Applications

Finds and launches anything installed on your machine. In practice this is the command you use most: press Alt+Space, type three or four letters, press Enter.

Matching

Each installed application becomes its own command, and each scores itself against what you typed three ways at once — an exact name match, a prefix match, and a fuzzy match. So obsidian, obsi and obdn all find Obsidian, with the more precise match ranking higher.

The prefix match strengthens as you type. One or two letters is a weak signal and a lot of applications will match it; by the fourth character the right one has usually risen to the top.

Icons

Applications appear immediately with a placeholder icon, and their real icons are fetched in the background just after. On first run you may briefly see generic icons — they fill in within a second or two and are not fetched again.

The wheel

Application commands are available on the Pivit Wheel, so an app you open constantly can have a permanent slot rather than being typed each time.

When an app does not appear

Applications are indexed at startup from what Windows knows about. A newly installed application usually appears straight away; if it does not, run Restart Pivit from the command bar.

An application that never appears is generally one that is not registered with Windows in the normal way — a loose executable in a folder rather than something installed. Launching it once from the Start menu often registers it. Failing that, Files will find the executable and open it directly.

Settings

None. The plugin can be disabled entirely under Settings → Plugins, which is worth doing only if you launch applications another way and want them out of your results.