RavenOpening Raven
The default shortcut is ⌥Space. Traditionally launchers use ⌘Space or ⌥Space, but Raven lets you choose.
Ways to open it
Choose one in Settings.
| Style | How it behaves |
|---|---|
| Right ⌘, ⌥ or ⌃ | Tap and release the key on its own. Held down or pressed with another key, it’s a normal modifier. |
| Caps Lock | A tap opens Raven; the lock itself never engages. |
| Keyboard shortcut | Any combination you record. The default is ⌥Space. |
| Caps Lock as Hyper | Hold Caps Lock for ⌃⌥⌘⇧, so shortcuts bound to Hyper keep working. |
A second, optional shortcut opens Raven straight into emoji and symbols.
The window
- Raven opens on whichever display the pointer is on, without taking focus away from what you were doing.
- Drag it by the search icon to move it. It snaps to the horizontal centre and to a quarter, half and three quarters of the way down.
- It remembers where you put it, even across different displays. Settings can reset the position.
Running apps above the search
Raven can show your running apps in a strip above the search field, most recently used first, so ⌥1 is always the app you were just in. The app you’re in now sits last, dimmed. ⌥1–⌥9 switch to them while Raven is open, or click an icon.
The strip is off by default: turn it on in Settings → General → App Switcher. It can drop its background so the icons float over the desktop, and its icon size is adjustable.