carlcaulkett

Forgive me if this has been suggested already, but wouldn't it be good, when one opens Alfred, hits /, then goes into Applications, to have an option, whereby, alongside each app name, there was a user-editable description and maybe a user-editable tag? I don't know about anyone else but I've got so many apps, free, cheap and not so cheap, that I cannot honestly remember what they all are! Being able to use Alfred to annotate and tag apps would be really handy. This would also make it easy to conduct the occasional software purge! I think we all need a measure of KonMari in our lives 😉

No worries! I'm due to get a new Mac quite soon, where the macOS matches the hardware spec. Until then the solution I described in will do me for now. Thanks for your patience. Cheers, Carl

As soon as I do that, it reverts back to the fallback web search options... as soon as I type anything following "bw "...

Is there an example that spells all this out? I was trying to follow https://www.alfredapp.com/help/workflows/inputs/file-filter/ which seemed to suggest that what I was doing was sufficient.

No the files displayed were not from the specified folder and only came about when I added the file type to the default file types in the third image of my original post. I tried with both "Search for Bitwig files" as the Placeholder Title, as per @Andrew's suggestion, and with "Search folders for '{query}'", which is what I think you are suggesting. Neither of them yield any results... Cheers, Carl

In any case, I've done the unthinkable and adapted my non-Alfred workflow to suit the situation. Before, I had lots of sub-folders named by download date. Now I've consolidated all the .bwpreset files therein to the parent `/Volumes/OS2/Bitwig/Library/Presets/Bitwiggers` folder. Then with a symbolic link named 'bw' in my home folder, I can now activate Alfred with '~bw' and get instant access to the files 😀 It just seems a shame that I couldn't get a workflow-based solution to work. I'll go away and study the tutorials further on issues which are not so pressing 😉 Cheers, Carl

No, I meant no sign of .bwpreset files in the results! I understand how the system type works. I've tried dragging .bwpreset files from lots of different folders. They all see to have the same system type, and as such, cannot be added to the list - no error, the entry is just not added.

Okay. I have removed the default results setting, and I have done as you say on the File Filter configuration. I've also followed @Andrew's suggestion... "To make the following suggestion easier, rename the filter (in your first screenshot) to something like "Search for Bitwig files", then type bw into Alfred, and actually select the filter placeholder "Search for Bitwig files". This will then limit all results in Alfred to your subsequent type query for that filter." No sign of 'bwpreset' files whatsoever 🤷‍♂️ I've also tried it with "Search folders for '{query}'" as the Placeholder Title. Either way none of the files I want are displayed and it just goes to the Fallback web search options. Cheers, Carl

Jus for the avoidance of doubt, the only way I can get '.bwpreset' files in any location is to drag a file to the User Defined file settings as shown in the third image in the first post. This results in files from the folder '/Volumes/OS2/Bitwig Packages/Installed Bitwig Packs/1.0/presets/Bitwig/Evolving Sounds and Sequences' being displayed'. Note that there are many other folders sharing the same parent folder containing '.bwpreset' files, but these are not displayed. Note also that only a subset of the files in '/Volumes/OS2/Bitwig Packages/Installed Bitwig Packs/1.0/presets/Bitwig/Evolving Sounds and Sequences' are displayed'. I hope that this doesn't mean that my Spotlight index is borked. The last time I did a full index rebuild, a couple of years ago, after chatting with @deanishethings got immeasurably worse (I'm not blaming @deanisheby the way, I think it was my overfull disk drives!). I read that with earlier versions of macOS, it was possible to add files and folders to the Spotlight index, but that this is not possible under Mojave, Progress, huh? 🤷‍♂️ Cheers, Carl

@Andrew Thanks for the reply! I tried exporting my errant workflow but it seems that I cannot attach it to this message. How do I share the workflow with you? I can't even attach images to this message at the moment - I'm getting some kind of server error from your end. Hopefully you can see this image - I'm using https://imgbb.com As you can see I've only got two other workflows running, the triggers for which as 'd' and 'ff' respectively. It also demonstrates the fact that despite my having specified `/Volumes/OS2/Bitwig/Library/Presets/Bitwiggers` as the scope, files from a different folder are being returned. UPDATE: I've tried sharing the exported workflow via https://gofile.io - here's the download link https://gofile.io/d/mjPxG3. I suppose if nothing else, the fact that I'm seeing some 'bwpreset' files does show that the OS2 volume is being indexed by Spotlight... Cheers, Carl

Alfred 4.1.1 + Powerpack macOS 10.14.6 Alfred and presumably Spotlight have been working perfectly since I did a major disk clean up a couple of years ago 😉 I have bunch of files stored in a folder structure, the root of which is `/Volumes/OS2/Bitwig/Library/Presets/Bitwiggers`. On a fairly regular basis I need to check whether a newly downloaded file is already present so I can disregard it. The aforementioned folder has a number of sub-folders which I would like searched at all times. Essentially I just want to be able to type 'bw <preset name>' and get some kind of confirmation as to whether the file exists already. I looked at basing my solution on Vero's "Dynamic File Search" workflow example but that seems to have an extra step that I don't need. I'm guessing that I need just one File Filter object. If I type 'bw' the workflow starts with the prompt "Search folders for '...'", but as soon as I type <space> followed by my search text' I just see my Fallback web search options displayed. This is the Basic Setup of my File Filter object... Followed by the Scope... I've also added `/Volumes/OS2` to the Search Scope under the Default Results settings. This didn't help. UPDATE... I've just dragged a preset file to the User Defined file settings. This has resulted in several '.bwpreset' files being displayed as soon as I type 'bw' but unfortunately from other unwanted places on `/Volumes/OS2`. Plus I've still got the problem of the Fallback web option taking over the results. It feels like there's just one critical piece of understanding which is not registering in my brain. Please, can anyone help me discover what that is 🙏😀 Ive been right through the tutorial page on https://www.alfredapp.com/help/workflows/inputs/file-filter/ and as far as I can see I'm not doing anything radically different.

Yeah, I love my Cheesegrater! Did I mention it has 32 GB of RAM ?

Sadly I've been forced to uninstall Alfred. I'll try it again when I get a more stable macOS release installed. For now, I'm using Quicksilver, which while not nearly as streamlined and pretty as Alfred, does have the advantage of not being reliant on the underlying Spotlight mechanism. Might be an option for the future, what do you think, @Andrew?

I've tried that as well. After doing the `sudo mdutil -E -i on /` operation, I see that the folder is recreated but with very small files therein.

I tried to disable and then enable the Spotlight server with `sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist` followed by `sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist` followed by `sudo mdutil -E -i on /` (the equivalent of clicking the macOS metadata index button) This gave the "Spotlight server is disabled." message. For some reason, the second of the three commands above doesn't seem to be starting the Spotlight server (I am assuming this is what is supposed to happen here). Any ideas, folks? I'm off to bed. If you haven't already, I suggest you do the same!

I extracted the script Reindex.sh from the heart of the Alfred app, and ran it from the command line. As I suspected it didn't run because it came up with the "Spotlight server is disabled." message.

Attached is the screen I get after pressing the "Rebuild macOS Metadata" button. The message about restarting came up almost instantly. Presumably, something has gone wrong and the indexing has not occurred.

Sadly I don't think I'm going to be able to move to Mojave. I've got a "Cheesegrater" Apple Mac Pro (early 2009) on which I upgraded the firmware from 4.1 to 5.1 thus enabling me to run 10.13.6. However, due to my processor's lack of Metal capability, I think it's the end of the line. It's still a decent machine with 32 GB of RAM and it cost me £500 a year ago and ended my involvement with Windows forever! I do like VSCode for coding, however, so I haven't entirely forsaken Microsoft though.

An additional problem which may or may not be to do with the beta, is the fact that the Alfred preferences appear to be very reluctant to appear.

I'm using macOS 10.13.6 which admittedly is a beta version, and Alfred 3.6.1. To be fair, before trying the "reload Alfred cache", Alfred (and by implication, Spotlight) *worked* apart from the inability to find the *one* application. Since then, the application of different Alfred options has made the Alfred and Spotlight not work and be in a state where it is apparently irreparable. My system wasn't messed up before this episode. Now it is. I'm not trying to blame you, Dean, I'm simply trying to judge this scientifically, and my understanding of the basic laws of cause and effect tells me that my problems have, at least, a connection of some kind with Alfred.

I'm a bit disturbed by all this because it does seem that all the official Alfred methods to resolve things are, in fact, making things progressively more screwed!

I've just tried that. I followed a google tip to add a folder to the exclude list and then to delete it again, thus forcing an index rebuild. When I selected the folder I got the error: "Privacy List Error, The item couldn’t be added or removed because of an unknown error." I couldn't find anything else useful to do in that window.

I tried starting the "Rebuild macOS Metadata" process, but it terminated almost immediately and said that "The spotlight server is disabled". Now the "Rebuild macOS Metadata" button is greyed out.

Strangely I cannot get Spotlight to open anything. It's the first time I've tried to use it for obvious reasons. I've tried on several different apps in /Applications but it cannot find a thing. Alarmingly, now, after the reload, Alfred only appears to be able to access workflows, not applications. "Left" is installed in /Applications.

Thanks Dean! I did the 'Reload" thing and Alfred reindexed everything. It took a good few minutes. Now Alfred is up and running again, and it still cannot find "Left"! Any ideas?