Peter17

I'm answering this myself, as I think I have found the answer: I was using the Snippet area, which is fine for {date} placeholders. But I am now experimenting with Workflow Snippet Triggers, and I think I have found the solution. 😊 

Is there a trick to getting {isodatetime} etc to work? I can use {date} formats successfully, but any isodate formats aren't expanded in my snippets, e.g. the actual text "{isodatetime}" appears instead.

Oh thank-you very much, dfay, for your thorough answer! I didn't need much of a push, put you've given it to me. The only thing I'm worried about now is falling down a rabbit-hole of Alfred-inspired experimentation. What if I spend more time playing with Alfred than the productivity time I will gain? 😉

I apologise if I'm asking a repetitive question (but I did try to search for similar posts first). I used to love AppleScript, and I'm disappointed that I can't do as much with it as I would like. Alfred looks very good. I'm this close to buying the lifetime powerpack, but I don't completely understand what Alfred is capable of (and what it's not).

1. One repetitive task I have is correcting text generated by dictation software. I would like to use Alfred (and AppleScript?) to systematically replace phrases with my corrections, as the dictation makes the same "errors" and I'm unable to retrain it properly. Is this the sort of thing that Alfred can help with? (just a made-up example: every text file contains "Deer Sir or Madam:" and I want to change it to "Dear Sir or Madam,")
2. I'm paying a subscription for TextExpander, which replaces text but also includes macro-style replacements. Could Alfred make TextExpander unnecessary?

I'm a teacher, and a language learner. I do a lot of word processing and dictating. I use macOS tags a lot. I use TextExpander a lot. I'm not entirely sure how Alfred would work for me, so any suggestions are welcome. It's sort of difficult when a new user isn't quite sure how to make the most of a new 'thing' like Alfred.

(I'm not quibbling about the price - it seems reasonable. I just want to make an informed decision.)

Thanks!