Flow.Launcher/README.md

Flow Launcher. Dedicated to make your workflow flow more seamlessly. Aimed at being more than an app launcher, it searches, integrates and expands on functionalities. Flow will continue to evolve, designed to be open and built with the community at heart.

_{Remember to star it, flow will love you more :)}

Features

• Search everything from applications, files, bookmarks, YouTube, Twitter and more. All from the comfort of your keyboard without ever touching the mouse.
• Search for file contents.
• Do mathematical calculations and copy the result to clipboard.
• Support search using environment variable paths.
• Run batch and PowerShell commands as Administrator or a different user.
• Support languages from Chinese to Italian and more.
• Support wide range of plugins.
• Prioritise the order of each plugin's results.
• Save file or folder locations for quick access.
• Fully portable.

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Running Flow Launcher

Windows 7 and up

Windows may complain about security due to code not being signed, this will be completed at a later stage. If you downloaded from this repo, you are good to continue the set up.

Integrations

• If you use Python plugins:
  • Install Python3, download .exe installer.
  • Add Python to %PATH% or set it in flow's settings.
  • Use pip to install flowlauncher, open cmd and type pip install flowlauncher.
  • The Python plugin may require additional modules to be installed, please ensure you check by visiting the plugin's website via pm install + plugin name, go to context menu and select Open website.
  • Start to launch your Python plugins.
• Flow searches files and contents via Windows Index Search, to use Everything: pm install everything.

Usage

• Open flow's search window: Alt+Space is the default hotkey.
• Open context menu: on the selected result, press Ctrl+O/Shift+Enter.
• Cancel/Return to previous screen: Esc.
• Install/Uninstall/Update plugins: in the search window, type pm install/uninstall/update + the plugin name.
• Saved user settings are located:
  • If using roaming: %APPDATA%\FlowLauncher
  • If using portable, by default: %localappdata%\FlowLauncher\app-<VersionOfYourFlowLauncher>\UserData
• Logs are saved along with your user settings folder.

More tips

Plugins

Here are some actively maintained plugins you can install.

Name	Repo	Function	Woxy Port?
WoxDictionary	https://github.com/jjw24/WoxDictionary/releases/latest	Dictionary	y
Google Search Plus	https://github.com/jjw24/Wox.Plugin.GoogleSearch/releases/latest	Google Search	y
SpotifyPremium	https://github.com/jjw24/Wox.Plugin.SpotifyPremium/releases/latest	Spotify Search	y
Runner	https://github.com/jjw24/Wox.Plugin.Runner/releases/latest	Create command line aliases	y
Clipboard Manager	https://github.com/Xenolphthalein/Flow.Launcher.Plugin.ClipboardHistory	Manage your clipboard
WindowWalker	https://github.com/taooceros/Microsoft.Plugin.WindowWalker	Alt+Tab Enhancer	Y
ipadr	https://github.com/taooceros/Flow.Plugin.IPAddress	Tells you your IP address	Y
UrlEncode	https://github.com/taooceros/Flow.Plugin.UrlEncode	Encode/Decode strings for URLs	Y
Putty	https://github.com/jjw24/Flow.Launcher.Plugin.Putty	Launch a PuTTy client	Y
FancyEmoji	https://github.com/821C3/Wox.Plugin.FancyEmoji	Emoji Search	n
IsPrime	https://github.com/lvonkacsoh/wox-plugin-isPrime	Tells you if an entered number is prime or not	n
DiskSpace	https://github.com/roose/Wox.Plugin.DiskSpace	Shows available disk space	n
wox-dash-velocity	https://github.com/etiago/wox-dash-velocity	Integrate with Velocity	n
LibreTranslate	https://github.com/taooceros/Flow.LibreTranslate	Multi-language translation tool with LibreTranslate back-end	y

There is an open issue where you can request existing Wox or PowerToys Run plugins be ported. You can also do this yourself using the instructions in our documentation.

Status

Flow is under heavy development, but the code base is stable, so contributions are very welcome. If you would like to help maintain it, please do not hesistate to get in touch.

Contributing

We welcome all contributions. If you are unsure of a change you want to make, simply put an issue in for discussion, otherwise feel free to put in a pull request.

You will find the main goals of flow placed under Projects board, so feel free to contribute on that. If you would like to make small incremental changes, feel free to do so as well.

Get in touch if you like to join the Flow-Launcher Team and help build this great tool.

Question/Suggestion

Yes please, submit an issue to let us know.

Join our community on Discord!

Developing/Debugging

Flow Launcher's target framework is .Net 5

Install Visual Studio 2019

Install .Net 5 SDK via Visual Studio installer or manually from here

Documentation

Visit here for more information on usage, development and design documentations