Flow Launcher has become one of my favorite Windows apps ever since I tried it a couple of months back, and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to get things done faster using their keyboard. Flow is already extremely useful out of the box, but what makes it so special is the fact that it can be extended massively through the multitude of available plug-ins.

In fact, all of Flow Launcher's features are technically powered by plug-ins; many of them are just preinstalled with the app itself. But I wanted to highlight some extra plug-ins that don't come preinstalled and that you should absolutely consider adding to your Flow Launcher arsenal. These plug-ins help you get things done that much faster without having to move your hands away from the keyboard, and I highly recommend each and every one.

10 MediaControl

Can't get much clearer than this

Do you want to have media controls directly on your keyboard but your board doesn't include them? Well, that's where the MediaControl plug-in comes in. It does exactly what you'd expect, giving you quick controls for play/pause, next track, or previous track.

There really isn't much to be said here, other than it's a simple and quick way to control your media playback using the keyboard, even without dedicated keys.

pm install mediacontrol

9 Timer

Who needs the Clock app anyway?

Another very simple plug-in, Timer is a great replacement for using the Clock app in Windows 11, which isn't really easy to control with the keyboard. All you need to do is type in timer (or another keyword of your choice) followed by the number of minutes you want the timer to be for.

Of course, you can also add the unit of time you want to use after the number, so you can more easily set a timer for a few seconds, hours, or even days. It's a pretty flexible and easy to use timer that works with just the keyboard, and that's a win in my book.

pm install timer

8 General Converter

Not ideal, but it works

One of the things I miss the most using Flow Launcher compared to Windows Search is the abiity to quickly convert units and currency, bgut thankfully, there are decent solutions for this as plug-ins. Now, I wouldn't say these are perfect, but there are two main options here: General Converter and Unit Converter, and out of those, I prefer General Converter.

General Converter provides the simplest commands for converting from one specific unit to another. All you need to do is type in the activation keyword, the number, the source unit, and the target unit, and you get your result. General Converter also makes it easy to copy the result of your conversion with Ctrl + C, which Unit Converter doesn't support. The downside is that the entire equation is copied, and values have a lot of decimal places, which is often unnecessary for what I do. I do wish there was one plug-in combining the best of these two, but as it stands, General Converter is the way to go. There's also a sister plug-in called Currency Converter, if you're interested in that as well.

pm install general converter

7 FlowYouTube

Search YouTube anytime, anywhere

YouTube is one of the biggest sources of both entertainment and information out there, and sometimes, you just want to find a video as quickly as possible. FlowYouTube is a plug-in that makes this much easier, and it does exactly what you'd expect. Simply type in the keyword to activate the plug-in then enter whatever search term you want, and you can instantly choose from the top search results for your search query.

In addition to straight-up opening the video, FlowYouTube also gives you the option to copy a URL directly from the search results, so you can easily share videos, too. It's a relatively simple plug-in, but certainly a great one.

pm install flowyoutube

6 AnyVideo Downloader

Save your videos to watch later

A great pairing for the plug-in above, AnyVideo Downloader is another great tool that does exactly what it says on the tin. Powered by the popular video transcoder FFmpeg, this plug-in lets you type in any URL for a video on YouTube, Instagram, or other platforms (your mileage may vary) and get download options for that video. You can choose the resolution and bitrate options for the video, or even download just the audio of it.

Since FlowYouTube also makes it easy to just grab the URL of a YouTube video, you can easily search for a video, copy the link, and download it, all within Flow Launcher. There's no need to skip a beat or waste time, it's great. Of course, we do have to mention that downloading YouTube videos and watching them offline can impact the livelihood of the content creators (and YouTube doesn't like it, either), so this isn't meant to be your main way to consume YouTube videos.

pm install anyvideo downloader

5 Window Walker

Switch between windows more easily

We're all used to switching between our open windows with Alt+Tab or Windows+Tab, but when you have dozens of open windows, this can only get you so far. Enter Window Walker, a plug-in for Flow Launcher that makes your open windows searchable, so you can easily find exactly what you're looking for without scrolling through your open apps or squinting to see where the right icon is.

Windows Walker is meant for power users more than anyone else, so it may not be for you. But for the right person, it's going to be a huge time saver.

pm install window walker

4 FlowTrumpet

Change app volume with the keyboard

You may have heard of EarTrumpet, a third-party volume mixer app that makes it easy to change the volume of individual apps, a feature that's a little harder to reach within Windows itself. FlowTrumpet aims to bring that spirit to Flow Launcher, making app volume controllable directly within Flow Launcher.

The way it works is fairly simple. Enter the keyword of your choosing to activate FlowTrumpet, then the process ID of the app you want to manipulate, followed by the volume you want to set it to (as a percentage of the max volume). Of course, not everyone knows the process IDs of their running apps, so you can search the app by name and then select it to have the ID automatically entered in the search bar. It's all made to be as easy as possible, and it works really well.

pm install flowtrumpet

3 ScreenBrightness

Self-explanatory, but still cool

Similar to changing volume, changing the brightness for multiple displays on Windows is a bit of a tedious task, especially because most external monitors aren't supported by the built-in Windows slider. ScreenBrightness is a plug-in that helps in more ways than one.

First off, making screen brightness controls available to keyboard users is already a big deal, since it saves you the time of opening the Quick actions panel and moving the mouse to the right place. But what's more, this plug-in actually works with external connected monitors, where you usually might need apps like Monitorian or ClickMonitorDDC. It's a fantastic tool to have for multi-monitor users.

​​​​​​​pm install screenbrightness

2 ​​​​​​​OneNote (or Obsidian)

Find your notes quickly

Taking and keeping notes to stay organized is an extremely important component of being productive, and if you use tools like OneNote or Obsidian to keep your information all together, Flow Launcher cna help here, too. Why open OneNote manually and browse it with your mouse when you cans earch your OneNote notebooks easily within Flow Launcher?

The OneNote plug-in offers a few ways to find your notes. You can use the notebook browser to manually browse the notebooks you have downloaded to your PC (no access to your account is required), or simply search by the title of a given page or section. It's very useful, though I have noticed some issues if OneNote takes too long to respond, where Flow Launcher itself might crash. Thankfully, that shouldn't happen too frequently. There's also a similar plug-in for Obsidian if you prefer keeping your information there.

pm install onenote

1 Quick Uninstaller

Uninstall apps easily

​​​​​​​

If you're like me, it can be easy to get pretty lazy and forgot to remove apps you don't need on your PC anymore. Thankfully, the Quick Uninstaller plug-in makes things a bit easier since you don't have to go out of your way to open the Start menu or the Settings app.

With this add-on, you can simply type unin (or change the keyword) and then search for the name of the app you want to remove. You'll see a full list of apps that can be uninstalled right way, which should make things pretty easy. This only works for apps that have dedicated uninstallers, so Microsoft Store apps aren't supported, but this is still a very good tool to have.

pm install quick uninstaller

Flow Launcher is still an amazing app

These ten plug-ins are just the tip of the iceberg of what Flow Launcher can do for you. There are dozens of plug-ins available in the plug-in store and they can do all kinds of things. I focused on some of the more general purpose tools on offer, but maybe someday we can dive into some of the weirder and more niche plug-ins available too. If you haven't checked it out yet, download flow launcher below.

• Flow Launcher

  See at Flow Launcher