iNyar

Thanks for your reply, @Vero. I did it (scope == .../Papers/ + file type == PDF). The results are the same however: most of the files do not appear.

If I open one (via the Finder) though, after that, it does appear in Alfred's results.

I've been having this issue for 1 or 2 years I believe: Alfred does not find PDF files (by filename) that Spotlight has well indexed (I find them immediately with Spotlight search).

I have a lot (~4000) PDFs of scientific papers organized in a folder (`Papers/Doe & Curie Year/Doe & Curie (Year) Title.pdf`)

Those files used to be well indexed in Alfred a few years ago. But many aren't anymore.

It is not systematic: I do find some of these files. After opening them, I can find them in Alfred. I also systematically find the folders they are in, but most of the PDF files do not appear in Alfred.

I thought is might have been an issue with Spotlight index, but I've just started using the same files on a brand new mac and have the same issue.

Reloading Alfred cache didn't help.

I'm using Alfred 4.3.4 on macOS Big Sur 11.3.1

Here is an example:

Via Alfred:

Via Spotlight:

Here is the output of the File Search Troubleshooting.

File: 'Huang & Tsao (2019) Using collocation clusters to detect and correct.pdf'
Path: '/Users/serge/Dropbox/Bibliotheque/Papers/Huang & Tsao 2019'

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check file cache database...

✅ File cache integrity is ok

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check if file is readable...

✅ Alfred has permissions to read this file.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check if volume '/' is indexed by macOS...

✅ Indexing is enabled on this drive

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check direct file metadata...

✅ Direct metadata available

Display Name: Huang & Tsao (2019) Using collocation clusters to detect and correct.pdf
 Other Names:
Content Type: com.adobe.pdf
   Last Used:

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check mdls file metadata...

✅ Metadata contains required items

_kMDItemDisplayNameWithExtensions      = "Huang & Tsao (2019) Using collocation clusters to detect and correct.pdf"
kMDItemAuthors                         = (
    "Huang Ping-Yu"
)
kMDItemContentCreationDate             = 2020-07-09 06:57:59 +0000
kMDItemContentCreationDate_Ranking     = 2020-07-09 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemContentModificationDate         = 2020-07-09 06:57:59 +0000
kMDItemContentModificationDate_Ranking = 2020-07-09 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemContentType                     = "com.adobe.pdf"
(...)

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check file is in search scope...

✅ File exists within Alfred's default search scope

-----------------------------------------------------------

✅ Troubleshooting passed

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the answer. It's too bad but totally understandable.

Now, is it normal that the "Privacy/Exclude this location" in Spotlight Preferences (which works with Alfred file search) won't work with the default (Apps especially) search?

(I want to exclude for example MS Office subfolder from Apps searching, since a lot of useless things are there, but even excluding it from Spotligh, it still appears in my default results [with only Apps, Contacts and Preferences activated])

Hi David, thanks for your reply.

The problem with doing something like this is that, since Alfred uses the internal metadata server for queries, there is no "exclude this location" option for that except for including it in the privacy section of Spotlight preferences which is currently the recommended method of excluding locations.

OK, that's effectively a problem.

But in fact, even the "exclude this location" (Spotlight preferences) doesn't work in Alfred! I excluded the "Office" folder inside the Apps folder (to avoid all the Office plugins showing up in apps, for ex. "Microsoft Clip Manager" showing when I want the clipboard function), but it doesn't work! Those apps still appear in my default results. (They don't appear in Spotlight searches, nor in Alfred when I do a file search).

I personally don't want EVERY type of file/folder in my search results because I typically know what I'm looking for. I know if I'm looking for a picture, or a folder, or if I want to look in a specific folder that I work in frequently. I use workflows and filters to drastically reduce results to match exactly what I want.  For instance, my defaults are to only show contacts, preferences and applications in results. I have filters for searching for ONLY folders, bookmarks, mail, chat, etc because I know when I'm looking for those things. 

 

I agree with you, and that's the same config as mine. But even then, yes, there's still some noise in the results.

What I do find very interesting is the "find specific file type" you're referring to: indeed, when I'm looking for a file, I know what kind of file it is. It's not the same to look for a .DOC, .PDF or an image... I haven't seen specific workflows to do that. And in fact, since it's so logical, why don't implement it directly in the file search function in Alfred?

I totally second this request.

I especially find it very useful in the "Default Results" search: I'm always annoyed by the contents of the Microsoft Office folder showing up, even if I never need them (Uninstall, Office Reminders, Solver, etc. and the worst: Microsoft Clip Gallery, which always shows up when using the clipboad function...). It'd be great to be able to exclude this folder (it could even be done by default, since I suppose nobody usually needs it in the Default Results).

Hi,

Great workflow, really ! It's great to have this. Thanks a lot.

Only a small suggestion: I'd like a 5th option : Sentence Case : only the first letter of the sentence would be capitalized (useful especially for French titles, which only use a capital on the first word).