Direct Access
Direct Access saves you time by letting you start frequently performed tasks from the
keyboard. Whether you want to launch a program, open a website, send an email or type a boilerplate reply into a
document, Direct Access lets you do it without taking your hands from the keyboard. Invest some time in setting up the
keyboard commands you need and it becomes a real productivity booster.
Download Direct Access now for a no-risk FREE trial!
PC users tend to fall into one of two groups: those who prefer using the mouse, and those who prefer the keyboard. If you prefer the keyboard you'll love Direct Access. Instead of clicking through the Programs menu to open an application, or your Bookmarks folder to open a website, you can just type a command and it happens.
If you need to open Microsoft Word, just type word and then press the command key (F12 by default) and Word opens! If you don't press the command key, Direct Access assumes you want to type the word word and goes back to sleep again, so there is no risk of conflict.
You can change the command key to anything you like, even Enter, which feels more intuitive. You can even define commands that don't need a confirmation. These can perform text expansion like \date for today's date, or \kr for "Kind Regards." It's advisable to choose command names that aren't likely to be typed in normal text (starting with a backslash is one way to achieve this) to avoid unintended expansions.
You can create commands to open commonly used folders such as
myd for My Documents, or mym for My Music. You can even open special folders like My Computer
or Control Panel from the keyboard.
You can use Direct Access to open websites, creating text shortcuts for the sites in your Favorites folder. You can create commands to query websites, such as a Google search, or looking up a term in Wikipedia. Direct Access automatically encodes your search string so that it is passed correctly to the web server. You can even create a command to start an email from the keyboard, which opens your mail program using the standard mailto: association.
If you prefer using the keyboard to the mouse, Direct Access is a great tool that will repay the initial effort put in by boosting your productivity in the future.
