Search results no longer show applications with previous characters

[huckncatch]

I have a standard set of applications I access through Alfred all the time. My standard flow is to activate Alfred, type one or two (sometimes three) letters and then hit return to launch the app. Alfred has learned what apps I want to launch for these character sequences.

 

However, Alfred has forgotten that some of these applications even exist unless I type more letters. For example, I launch SourceTree with `st` but now Alfred doesn't even show it as available in the results list unless I add `r` (`str`). It shows just fine if I type `tr`, too.

 

How do I jog Alfred's memory to get these associations back? Clearing the Application Cache doesn't help and I'd rather not rebuild macOS metadata.

 

Thanks!

 

[deanishe]

Yeah, this can be a bigger problem than it really ought to be with Alfred due to its preference for really small result sets (the thing you're looking for isn't even included, so no chance to train Alfred).

 

Basically, you just have to re-train it. I've typically found that using the longer "keyword" gets the app you want into the results, and subsequently it also shows up for shorter keywords. At which point, you can re-train Alfred to associate "st" with "SourceTree".

 

[huckncatch]

Yes, I've used that behavior before. Unfortunately that isn't the case with these. Adding the `r` brings SourceTree front and center but it disappears again after deleting the `r`, so I'm unable to re-train.

[deanishe]

36 minutes ago, huckncatch said:

Adding the `r` brings SourceTree front and center but it disappears again after deleting the `r`, so I'm unable to re-train.

 

You actually have to choose SourceTree for str, not just type it and then delete it. Alfred doesn't learn anything till you hit ↩.

[huckncatch]

43 minutes ago, deanishe said:

 

You actually have to choose SourceTree for str, not just type it and then delete it. Alfred doesn't learn anything till you hit ↩.

 

Sorry, I misspoke: after typing `str` and launching SourceTree, Alfred still will not find SourceTree next time with just `st`.

[vitor]

I recently had an issue where Alfred was getting the result I didn’t want stuck at the top, and no amount of retraining was working. What fixed it for me was going into Alfred Preferences → Advanced and then unchecking and rechecking Top Result Keyword Latching (under Learning).

[huckncatch]

39 minutes ago, vitor said:

I recently had an issue where Alfred was getting the result I didn’t want stuck at the top, and no amount of retraining was working. What fixed it for me was going into Alfred Preferences → Advanced and then unchecking and rechecking Top Result Keyword Latching (under Learning).

 

Thanks for this tip, un/rechecking the option didn't help (that I could tell) but clicking Clear Knowledge did for most. Still have at least one app that's not showing in the results. Maybe it will come back with time.

[Andrew]

@huckncatch out of interest, from your initial question - when typing 'st', did you scroll down past the bottom of the 9 results and SourceTree still wasn't found?

[huckncatch]

2 hours ago, Andrew said:

@huckncatch out of interest, from your initial question - when typing 'st', did you scroll down past the bottom of the 9 results and SourceTree still wasn't found?

 

Yes, I've scrolled through the entire list of results. When this particular issue happens, the app doesn't show anywhere in the list.