Have you dreamed of extending the scope of what our handy little Alfred can do for you?
The just-released Alfred 0.9.9 allows you to access even more of your Mac's capabilities in an easy-to-use environment with the new Extensions tab. Haven't got it yet? Check for updates in Alfred's preferences to get this latest version.
Powerpack users now have the option to:
- create their own Command Line Scripts (with Growl output)
- launch AppleScripts (with parameters) with a keyword
- run Automator workflows
- build advanced Search Filters
- create keywords for files and file groups
Extensions can be easily installed just by double-clicking on the exported file or dragging them to the Extensions home below. Have a look at the new Extensions page and the first examples by some of our users.
In addition, Alfred 0.9.9 brings many more improvements:
- NEW FREE THEME: Lion-based theme available both to free and Powerpack users
- Improvements on many Lion quirks
- Growl Support for output from extensions and more
- Global Hotkey usage added to statistics graph
- Address Book Contact's Notes now visible in Contact Card viewer
- Improved Knowledge Sorting to better account for extensions [and web searches]
- Added 'Get Info' action for files
- Make emailing attachments work with Sparrow Lite.app
- Improved accuracy for spell and define keywords
- Ability to use Open Meta tags when creating search filters & extensions
For a full list of improvements and bug fixes, have a look at the Alfred Changelog. And don't forget that the next release will be 1.0... so grab your Powerpack now to take advantage of the pre-1.0 price!
We all use our Macs slightly differently, squirrelling files away in all sorts of obscure locations with, sometimes, less than helpful names or folder organisation.
This is where Alfred comes in, like a knight in shining armour against the mountains of files on your Mac. Below are a few ways to tweak your settings to ensure Alfred is ready to serve YOU.
Setting your default results
If you're looking at your Default Results preference pane and thinking "What is she on about? Searching couldn't be simpler!" And you know what? You'd be half-right. The default settings for Alfred will suit a good portion of users straight out of the box, allowing you to find the bulk of the files you need.
However, if you need him to tend to your every need, you can tweak the settings to reflect this. To create as little noise as possible, choose only the file types you really want to see every time you search, e.g. Applications, Folders and Contacts.
Don't check every box unless you want every document, text file and image for "Spot the dog" every time you start typing "spo..." to launch Spotify.
The default search limits your results to 9 items to be as fast as possible. Want more results? Want a broader search? Keep on reading!
Widening your search scope
By default, the search scope covers the locations where Mac files are usually stored, such as your home folder, Applications folder, etc. However, if you store your files elsewhere, you'll want to use the + button to add the additional paths you need Alfred to include in default searches.
Searching all file types
Now you really are looking for every file and folder relating to Spot the dog, no matter what the file is. You want all those cute doggy photos, videos and stories and you want them NOW!
Hot tip:
Listen carefully. This is one of the Alfred search gems you'll never want to forget once you've used it...
- Use "find" to reveal a file in Finder
- Use "open" (or hit the spacebar) to open a file
- Use "in" to search for the content of files
Like so, with a single tap of the spacebar or the "open" keyword, you can expand the scope of your search without cluttering your everyday search results.
Still need to refine the contents of this broad search? Go to the Features > File Search > Exclusions & Scope tab in the preferences to select the file types you want Alfred to show you. I always hide emails, calendar items and browser history, for example, as I have so many unnecessary noisy results in there.
When using any of the 3 file search keywords, Alfred shows 20 results by default but this can be expanded to 40 in the preferences. Handy!
Working with external drives
You've probably worked out by now that Alfred's a rather accommodating chap and that he'll do everything he can to help you.
He'll be happy to include external volumes in your searches, on two conditions. First, Spotlight must have the drive indexed for search and, secondly, the scope in File Search > Exclusions & Scope must be set to include Everything.
A few more handy tips for fussy naming
Not happy calling a file by its name? Be Alfred's guest and give the file a nickname.
Using Spotlight Comments, you can assign short names or nicknames to applications or files.
For example, I use a developer app called "Instruments" to test Alfred for Memory Leaks, but when it's my own memory that starts leaking, I can't remember the app's name. For this reason, it now has a Spotlight Comment for "leaks", ensuring I find it every time. Go ahead and do the same with your own apps!
In the case of apps, you can also turn on fuzzy matching in the Alfred's Applications preferences, allowing you to use a partial match (e.g. "gc" for Google Chrome) without setting a Spotlight Comment. With Anchored turned on, Alfred will only search from the first character of every word, while turning it off will go more freestyle by showing any fuzzy match.
Hot tip:
Use Spotlight Comments to assign a short name or nickname to a file, or turn on fuzzy matching in the Applications preferences to match on the fly.
What to do if Alfred can't find what you want
Alfred relies on your OS X metadata being healthy. This metadata is maintained by Spotlight and, on very rare occasions, can get out of date or corrupted. We've outlined easy diagnostics steps to follow if this happens.
Want more Alfred tips? Next time, we'll look at the iTunes Mini Player to add a bit of music to your day!
In the meantime, don't forget to check out the Tips & Tricks category of the blog, filled with more useful tricks for using Alfred than you can dream of!
[Image credit: Knight in shining armor by Pascal]
Alfred's version 0.9 has been released now so to get it straightaway, go into Updates in the Alfred Preferences and click "Check now". This is one of the most significant releases, bringing you many new features and improvements and really expanding the scope of what's possible to do with Alfred. Have a look!
New: Global Hotkeys
Quick and easy access is at the core of Alfred's philosophy which is why we're very happy to have added Global Hotkeys. This Powerpack feature allows you to create custom global shortcuts for your most used applications, files and scripts. Once you set the hotkey, you'll have single-hotkey access and a good feeling about all the time you get to save.
New: Custom Terminal Commands
For the advanced Mac users among you, Alfred's Powerpack now also brings much improved Terminal/Shell integration and the ability to create custom commands that work right inside Alfred. You can easily run your scripts with keywords and arguments, either via opening up a Terminal window or even silently behind the scenes. Here's an example of a script allowing integration with the popular task manager Things on Andrew's tumblr.
With this feature you'll also be able to add custom shell actions to the Actions panel inside Alfred, extending the scope of how you can work with your files and apps.
New: Preference Syncing
Are you using multiple Macs and want to keep Alfred synchronised across your machines? With the Powerpack, syncing your most important preferences and thus keeping your snippets, scripts, custom searches and themes synchronised and ready to be used whichever Mac you're using is easy and quick.
We recommend using Dropbox, but any cloud-synching service with a locally synced folder can be used.
New: Hide/Quit/Force Quit
With these new System commands, you can now easily hide, quit or force quit applications currently running on your Mac.
New: iTunes DJ
Experience the full power of iTunes DJ and play or add to your playlists, making you the life of the party. It's a great way to pre-select songs to be played and allows you to compile your own 'music queue'. Don't forget to turn this Powerpack feature on in Alfred's preferences.
And so much more...
The 0.9 release brings over 80 improvements, new additions, bug fixes and a complete overhaul of how Preferences are presented.
Amongst other things, you'll now be able to drag files right from Alfred onto other applications, add icons to your custom searches, customise some of the keyboard functionality in File Navigation and Result Actions or have a peak at how much of your Alfred usage is spent using the iTunes Mini Player or the Clipboard Viewer.
The full (and it's certainly long) list of what's new is in our changelog so go have a look.
Tempted by all the new Powerpack features? The list of advanced features available to you grows with every release so why not grab your Powerpack now? :)
Fancy becoming a productivity ninja with Alfred? Some might say that calling yourself a "ninja" is cliché but the ninja is efficient, stealthy and a master of his tools, just as you can be with Alfred. Besides, I've been gagging for an excuse to post this awesome Lego ninja picture so bear with me, alright? ;) To help you discover some of the more advanced features, I've put together this mini series to introduce some of the power user functionality you may not have used before.
First, use the web searches
Before jumping into Custom Searches, have a look at the dozens of web searches in the preferences. We've included a stack of standard searches you're likely to want to use. Simply type the keyword followed by your search term.
Create your own custom web searches
There are no doubt websites you want to search that we haven't included. In that case, it's time to create your own! The key to creating custom web search is to work out the search URL for that site. Simply do a search and replace the search term with {query} like so:
http://www.netflix.com/Search?v1={query}
You can then use the searches to do super useful stuff:
And much more...
Searching apps on your Mac
There's more than one flavour of custom searches; you can also create them for applications on your Mac. Not all apps offer an application URI so it's worth digging around or asking the developer. Here are a few of our favourite ones:
- Spotify: spotify:search:{query}
- App Store: itunes://ax.search.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?term={query}
- Facetime: facetime://{query}
A custom search without a query
Did you know that your custom "searches" can in fact not be searches at all? Launch any website with a custom keyword by saving it in Alfred's custom searches.
Check out the Tips & Tricks category of the blog for regular tips on using Alfred and discover many more custom search ideas on Alfred fan Olivier Guerriat's alfredtips.com.
Share your searches
As Jack Johnson says, "it's always more fun to share with everyone..." so swap custom searches with friends. Use the copy icon to copy the custom search query and click on any special URL starting with alfredapp:// to import one to your own custom searches.
Websites change and evolve, so searches that worked in the past may stop working. If this happens, take a look at the website you created the custom search for and go through the steps above again. It's likely that the exact search URL has changed, so you'll need to update your custom search accordingly.
Chime in in the comments if you've become a black belt of productivity and want to share your own tips. We'll feature some of the best ones in future posts!
Since we launched the colour theming for Alfred, you've been creating a wide variety of beautiful, interesting and, in some cases, downright bizarre colour themes. It was tricky, but we picked a few of our favourite themes that you've submitted or shared.
To install: You need the Powerpack to use custom themes. Click on any of the themes' screenshots to install them on your Mac.
Your favourite websites
Daring Fireball by @GrandLarceny
Facebook
Mac Appstorm by @vero
MacGeneration by MacGeneration
Your favourite sports teams
Boston Bruins by @drossignol10
Toronto Raptors by @drossignol10
Los Angeles Lakers by @drossignol10
More great themes
Homebrew by @elliotlevin
Go in peace, Quicksilver by @ivanneto
Tron by @drossignol10
Cool Green by @peter_woodworth
Blue Light by @drossignol10
Rockslide by @maxsteenbergen
Want to contribute your own? Leave a comment with a link to it _(Pass it through tinyurl.com first, as WordPress disallows the alfredapp:// URI)_ or submit it to alfredtips.com, a site by Alfred fan Olivier Guerriat.
What are the best themes you've seen? ...Or the worst ones? ;)
