Unresponsive Search Bar

[TeaTimeTraveler]

Hello  ,

 

lately I am experiencing a slower reaction time from pressing my Alfred Hotkey until the search bar actually appears. Where I could hit the hotkey and instantly type before, now I have to wait around 1 second leading to miss-matches in the search ("ogle" instead of "Google").

 

I disabled all my workflows, rebuild the application cache and the macOS Metadata, disabled mount ejection. No improvement. As I restart macOS the reaction time is improved for a short time, but decreases again.

 

I am using the newest Alfred version (3.3.2) and macOS 10.12.4

 

I would appreciate any pointers and help.

 

Maurice

[Vero]

Hi @TeaTimeTraveler Welcome to the forum  Nothing's changed with respect to Alfred in recent releases that would change how snappily Alfred appears, so it's likely that some other factor is causing this feeling of slower reaction.

 

If you're seeing characters missing, it's possible that another app or service on your Mac is being triggered with the same hotkey:

https://www.alfredapp.com/help/kb/missing-first-character/

 

If you've recently upgraded to Sierra, make sure that Spotlight hasn't re-set itself to the same hotkey, as it would then be triggered too, imperceptibly stealing the first character or few characters before Alfred appears. This is the first thing to check.

 

Next, does this occur on every occasion or specifically when your Mac is under higher load?

 

Let me know how you get on!

 

Cheers,
Vero

[TeaTimeTraveler]

Hi @Vero

 

I just checked again if there is any key even configured in the shortcut settings of macOS: No.

Also I tried using a different key, with the same effect.

 

The delay is noticeable on every occasion.

 

Thanks!

[Vero]

@TeaTimeTraveler Are there any other apps or services that could be triggered at the same time as Alfred using your default hotkey? 

 

I would suggest creating a new user account on your Mac temporarily to see whether you can replicate the issue there; This will allow us to narrow down whether the issue is specific to your primary user account or across your Mac.

[TeaTimeTraveler]

11 minutes ago, Vero said:

@TeaTimeTraveler Are there any other apps or services that could be triggered at the same time as Alfred using your default hotkey? 

 

I would suggest creating a new user account on your Mac temporarily to see whether you can replicate the issue there; This will allow us to narrow down whether the issue is specific to your primary user account or across your Mac.

I just tried that and it is indeed specific to my main account. On an other user account Alfred reacts way faster.

[Vero]

@TeaTimeTraveler This then suggests that something on your main profile is interfering, resulting in the feeling of slower reaction.

 

You'll need to investigate this further, as only you know exactly what's installed on your main user profile, but I would suggest looking at:

 

- Apps that have accessibility access: Launch your System preferences to Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility and remove anything non-essential.

- Background apps that could be using CPU, running unexpected hotkeys or modifying keyboard response

- Check whether your Mac's under high load when it occurs

 

Alfred doesn't get slower over time, so finding it faster on restart will be a red herring. Once you work out what's interfering, you'll be all sorted