Butler for Mac

$20

Free to try Many Tricks Mac Version 4.3.2 Full Specs

Editors' Rating:

4 4

Excellent

Average User Rating:

111 User Votes

4.5 4.5

out of 111 votes

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Editors' Review

by Download.com staff / June 09, 2014

Butler for Mac allows you to create a number of custom menus, shortcuts, and abbreviations for your Mac's desktop that speed up how you use your computer. From adding search interfaces to the menu bar to creating shortcuts that actually learn as you use your machine, Butler's goal is to make your Mac easier to use for you.

Pros

Wide range of customizations: Butler's customization options are plentiful. The file launcher is found in many other apps, but in Butler it learns from your uses and starts providing shorter and more accurate abbreviation support. Combined with a central bookmark manager, menu-based Web search, and extended clipboard so you can store multiple things at once, it's a very useful tool.

Fast and lightweight: In our tests, Butler had a minimal impact on performance or battery life. It sits in the background and only appears when the selected hotkeys were pressed. This made for a very interactive, but unobtrusive support tool.

Cons

Interface needs work: Built into Mac's preferences template, Butler doesn't look all that pretty when you open it to make adjustments. Finding specific options can be hard as well, and Help menus often look like blocks of text. It's not impenetrable, but it will take time to set up your shortcuts, initially.

Bottom Line

With the exception of the sometimes cumbersome menu, Butler is a fast, incredibly handy tool that offers a range of solutions to problems that you might have with your Mac. Combining the touch key tools that many other apps have into one solution, Butler is a must try for anyone who wants to be more efficient on their Mac.

Editors' note: This is a review of the trial version of Butler for Mac 4.1.17

What do you need to know about free software?

Category
Category	Desktop Enhancements
Subcategory	Launchers

Publisher's Description

From Many Tricks:

What is Butler? A file launcher. You can access applications and any other kind of document by browsing fully customizable system-wide spring-loaded menus, pressing hot keys, clicking hot corners, or entering abbreviations.
Butler will learn from your habits and remember what you want a certain abbreviation to do (e.g., enter "abo" to launch "Address Book"). Butler offers you a way to manage your bookmarks without depending on a certain browser. In contrary to a browser's bookmark collection, Butler's bookmarks are always accessible through its system-wide menus, hot keys, etc. And you'll certainly become addicted to accessing bookmarks by entering abbreviations. Butler also lets you access the bookmarks of every single browser there is for Mac OS X.

Adding files or URLs from your browser to Butler's configuration is stunningly easy: Just drag them to the active screen corner (default: top left), see Butler's main window open, and drop your items somewhere whithin your configuration. Butler's predecessor "Another Launcher" was the first application that let you search the web from the menu bar. But if your menu bar is too crowded for an input field, you can also use hot keys to pop up dedicated web search windows. Butler supports a large number of search engines by default, but you are not restricted to those ? you can easily add your own search engines.

Butler lets you access items you have previously stored in your pasteboard, effectively turning your pasteboard into a stack. You can also take a snapshot of your current pasteboard and keep it for good. This feature is particularly useful for text snippets you need to enter on a regular basis. You can use Butler to move and copy files, control iTunes, access the system preferences, change the current user, and so on. But Butler really shines when it comes to customizing its behavior. Is your menu bar too crowded? Use Butler's docklet. Do you want a menu for each mounted volume? Do you want a menu to pop up when you press a certain hot key? Do you want all running applications in your menu bar? Or do you prefer doing things with your keyboard only? Whatever kind of interface you prefer, Butler is at your service.

User Reviews

All Versions
4.5
out of 111 votes
- 5 star
  
  73
- 4 star
  
  27
- 3 star
  
  7
- 2 star
  
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Reviews
Sort

5 stars

{ review.getRatingValue }}

"After all those years ? still my most used utility."

bonobo April 26, 2011 / Version: Butler 4.1.10

2011-04-26 15:19:49 | By bonobo

Pros

Easy to use, responsive developer, dirt cheap

Cons

Been a long hiatus, but-see bottom line summary!

Summary

After a long hiatus, Many Tricks is back on track-and updating Butler! Best news in a looooooong time!

5 stars

{ review.getRatingValue }}

"indispensable"

Chuckmeister November 11, 2010 / Version: Butler 4.1.9

2010-11-11 08:06:22 | By Chuckmeister

Pros

essential part of the operating system

Cons

none .

Summary

Use it every hour of every day.

4 stars

{ review.getRatingValue }}

"Great product. Well supported."

cfoster June 05, 2010 / Version: Butler 4.1.8

2010-06-05 09:41:10 | By cfoster

Summary

This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
Thanks for the ongoing support of Butler 4 even with Butler 5 coming up. Looking forward to the fall!

1 stars

{ review.getRatingValue }}

"Very very disappointed by the developer's subterfuge"

summerstormpictures May 27, 2010 / Version: Butler 4.1.7

2010-05-27 15:59:39 | By summerstormpictures

Summary

This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
It is sad when a developer chooses not to be up front and transparent about their software.

Butler was one of my favorites and I always heartily recommended it among my list of the best of the best freeware out there.

Sadly, it is apparent that I was wrong.

Forgetting to update VersionTracker from freeware status to shareware is really not excusable. It is not something one just forgets to do. When one makes a conscious choice to change horses mid-race and switch to a revenue generating model, it simply is not possible to just forget.

This is a deliberate omission in order to bait and switch. As a long-time loyal user who believed in this altruistic software, I am epically disappointed by this subterfuge.

FYI, the old genuinely free version works absolutely perfectly fine. I suggest others continue to use it in the spirit it was originally developed.

5 stars

{ review.getRatingValue }}

"Excellent little tool"

pkiula July 19, 2008 / Version: Butler 4.1.6

2008-07-19 01:50:17 | By pkiula

Summary

This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
Does what it says, very handily.

5 stars

{ review.getRatingValue }}

"Indispensable"

jonathanmitchell_dotmac March 24, 2008 / Version: Butler 4.1.5 Transient

2008-03-24 15:34:14 | By jonathanmitchell_dotmac

Summary

This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
Wonderful range of features- excellent clipboard, Google in the menubar, better Spotlight searcher, all the features of FruitMenu or the old OS9 Apple menu, immediate access to email addresses, etc. Very easy to customize- all changes show up immediately.

4 stars

{ review.getRatingValue }}

"Digital Meccano"

Nick Sloan February 06, 2008 / Version: Butler 4.1.5 Transient

2008-02-06 00:00:00 | By Nick Sloan

Summary

This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
Butler is a miracle of configurability. It can duplicate the varied functions of at least eight other best-of-class utilities, and do so elegantly and without compromise.

It had been hovering around my consciousness for more than a year when I decided to spend a little time seeing whether it was really all that it was cracked up to be. Definitely, but it is only when you start fine-tuning and putting it to your own uses that you fully understand what it is capable of. It is like a digital Meccano set: it may not arrive in the form that quite suits you, but you can take it apart and reassembe it in infinite different ways. It would be a rare Mac user who could not somehow work more efficiently or pleasantly with Butler's help.

4 stars

{ review.getRatingValue }}

"god application"

Run Home Slow December 05, 2007 / Version: Butler 4.1.4 Transient

2007-12-05 19:14:20 | By Run Home Slow

Summary

This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
was using MaxMenu till leopard... tried Butler... delete all thing except the menu bar shortcut... works well... IT'S FREE!! i'd like to see a preference for bigger icon and menu... it's good but i'd like it bigger a bit on my iMac G5/2.1 20inches kinda little bit too small... MaxMenu a pref for small, big, bigger....too big ;-) well, Butler is still on... nice FREE app. :-) good works.

5 stars

{ review.getRatingValue }}

"A \"must-have\" app!"

darkmooncalling November 07, 2007 / Version: Butler 4.1.3 Transient

2007-11-07 15:30:24 | By darkmooncalling

Summary

This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
This is my one absolute "must-have" for my Mac! I feel lost without it, so the Leopard update is very welcome!!!

Excellent program.

5 stars

{ review.getRatingValue }}

"Awesome Work!"

astrochess January 07, 2007 / Version: Butler 4.1.2

2007-01-07 12:20:59 | By astrochess

Summary

This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
I've been using Butler for over a year now, and I am very impressed with it. This is the best piece of third-party freeware I've ever used, bar none. The interface is incredibly cohesive, intuitive, elegant, and Apple-like. Whenever I talk about Mac freeware, Butler is almost certain to be mentioned as the best of the best.

But Butler isn't just a nice collection of eye candy. MacWorld gave it the rare five-mice rating because of its perfect combination of usefulness, ease of use, and versatility. Using multiple clipboards, controlling iTunes, replaying keystrokes, searching the net, and controlling the system can all be done with Butler via keyboard shortcut, hot corners, the menu bar, or the Butler docklet.

I am using Butler on my PowerMac G5 dual 2Ghz with 10.3.9. So far, Butler has never stalled or crashed my system.

Results 1–10 of 111

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Full Specifications

What's new in version 4.3.2
Volumes Smart Items now sort volumes alphabetically. Firefox bookmarks support is now a visible-by-default feature again. Note that you still have to jump through an extra hoop to make Butler actually see your Firefox bookmarks.

General
Publisher	Many Tricks
Publisher web site	http://manytricks.com/
Release Date	April 11, 2019
Date Added	April 11, 2019
Version	4.3.2

Category
Category	Desktop Enhancements
Subcategory	Launchers

Operating Systems
Operating Systems	Mac
Additional Requirements	macOS High Sierra macOS Sierra OS X El Capitan OS X Yosemite OS X Mavericks OS X Mountain Lion

Download Information
File Size	2.25MB
File Name	butler432.dmg

Popularity
Total Downloads	24,255
Downloads Last Week	1

Pricing
License Model	Free to try
Limitations	Not available
Price	$20

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Butler for Mac

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Full Specifications

What's new in version 4.3.2

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