Butler for Mac
Hot key, menu, and keyword launcher.
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Butler overview
Butler makes it easier for you to perform a wide variety of potentially recurring tasks. Just arrange these tasks in Butler's fully customizable configuration and assign one or more triggers to a task.
Available Triggers
- Freely configurable system-wide menus in your menu bar/Butler's docklet
- Freely configurable pop-up menus -- triggered via hot key or hot corner (see below)
- Abbreviations -- for example, enter "qt" to launch QuickTime Player
- Hot keys -- for example, hit [F1] make iTunes switch to the next track
- Hot corners -- for example, [shift]-[right mouse button click] in the lower left corner of your screen to pop up a menu that lists all system preference panes
- Events -- for example, launch iChat when Butler starts up and the [option] key is not held
Possible Tasks
- Launch applications
- Open files
- Access preference panes
- Manage bookmarks
- Search the web
- Run AppleScripts
- Extend the pasteboard
- Enter text snippets
- Simulate keystrokes
- Control iTunes
What’s new in version 4.4.7
- Resolved a conflict with System Settings in macOS 13 Ventura. (Hat tip to Junichi C.) On a related note, the "System Preferences" Smart Item currently isn't the prettiest on macOS 13: It displays raw filenames, and it doesn't show individual icons for most panes. This is because the new "System Settings" has been rewritten as a monolithic app, where the file-system-level preference panes are merely placeholders, which makes the whole thing a lot less accessible. We are still pondering ways to deal with this change. In the meantime, the Smart Item works even though it looks like a work in progress.
- Worked around an issue in recent macOS versions that prevented custom icons from scaling down as expected.
- Fixed a bug that rendered Butler partially unusable on macOS 10.9. (Nevertheless, we recommend at least macOS 10.10 for modern Butler versions. If you're on macOS 10.9, you might be better off with Butler 4.2.2.)
Butler for Mac
$20.00
In English
Version 4.4.7
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(302 Reviews of Butler)
Comments
User Ratings
Mar 13 2021
Version: 4.4.1
With the recent release of Butler v4.4 I realized I hadn't paid for a single update in over TWELVE YEARS and so happily went and paid for it again.
Butler has worked reliably for that entire time and made profound improvements to my productivity. It works as:
• a very nice launcher, both by hot-key and app-search.
• a “Typinator”-like text expansion tool (I have dozens of shortcuts reliably creating typo-free blocks of code)
• an Applescript launcher (and through that: shell script launcher) for dozens of scripts I’ve written to automate my workflow.
• a clipboard-history manager allowing me to copy multiple sections from one document, then paste them into another without having to switch back and forth multiple times.
ALL that for such a reasonable price is a bargain. Check it out and you’ll probably buy it today. (Maybe buy it AGAIN today! :-) )
FEATURE SUGGESTIONS:
• Appending copy-to-clipboard with a configurable “marker” between each copied block. (I wrote one in AppleScript within butler but I bet others would like the feature too!)
• If the Docklet could support a “shelf” feature so one could drag-and-drop files/folders to it, which could then later be dragged off it to a new location.
Mar 13 2021
Version: 4.4.1
Over the last decade or more, I've often looked around for something else that may improve upon Butler, but still, even now with almost zero new features for years, I haven't found anything that suits my workflow better than Butler.
It still works well, gets occasional compatibility/bug-fix updates, and IMO only really needs dark mode and a UI modernisation to make it perfect.
With Rob Griffiths handling customer services now all the ancient company issues are gone. I always get really fast and helpful replies to any queries I have. The people here with long memories should really take another look as they're denying themselves some very useful utilities.
Sep 27 2018
Version: 4.2.2
Wish it had dark theme, but at least it's now up to 64 bit.
It's a great program, but like many reviewers here, I'm not keen on the company.
Apr 21 2017
Version: 4.1.23
Every few years I check in to see if Butler v.5 has been released. Alas, we are now 9-10 years since the developer said this:
"Butler 5 pre-sale: Support Butler by purchasing Butler 4 now, and you'll receive a free copy of Butler 5 when it ships!"
And the developer has never come clean about this, just quietly removed references to Butler 5 from their web site. Vaporware.
I use Alfred instead. And I refuse to use any of Many Tricks' apps because they are a dishonest company.
"Butler 5 pre-sale: Support Butler by purchasing Butler 4 now, and you'll receive a free copy of Butler 5 when it ships!"
And the developer has never come clean about this, just quietly removed references to Butler 5 from their web site. Vaporware.
I use Alfred instead. And I refuse to use any of Many Tricks' apps because they are a dishonest company.
