Clipboard pasting isn't working after a time

[alfredappuser]

Hi, I'm using the

- latest stable Alfred

- in macOS 10.13.2 (german locale)

 

I'm a webdeveloper and use tools like iTerm, PhpStorm, Mail, Spotify, Git-Tower, Parallels, iA Writer, Finder, Adobe Apps, Bartender, 1P, DropBox, Flexiglass (Move/size windows), FantastiCal, Chrome, TextExpander...

 

Problem: I'm heavily using the clipboard history of Alfred which works after a restart for a different amount of time. (some minutes mostly). After that pressing enter on a selected clipboard item does copy the item into the clipboard but the former window could not be activated, so it feels like the pasting process doesn't paste it directly in the target application. No matter if PhpStorm, iA Writer, Chrome, ... I always have to click with the mouse into the target field, input, .. and paste it manually with cmd+v.

 

I don't know if it has something to do with it, but it's like that the mentioned pasting functionality stops working when any custom workflow does also not work anymore like https://github.com/shawnrice/alfred-translate-api/issues/3. I enter the keyword, press space, start to write the argument and booom.

 

Here's a screenshot of the  Konsole app which is filtered to "Alfred". Each time I try to paste a line appears. (I tried it twice, therefore 2 log entries)

 

An here's another log entries which shows the macos handoff feature logs:

 

standard    06:51:16.762464 +0200    pboard    Sending pasteboard update to server: <private>
standard    06:51:16.762511 +0200    pboard    [Local Pasteboard] Adding alias: public.text for type: public.utf8-plain-text
standard    06:51:16.762862 +0200    useractivityd    [PBOARD CONTROLLER] Got type update from client, gen: 26, <private>
standard    06:51:16.764214 +0200    useractivityd    DETERMINE: 12345-123456-2345-23456/<private> as the current item-to-advertise.
standard    06:51:16.816574 +0200    pboard    Sending pasteboard update to server: <private>
standard    06:51:16.816651 +0200    pboard    [Local Pasteboard] Adding alias: public.text for type: public.utf8-plain-text

 

I'm really not sure what can be the problems. It's really hard to live with the problem.

 

Do you have any suggestions/hints how I can debug or get more details about my problem?

 

 

cheers,

Josef
 

 

[Vero]

@alfredappuser Given the number of apps and tools you're running, it's likely that there is some interference from a third-party app, which means that the focus isn't taken by the correct app - or at least not quickly enough for the paste to happen normally.

 

First, go to Alfred's preferences > Appearance > Options (bottom left) > Focusing: Set the focusing to Compatibility Mode. This makes Alfred's window operate slightly different, which can help with a scenario like this.

 

If the issue you're seeing doesn't improve, try creating a new user account temporarily on your Mac, and see whether you experience the behaviour you've described with none of the other apps running. If everything works as expected, you can then start narrowing down which of the apps on your usual user account could be causing the interference.

 

Let us know how you get on

 

Cheers,
Vero

[alfredappuser]

@Vero thanks for you advices

 

- The Compatibility Mode does many weird stuff. I was not able to use Alfred, every Alfred Shortcut command freezes the app. So I've disabled it.

- I disabled macOS's Handoff (the universal clipboard foo) && Bartender v3

 

So far I have no troubles with pasting..

 

Beside that, I have troubles with one workflow which stops working after some time. BUT after killing all (mostly 3) Alfred processes and restarting Alfred 3.app the workflow works again.

So my question is, does this maybe have something todo with Alfred itself? (Here's the link to the affected issue https://github.com/shawnrice/alfred-translate-api/issues/3)

[alfredappuser]

@Vero I found out, that pasting stops if more then one Alfred 3 process is shown within the Activity Monitor of macOS (Aktivitätsanzeige in german):

 

 

If I kill process with fewer CPU-Time (CPU-zeit in German) pasting from Alfred's paste feature works like a charm!

 

@VeroWhat can we/I do to debug that further? Let me know what I have to do or what I can send you!

[Vero]

@alfredappuser Alfred doesn't launch two instances of himself, so you must have a workflow that is specifically forcing a second instance of Alfred to be launched. Please take a look at the workflows you have, especially those using scripts, to establish which one causes this.

 

Once you've worked that out, the issue shouldn't occur again.

 

Cheers,
Vero

[alfredappuser]

@Verothanks for you answer. That helps a lot for troubleshooting! I will come up if I found the monster. Maybe something can be done to prevent or at least add that to any documentation, ...