Google Quick Search Box (GQSB) is an

application launcher An application launcher is a computer program that helps a user to locate and start other computer programs. An application launcher provides shortcuts to computer programs, and stores the shortcuts in one place so they are easier to find. In th ...

and desktop search tool developed by

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

for

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and la ...

computers. It allows users to search files, URLs, and contacts on their computer, as well as performing actions on the results.

History and status

GQSB was first released as a developer preview on January 12, 2009. It is still in beta, and a new version is released approximately monthly. The releases follow the sequence of chemical elements from the periodic table. The first public release was named Scandium and the current release is Cobalt. Like other Google products such as the Chrome browser, QSB is open-source software. However, just as with Chrome, Google distributes official builds with extra functionality. In the case of QSB, this includes plugin validation, auto-update, and Google-branded icons. Later it became a fully open source product, and just called Quick Search Box. In

Mac OS X Snow Leopard Mac OS X Snow Leopard (version 10.6) is the seventh major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Snow Leopard was publicly unveiled on June 8, 2009 at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. ...

, QSB has replaced

Google Desktop Google Desktop was a computer program with desktop search capabilities, created by Google for Linux, Apple Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows systems. It allowed text searches of a user's email messages, computer files, music, photos, chats, Web pag ...

Comparisons to other products

QSB is similar to another Google product,

. However, there are several key differences between the two products: * Operating system compatibility: While Google Desktop is cross-platform, QSB is at present Mac-only software.

currently has an app that allows users to search the web using the iPhone. *Search methodology: Google Desktop maintains its own index of files for searching. It also indexes

Gmail Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP and ...

messages. QSB uses

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

's built-in indexing technology,

Spotlight Spotlight or spot light may refer to: Lighting * Spot lights, automotive auxiliary lamps * Spotlight (theatre lighting) * Spotlight, a searchlight * Stage lighting instrument, stage lighting instruments, of several types Art, entertainment, an ...

. Because of this, QSB is less resource-intensive than Google Desktop. However, there are drawbacks. QSB does not support indexing of Gmail messages (because Spotlight doesn't), and some aspects do not function if Spotlight is disabled. *Search philosophy: Google Desktop offers a search-only paradigm. On the other hand, QSB allows actions to be defined, which can be applied to search result. For example, after locating a file in QSB, it is possible to select among "open," "get info," "move to trash" and other actions. In this respect, it is similar to another macOS software tool, Quicksilver. The developer of Quicksilver, Nicholas Jitkoff is employed by Google and is one of the lead developers of QSB. *Extensibility: Both QSB and Google Desktop offer plugin APIs. However, in QSB it is possible to add both search result plugins and action plugins (integrating with the actions described immediately above). Google indicates that there is more leeway to expand QSB.

Features

In addition to file search, QSB is distributed with a suite of plugins that allow additional functionality. These include: * Bookmarks from common browsers (

Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current ...

, Camino, Safari) * Definitions from the operating system dictionary * Results of simple calculations * Integration with Google Documents and

Picasa Picasa was a cross-platform image organizer and image viewer for organizing and editing digital photos, integrated with a now defunct photo-sharing website, originally created by a company named Lifescape (which at that time was incubated by ...

Criticisms

Users have noted that the functionality as compared to

Desktop A desktop traditionally refers to: * The surface of a desk (often to distinguish office appliances that fit on a desk, such as photocopiers and printers, from larger equipment covering its own area on the floor) Desktop may refer to various compu ...

is reduced, especially in the area of in-document text searching, Gmail message searching and web history searching.

References

External links

* https://code.google.com/p/qsb-mac/ {{Navigationbox Desktopsearch Desktop search engines Quick Search Box Utilities for macOS Free software programmed in Objective-C MacOS-only free software