The ultimate launcher for Mac users

Face it. Our Macs have become complex, complicated, cluttered little beasts. Files are everywhere. We load up our Macs with applications, utilities, shareware, documents, movies, music, and more. How can we navigate through the messes we make? One word. DragThing. Here’s how…

The Problem

Clutter is not your friend. Our Macs do much for us, and one of the most important requests we make is to keep stuff handy.

Handy? Yes. Nearby. Always ready. A click away. We’re loaded with files, applications, documents, utilities, web pages, and more. How can we keep them all handy?

Take a look at my Finder. Clean and neat, right? Icons in the Toolbar. Folders organized (click on any image for a close up view).

Appearances are deceiving. Finding everything inside in a click or two is the challenge. That’s what DragThing does.

The Solution

DragThing is a file launcher that goes way beyond the Dock. Files, folders, hard drives, network connections, applications, utilities, music, whatever—it’s all a click away.

It puts all your documents, folders, and applications just a single click away. Highly flexible, it allows multiple docks, each customised to suit your exact needs.

DragThing is one or more floating (or non-click, highly available) docks, convenient palettes which can hold anything, and get you anywhere in a single click.

The drag in DragThing is just one of the ways you can put items from your Mac into or onto the floating docks, or palettes. Each item can be arranged however you wish. Tabs are used to segregate Applications from Documents from Folders or URLs or whatever.

DragThing is zombie easy to set up, yet it’s all fully customizable via DragThing’s extensive preferences.

Preferences?

Preferences are available for each dock, and each layer of a dock, in addition to general preferences for DragThing.

Set DragThing to float or hide. Set up hot keys to bring DragThing to the front. I use a simple mouse to a hot corner, so no clicking needed. Set up a shelf to pop up from top, bottom, left or right on your Mac’s screen.

DragThing also allows you to define a wide variety of hot keys. These hot keys can open items in docks, control various other aspects of DragThing and even control the visibility of and switching between other applications running on your Mac.

The key to understanding and using DragThing is to start with a single dock, add some applications or utilities to it, via drag and drop, then begin exploring the Preferences. They’re key.

Customize Me, Dude!

Once you’re comfortable with the basics, invoking DragThing to the front, clicking an icon to open a file, document, or application, you’re ready for real fun.

DragThing comes with a dozen or so custom themes which change the background color and style of the docks, however, you can customize nearly any aspect of each through the extensive preferences.

Go icons only, or icons and text. Change the fonts. Expand the dock size (or shrink). Move the dock anywhere on the screen you want. Did I mention HotKeys?

DragThing also allows you to define a wide variety of hot keys. These hot keys can open items in docks, control various other aspects of DragThing and even control the visibility of and switching between other applications running on your Mac.

Despite the many ways to customize DragThing and make it your own, truly unique to your needs, the basics never get hidden, always a click or mouse point away.

Keep It Simple

Not only does DragThing store icons of applications and utilities, making them easy to open without the Dock or without digging around in the Finder, it does more.

It stores frequently-used clippings such as text and pictures, and lets you easily paste them into other applications with just a click.

As much as the Finder can be the source for tracking down what we want from our Macs, I seldom use it. I never open a bunch of Finder windows. I use one single click on DragThing to navigate to any location on my Mac. One click, hold, and DragThing pops up a navigation window.

If I were to create a Top 5 Best Mac Utilities, DragThing would be on it. I recommend it to anyone who hates dealing with the Finder, hates wading through open windows, and wants to make their Mac their own. Highly recommended.