a maximized window to original size
  • minimize – to minimize a window
  • command list - to get to the list of commands quickly – memorize this and the rest will be at your fingertips. :grin:

If you prefer using your mouse or touchpad to do things in your computer, Enso Launcher is probably not for you. For a person like me who hates to use the touchpad in a laptop, Enso just makes it so much easier and intuitive to get to various things in the computer with a few simple commands.

As intended, it helps me from getting distracted by simple things like finding an application from my Start Menu but retain my concentration in the task at hand.

I believe I will squeeze the most benefit out of it after probably a month with practice but I am already liking not to have to go to my touchpad to navigate but just use the keyboard shortcuts and commands.

Update: 7/31/08

I have been using the Enso Launcher 2.0 Prototype for a while and love it better than the first version. Also, I just reviewed another free application launcher, RocketDock.

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  • http://www.killertechtips.com Shankar Ganesh

    Does Enso Launcher have dictionary tools inbuilt? :)

  • http://www.rakshitk.com Rakshit

    That’s something new. Really worth trying. Downloading….

    :smile:

  • http://www.shankrila.com K

    That was going to be my next post, Shankar! :-) Enso Words is offered by humanized as a dictionary and spellcheck tool but it would have been great if it was built into Enso Launcher instead as a separate program.

    Rakshit, thanks. Let me know how you liked it.

  • http://www.whoismadhur.com Madhur Kapoor

    I am really tempted to give it a try.

  • http://www.shankrila.com K

    Madhur, if you’ve used Launchy then you are already familiar with how these tools can be effective. If you haven’t then, you should give it a shot. It’ll change the way you use Windows. For better, IMHO.

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  • http://www.jobsinchina.com/ Stephen Cronin

    Hi K,

    I’m in catch up mode and you’re in my sights! :)

    This sounds … promising. I have to admit when I first read this, it sounded a little counter intuitive – I think because of the typing – but having thought about it, I think it might work.

    I’m a little set in my ways now and I’ve set up keyboard shortcuts (via Windows) for folders that I often use etc, but I’ll give it a try. The more I think about it, the better it sounds.

    It’s a month since this post was published – how is it working out?

    Stephen Cronin’s last blog post..JobsInChina Presents LocalCurrency For WordPress

  • http://www.shankrila.com K

    Stephen.. I am in catch up mode as well replying to comments this morning. :-) I am still using it and love teh convenience of not having to leave the keyboard for various things. I keep adding stuff to Enso and the best part is that I can type in the whole name to remember but just a few letters for it to pull up. So, I don’t have to remember the cryptic codes I used to do in Firefox bookmark keywords. I am starting to see if there is anything like that in Linux as that’s what I am on most of the day at work. Let me know if you try it.. :-)

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