I love to use shortcuts for many different tasks on OS X. Although many of them may just save you a couple of seconds, being able to achieve something without your hands having to leave your keyboard is always good in my opinion.

One of my favourite shortcuts is one I created to open the Chrome App Launcher. This launcher is improving all the time and allows you easy access to many things: Google search; contacts search; Chrome App Store search; launch URLs from your history; change Chrome settings and of course launch Chrome apps.

This is a simple setup and one that can be used to launch any application you wish not just the Chrome App Launcher like I am using in this example. Hope you like it as much as I do and get as much use out of it as I do.

  • Open Automator
  • If using Mavericks Select New Document in the Finder window that opens
  • Select Service
  • In Service Receives select No Input & Any Application
  • In your list of actions find and select Launch Application (double click or drag to the right hand pane)
  • Click on the application drop down menu and scroll to the bottom and select other...
  • When the Finder windows open press CMD + Shift + G. This will bring up the 'Go to the folder:' dialogue.
  • Type ~/Applications
  • Select Chrome Apps
  • Select Chrome App Launcher
  • Now press CMD + S to save and name the service Chrome Launcher

The shortcut is now setup. To assign it to your keyboard do the following.

  • Open System Preferences
  • Select Keyboard
  • Select Shortcuts
  • Select Services in the left hand pane
  • Scroll down the right hand pane until you find the Chrome Launcher you have just created
  • Check the tickbox next to your service to enable it
  • Click on the right hand side of the service where it says None or Add shortcut on Yosemite and then choose a combination of keys you wish to use for the shortcut, ensuring it is not a combination already in use (I use CMD+Shift+L).

Now when you input your shortcut, your app - or in my case Chrome App Launcher - will open. A better option than having a shortcut in your dock IMO.