Thanks very much deanishe.
I've narrowed down what my issue is: it's just with nicknames. Rather than giving me all the default action options, my very basic workflow means with those all I can do is launch them (I used Alfred's "Launch file group from keyword" from their blog, where you "Connect a Keyword Input to a Launch Apps/Files Action".https://www.alfredapp.com/blog/tips-and-tricks/give-files-nicknames-to-find-them-faster/
Aside from creating another workflow (which I have done while I wait a better solution), is there some other way I can set up nicknames so that each time I have other action options when I type their keyword in? Better yet, any way for nicknames to be treated as the name of the files themselves and so by default get access to the full actions list?