Spotlight Features in Alfred

[kodiak]

Hi all,

 

I have been using the free version of Alfred for quite a while and I think that it works wonderfully well - at the basic level, better than Apple's Spotlight.

What's keeping me from purchasing the Power Pack are a few key features I use a lot in Spotlight that seem to be absent from Alfred.

I'm opening this topic to find out whether there's a way to implement those feature in Alfred, with the Power Pack or without.

 

1. Typing a number followed by a currency abbreviation yields a list of equivalent amounts in a handful of other currencies.

2. Typing a mathematical expression (e.g. 2+2) yields the answer (=4), without having to open the calculator.

3. Simply typing in a word, without the "define" prefix displays a dictionary definition (if that word exists, that is), without having to open the Dictionary app.

4. System Preferences integration and indexing in Spotlight is much deeper and much more intelligent. For example, simply typing "hot corners" shows the shortcut to the "Desktop & Screensaver" section in the System Preferences.

5. Moreover, is there a way to configure that opening a new folder will always be in the current tab, unless I click on the folder with some key combination, and it opens in a new tab?

 

Thank you!

 

 

Edited August 5, 2017 by kodiak

[Vero]

Hi @kodiak and welcome to the forum!

 

The Powerpack includes a vast number of features that Spotlight doesn't touch on; Clipboard History and Snippet text expansion, the workflows framework which allows you to create your own plus a wealth of workflows created by community members, file navigation and file actions, and much more!

 

Quite a few of these already exist in Alfred, so here are a few answers and helpful links:

 

1 hour ago, kodiak said:

1. Typing a number followed by a currency abbreviation yields a list of equivalent amounts in a handful of other currencies.

 

There are numerous wonderful currency and measurement conversion workflows available to do exactly this  By using workflows, it gives you flexibility as each workflow can get data from different sources so you can pick the one you prefer.

 

1 hour ago, kodiak said:

2. Typing a mathematical expression (e.g. 2+2) yields the answer (=4), without having to open the calculator.

 

Don't hesitate to actually try things in Alfred - You can do exactly that.

 

There's also an advanced calculator (see Features > Calculator for details)

 

1 hour ago, kodiak said:

3. Simply typing in a word displays a dictionary definition (if that word exists, that is), without having to open the Dictionary app.

 

Type "define" or "spell" in Alfred followed by your search term and you'll see results in-line. More details under Features > Dictionary.

 

1 hour ago, kodiak said:

4. System Preferences integration and indexing in Spotlight is much deeper and much more intelligent. For example, simply typing "hot corners" shows the shortcut to the "Desktop & Screensaver" section in the System Preferences.

 

By design, we decided not to include all of the keywords Apple include in the metadata for System Preferences. For example, here are the keywords for the "Desktop & Screen Saver" System Prefs:

 

com_apple_system_prefs_keywords = "photographs background desktop wallpaper pattern customize photos pictures desk top wall paper customized customizing customization Desktop picture passwords lock disable start feeds news headlines iTunes albums art random screensavers newsfeeds pass words locking disabling starting Screen saver active screen corners Hot Show clock with"

 

It's a complete mess of irrelevant keywords, and it'd be far more frustrating to have Desktop & Screensaver as a suggested result for "news", "itunes" or "art"!  

 

Having said that, you can add keywords for apps for your own use by simply creating a workflow with a keyword connected to the app you want to launch. It takes two seconds, and it's far more focused to your own needs.

 

https://www.alfredapp.com/help/workflows/inputs/keyword/

 

1 hour ago, kodiak said:

5. Moreover, is there a way to configure that opening a new folder will always be in the current tab, unless I click on the folder with some key combination, and it opens in a new tab?

 

This relates to Finder behaviour rather than Alfred; Finder lets you say that you want things to open in new tabs instead of new windows, but in my experience, depending on the version of macOS you're using, this is more or less reliable.

 

 

Hope this answers a few of your questions; I would suggest taking a look at Alfred's Features, and clicking the question mark in the corner to see the documentation for each feature

 

Cheers,
Vero

[kodiak]

Hi Vero,

 

Thanks a lot for the reply, it was incredibly helpful.

 

I'm aware of Alfred's superiority over Spotlight in countless ways; it's just that I had to verify, prior to buying, that those key (for me) features could potentially exist.

 

1. Regarding the dictionary feature: sorry for not being clear enough. By saying "simply typing in", I meant typing in a word WITHOUT the define or spell prefixes, and still getting a result - just like Spotlight. I use the Dictionary app a lot, and typing the prefix each and every time is quite bothersome.

 

2. Regarding opening folders in a new tab: in my experience, it doesn't really work in Finder, despite having that setting checked. If I'm in a given folder, and I fire up Spotlight and navigate with it a different one, it will open up in a new Finder window. I was hoping there's a way to override this with the help of Alfred.

 

Thanks again!

[deanishe]

On 03/08/2017 at 7:57 PM, kodiak said:

I use the Dictionary app a lot, and typing the prefix each and every time is quite bothersome.

 

The main thing that sets Alfred apart from Spotlight is its speed. That come largely from not including loads of stuff in the default search. Typing a prefix should be expected except for the corest of core searches (apps, System Preference panes, not a lot else…)

 

On 03/08/2017 at 7:57 PM, kodiak said:

it doesn't really work in Finder, despite having that setting checked.

 

It's very hard for Alfred (or any other 3rd-party app) to override bugs in Finder (or any other app)…

[GuiB]

Hi, just wanted to say that if you buy the Alfred Powerpack, nothing prevent you from using Spotlight at the same time as Alfred... I mean, if you prefer a feature in Spotlight or think one is missing from Alfred, but is in Spotlight, you could still use those features with Spotlight even if you have Alfred. Use the best tool for the job that you need to be done. For example, I've seen people using Alfred+Launchbar even if many features overlap, but preferred some features in one vs the other, so they use both together.

 

You could see both applications as complement to each other... or one is like an addons for the other that allow more actions to be easily done on your computer...

 

As @Vero pointed you, your key features could pretty much be done in Alfred as is or by creating a workflow (or looking for one) and Alfred has many other great features that are not possible in Spotlight or that could replace other applications (ex: Clipboard history or Snippets / Auto text expanding utility). Just have a look and see if the extra commodity is worth the price.

 

---- Edit ----

 

About the Dictionary feature and don't want't to write "define" before... You can easily write a workflow to query a string with the Alfred "Dictionnary Filter" action. It's just 2 objects to put together, a Hotkey object + a Dictionary Filter object. The first object is to activate the workflow and pop Alfred so you can write the word you want the definition for and the second object is to output the definition in Alfred. So, you just need to write the word that you want (no "define" before) and you would only get dictionary results (so no extra items that gets in the way, ex: no "Best results", "Mail and Messages", "Files"... like in Spotlight, you only get the definition)

Edited August 5, 2017 by GuiB

[kodiak]

Thanks for the input everyone.

 

@deanishe, I understand what you say, it's just that I consider the dictionary a core search - I use it incessantly.

 

@GuiB, for quite a while now, I have been doing just that - I was using a combination of either Alfred and Spotlight (enhanced by the now-discontinued Flashlight) or Alfred and Launchbar, but I find that using more than one software of this kind actually hinders my productivity. I had identified Alftred's potential to be the best among the bunch, but I needed to verify if it would be possible to implement those aforementioned features - that's why I opened this thread.

[deanishe]

2 hours ago, kodiak said:

I understand what you say, it's just that I consider the dictionary a core search - I use it incessantly.

 

Give it a shorter keyword?

 

[pontus]

On 8/3/2017 at 7:57 PM, kodiak said:

I was hoping there's a way to override this with the help of Alfred.

I use this workflow. Not very fast but works good.

http://www.packal.org/workflow/open-finder-tab