CueStart — User Guide

Find and launch apps by keywords you write yourself — plus favorites, app groups, text snippets, a clipboard that remembers, a calculator and your own web searches. This guide describes everything the app can do, in the order you are likely to need it.

1 — Getting started

CueStart lives in the menu bar at the top right, as a magnifying glass. There are two windows you work with:

• The search window — appears in the middle of the screen when you press the shortcut. The preset is ⌥ Space. This is where you type, and where things get launched.
• The management window — this is where you decide what the search window finds: apps with their keywords, favorites, groups, snippets, the clipboard, web searches and tags. You pick the area on the left; its list is in the middle, the chosen entry on the right.

Behind the magnifying glass in the menu bar you find:

The first step is to read in your apps — see the next chapter.

2 — Adding apps

All at once

In the Apps area, the toolbar has Read all apps. Every app found on this Mac is added with empty keywords. Whatever is already in the list stays unchanged, keywords included — so you can safely run it again.

One by one

Add app lets you choose exactly which apps go into the list. Safari and the Finder are included, even though they do not live in the usual application folder.

Newly installed apps

While CueStart is running, it watches the application folders. Whatever you install appears in the list by itself; whatever you remove is marked Not installed. You clear out entries for apps that are gone via the More menu.

Apps in other places

If you keep apps outside the usual folders, add those places under Settings › Apps › Additional search locations. They are read in and watched just the same.

Leaving apps out

Anything that should never show up in the list — helper tools you never launch by hand, for example — goes under Settings › Apps in Apps that are never read in. They then appear neither in the list nor in the search window.

3 — Writing keywords

The heart of CueStart. For each app you write what comes to mind when you look for it — not just its name. For an image editor, say, “photo picture crop resize”. In the search window, any one of those words is then enough.

Select an app on the left and write into the Keywords field on the right. It is saved straight away, no button needed.

The coloured dots

Coloured dots in the list show where there is still work to do. The legend below the list explains them:

Click a dot in the legend to show only those apps — handy for working through all the ones without keywords. A second click removes the filter.

When the New marker disappears is up to you, under Settings › General: at the next launch, as soon as the entry has been viewed, or not by itself. More › Mark all as seen clears it in one go.

4 — The search window

Press the shortcut, type, press Return — the app launches and the search window disappears. It searches both the name and your keywords.

How searching works

Every word you type has to appear in the name or the keywords, in any order. The start of a word is enough: “inv” finds “invoice”. Upper and lower case and accents don’t matter, so “cafe” also finds “café”.

CueStart forgives small typos: “invocie” finds “invoice”. In words of four to seven letters one may be wrong, from eight letters on two. Short words of up to three letters have to be right, otherwise almost anything would match. Results without errors come before those with errors.

Searching by dictation

With macOS dictation you can speak instead of typing: open the search window, press your dictation key and say what you’re looking for. The results appear while you’re still speaking. Return launches right away — there’s no need to stop dictating first. Dictation is switched on under System Settings › Keyboard › Dictation.

CueStart learns

If you launch a particular app for a search term, CueStart remembers it. Next time, that app is at the top for the same input.

How many results

Under Settings › General › Visible results you set how many rows the search window shows — between 3 and 20. You reach the rest by scrolling.

Appearance

Under Settings › Appearance you choose one of four backgrounds for the search window — translucent Material, Grainy in eight tones, Solid or Liquid Glass — and one of three shapes: square, normal or very rounded.

Liquid Glass is the glass effect of macOS 26 and is only offered from that version on. The glass can be lightly tinted: Clear shows it without a tint, plus nine colours from Sand to Graphite.

5 — The prefixes at a glance

Without a prefix, the search window looks for apps. A character at the start switches it over. The line at the top of the search window reminds you.

Each area also has a shortcut of its own that opens the management window in the right place — see Settings.

6 — Snippets

Snippets are pieces of text you need again and again: a sign-off, an address, an account number, a bit of code. In the Snippets area you create them with New snippet and give them a name, text and tags if you like.

In the search window, type > and part of the name or a tag. Return puts the text on the clipboard — you then paste it wherever you want with ⌘V. You can also drag a snippet straight from the results into another app.

Placeholders

These placeholders are replaced by the current value when the snippet is used:

⌘Y in the search window shows the result before you take it.

7 — The clipboard

Recording

Turn on Record clipboard in the menu bar. From then on, CueStart keeps what you copy — text and images. In the search window, # brings it all back; Return puts the chosen entry back on the clipboard.

Pinned entries only

Two hashes instead of one — ## — show just the pinned entries. Keep typing to narrow them down as usual, for example ##invoice.

Several at once

In the search window, ⌘-click selects several entries and ⇧-click a whole range. Clicking a selected entry or pressing Return copies them all together, separated by a blank line. You can also drag them into another app in one go. Only text is copied together.

Pin, tag, edit

In the management window, Clipboard area, you see each entry in full. There you can:

• Pin — pinned entries stay until you delete them and never drop out of the list.
• Add tags — only for pinned entries. In the search window you then find them by their tag.
• Change the text — right in the entry.
• Keep as snippet — turns the entry into a snippet. Text only.

How much is kept

Under Settings › Clipboard you set how many entries are kept — between 10 and 500. Older ones drop out, pinned ones do not.

Passwords stay out

Nothing is kept from password managers such as 1Password and Bitwarden; they are preset. Under Settings › Clipboard you add further apps from which nothing should be recorded.

8 — Favorites

Favorites are files and folders you need often — the project folder, a spreadsheet, a manual as a PDF.

Adding favorites

Drag files or folders from the Finder into the list in the Favorites area of the management window. Or choose them with +. On the right, give each favorite a name and keywords.

In the search window

Type / and part of the name or a keyword. / on its own shows all favorites.

You can also drag favorites out of the results, into an email for example.

Without a prefix too

If Show favorites among apps without “/” too is on under Settings › General, matching favorites also appear in an ordinary search, below the apps. It is on by default.

Moved or deleted

If you move a favorite in the Finder, CueStart still finds it. If it has been deleted, it appears faded in the management window with the note No longer available and is no longer offered in the search window. Removing a favorite leaves the file itself untouched.

9 — App groups

A group launches several apps at once and opens favorites along with them. Say “work” for Xcode, Safari, Mail and the project folder — one keyword, one Return, and everything is ready.

Setting up a group

In the Groups area of the management window, create a group with New group. On the right, give it a name and keywords. Add apps … lets you tick what belongs to it in your app list; Add favorite adds files or folders from your favorites. The minus sign next to an entry takes it out again.

Launch now tries the group out straight away.

In the search window

Type + and part of the name or a keyword. + on its own shows all groups. Return launches every app in the group and opens its favorites. Apps that are already running just come to the front.

If Show groups among apps without “+” too is on under Settings › General, matching groups also appear in an ordinary search, below the apps. It is on by default.

10 — Calculating and currencies

Type = and a calculation. The result appears as you type; Return copies it.

Whether the comma or the point is the decimal separator depends on the language. CueStart understands both 12.6 and 12,6.

Converting currencies

Write the amount, the currency and the target currency — with symbols or codes, however it comes to you:

• =120 € in DKK
• =120 eur dkk
• =$250 eur
• =50 chf → eur

CueStart uses the daily rates of the European Central Bank, around 30 currencies. Below the result you see which day the rate is from. The rates are fetched at most once a day, and only when you type a conversion. Offline, the last rates fetched apply.

11 — Your own web searches

For sites you search often, you set up a shortcut. Then ?wp Hamburg in the search window is enough, and your browser opens the Wikipedia search for Hamburg — no detour via the home page.

Wikipedia, Apple Maps and DuckDuckGo are already set up as examples.

Setting up a web search

In the management window, Web Searches area, create an entry with New web search. It needs three things:

How to find the address: search the site for anything, say test. Copy the address from the browser and replace test in it with {{query}}. For Google this gives:

https://www.google.com/search?q={{query}}

If {{query}} is missing or a shortcut is used twice, CueStart points it out.

In the search window

? on its own shows all web searches. Choose one and press Return, and its shortcut is put into the search field — you only add the search term. With a search term, Return opens the browser.

12 — Switching between apps

A : in the search window shows every running app — the one you used last on top. Keep typing to narrow it down; Return brings the app to the front. Handy when many windows are open and the app you want does not catch your eye in the Dock.

13 — Window Strip

The Window Strip shows all open windows as small previews along one edge of the screen. A click on a preview brings the app to the front. That way you keep track even with many windows open.

Turning it on

Under Settings › Window Strip, switch on Use Window Strip. You open and close it with a key combination of its own, which you set there, or via the CueStart icon in the menu bar.

For window titles and previews, CueStart needs Screen Recording permission. Request it in the same tab with Request permission, then quit and restart CueStart.

What it shows

One preview per app, with its icon and name above. The app you used last comes first. Point at a preview to see the window title. Apps that only live in the menu bar, and windows without a title, are left out.

Settings

14 — Managing tags

Tags you give to snippets, pinned clipboard entries, favorites or groups are suggested as you type. That way the same word does not end up in three spellings.

The Tags area of the management window lists every tag in use. For each one you see how often it appears in the clipboard, in snippets, in favorites and in groups. There you can:

• rename it — the change applies everywhere it is used;
• delete it — it disappears from every entry, the entries themselves stay.

15 — Backup

Under Settings › Backup you write everything into a single file: apps with keywords, favorites, groups, snippets, web searches, the exclusions, the remembered searches and every setting including the shortcuts.

Backup folder

If you pick a fixed folder with Choose folder, each backup is written there without asking, with the date and time in the file name. Below it you see the backups in that folder and can read one in or delete it. Without a fixed folder, CueStart asks where to save each time.

Reading in: replace or merge

16 — Settings

General

The preset shortcuts:

Appearance

Light, dark or following the system; the accent colour for buttons and selection; background and shape of the search window.

Apps

Apps that are never read in, and additional search locations — see Adding apps.

Clipboard

How many entries are kept, whether deleting has to be confirmed, and the apps from which nothing is recorded.

Backup

See Backup.

Window Strip

See Window Strip.

Language

CueStart speaks Chinese (Simplified), Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. The system language is preset.

Pro

Trial period, buying the full version and restoring a purchase.

Info

Version, an overview of the features, and What's New.

17 — Frequently asked questions

The search window does not find an app.

Is it in the management window under Apps? The search window only finds what is listed there. If it is missing, add it with Add app. If it is among the exclusions under Settings › Apps, take it out there.

The shortcut does nothing.

Most likely another app uses the same combination. Choose a different one under Settings › General.

The clipboard stays empty.

Is Record clipboard turned on in the menu bar? Nothing is kept from apps excluded under Settings › Clipboard.

Currency conversion says “No exchange rates yet”.

CueStart has never been able to fetch the rates. Check the internet connection; CueStart tries again the next time you type.

A web search opens the wrong page.

Check the address in the Web Searches area. It must be complete, with https://, and contain {{query}} where the search term goes.

How do I get the What's New window back?

Via the magnifying glass in the menu bar, item What's New.