slimKEYS - Getting started
Welcome to slimKEYS, the Universal Hotkey Manager. This application helps you monitor
any global hotkey of your choice, and perform an infinite number of operations, thanks to its
plug-in system.
A hotkey is the combinasion of any of the Alt, Ctrl, Shift and Windows keys with another key.
For example, to open the slimKEYS main window, you can press Win-K by default, and this
hotkey is configurable, as with any other hotkey.
Unlike other popular launchers, slimKEYS does not limit itself to capturing a single hotkey,
nor does it forces you to exclusively use letters or words to perform actions. Each plug-in
can handle many hotkeys to perform many different tasks. slimKEYS already comes with the
following plug-ins:
- slimSIZE: Move, resize, reorder or make windows translucent.
- slimLAUNCH and its FileSystem, Password and del.icio.us plug-ins:
Quickly browse and launch items by their name.
- slimLAUNCH.FileSystem: Start applications or open documents and folders, by monitoring the folders of your choice.
- slimLAUNCH.Passwords: Securely manage and search your passwords.
- slimLAUNCH.Delicious: Quickly browse and update your del.icio.us posts and tags.
- slimSEARCH: Search on your favorite web sites.
- slimGRAB: Capture images of monitors, windows or any area of your choice.
- slimVOLUME: Change and display the main volume level.
- slimPASTE: Paste plain text by stripping out any formatting present in the clipboard.
Here's a quick list of all hotkeys registered by each plug-in. Remember, you can change each of them!
slimKEYS
This is the main hotkey, showing the slimKEYS hotkey list. You can double-click any
hotkey to edit its properties or change the assigned hotkey. Editing the Win-K hotkey lets you
change application settings.
slimLAUNCH
Search your StartMenu, Documents, Favorites, Desktop, Music, Pictures and Video folders
for any file or application. You can edit this hotkey to add more folders to watch.
Search your del.icio.us posts and tags for a web address.
Search your securely stored passwords for a password, username or matching email.
Manage your secure password stores.
The philosophy behind slimLAUNCH is that you keep control over what
sources get scanned for matching items. If you feel like using a single hotkey for searching
files, passwords and del.icio.us posts, no problem. Simply edit one of the hotkeys above and
add new sources, then remove hotkeys you don't use.
slimSIZE
Move the active window to the edges or center of the next monitor.
Move the active window to the edges or corners of the next monitor, while also resizing
them to half width and/or half height. For Ctrl-Win-4 and Ctrl-Win-6, the window will use all height but half width,
while the other four hotkeys resize the window to one fourth the screen, as if your monitor was divided
in four equal parts.
Maximized windows can't be moved with the mouse, and they use that ugly caption
bar on Vista. No problem, use this hotkey to use the full monitor size without actually maximizing.
Better, it will always move the window on the next monitor, letting you move maximized windows around.
You like maximized windows and that smaller caption bar on Vista? Then use
this hotkey to really maximize the window, again on the next monitor.
Minimize the active window.
Restore the active window on the next monitor to its default size. This
lets you move a window on the next monitor without affecting its position nor size, even if the
window was maximized.
Make the active window stay always on top.
Remove the "always on top" state of the active window.
Make the active window only 25% opaque, letting you check under it without making it loose the focus.
Return the active window fully opaque.
As with slimLAUNCH, all these hotkeys are configurable, you can add more, or remove those you
never use. Try Win-4 and Win-6 with this window to get an idea. How about Ctrl-Win-4? And Ctrl-Win-1?
You would like a hotkey to maximize a window across all monitors? No problem, just create one.
Hit Win-K, go to the slimSIZE section, press Insert and just fill in the required values.
slimSEARCH
Quickly search on your favorite web sites, like Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia,
or any web site you like, or open URL addresses, or launch common applications. slimSEARCH
can accept both a special prefix or mnemonic key (Alt-Key) to select your target search.
For example, you can search for "slimkeys" on Google by either typing "g slimkeys" and
pressing Enter, or typing "slimkeys" and pressing Alt-G.
slimGRAB
Take snapshot pictures of the desktop, screens, windows, or any rectangular
area of your choice. You can navigate through child windows of any window, and take snapshots
of the selected area with or without an 8-pixel margin. You can copy the selection in the
clipboard or save to file.
slimVOLUME
If your keyboard has special volume controls, they'll continue to control the volume, but now
will also display a nice TV-like volume level bar at the bottom. You can change how the volume
level is displayed.
You don't have volume controls on your keyboard? No problem! Just add new hotkeys to the
slimVOLUME plug-in. For example, you could use Win-PageUp and Win-PageDown to change the level,
and Win-Delete to toggle the mute state.
slimPASTE
Paste text that is currently in the clipboard, but without any coloring
or decoration. The text is pasted in plain text.