New bookmarks feature functionality

[mmcduffie]

I'm sure there's a technical reason why Alfred changed the way it handles bookmarks in searches, but the new method is a significant regression for me.

 

Previously I could type the partial name or domain of a bookmark and the relevant Safari and Chrome bookmarks would display with the most used one as first item. You could force first item by re-running the query and selecting the desired item a few times.

 

1) Now Safari bookmarks are always listed first even though I use the Chrome bookmark more often.  Chrome is set as the default system browser, so it makes no sense for Safari bookmarks to always be listed higher in the default results even without the most used order sort. I greatly prefer the old method where the most used item is first since I use Safari for some sites and others in Chrome on the Mac. I can't remove the Safari bookmarks as I use the synched Safari bookmarks in iOS where there is no real browser choice (re-skinned webkit only).

 

2) The new mechanism also displays Safari Reading List items (which I have too many of and use differently than standard bookmarks) along with the bookmarks results flooding the results with unwanted noise. I have used an add-on workflow/keyword for years to search the Safari Reading List separately so this is not desirable for the way I use Alfred. There doesn't appear to be an option to exclude Reading List items from default results if you include bookmarks. At least I can't find one. The Reading List items are often higher than the Chrome bookmark that I repeatably select. Again the results sort order never reflect usage with the new bookmarks mechanism.

 

I'm running the latest version with Power Pack. Is there something I'm missing or is this broken for everyone since the bookmark handling change earlier this year?

 

Thanks
 

 

[Andrew]

@mmcduffie Could you clarify what time period you are referring to?

 

Alfred's bookmark feature came about in September 2017 after Apple removed metadata indexing of Safari bookmarks which had Alfred had used since the very start. Alfred now reads the bookmark data directly and caches them internally. At the same time, I took the opportunity to add Google Chrome bookmarks native to Alfred (the first time Chrome bookmarks were accessible within Alfred natively).

 

Alfred should still sort results based on usage. If I type a bookmark and select it once or twice, it's sorted up the top.

 

1/ Alfred didn't show Chrome bookmarks before this time. Which timeframe are you referring?

 

2/ Apple always intended the reading list to be your temporary reading queue, so I didn't anticipate this being an issue. I'll take a look to see if reading list items are marked as such and if so, I'll add a ticket to look at making this optional.

 

Cheers,

Andrew

[mmcduffie]

Thanks for the reply Andrew.

 

Unfortunately I don’t have a clear recollection of when Alfred’s sort order for bookmark results stopped working for me. 

 

It’s been this way for months. I cleared data (history/cache?) losing my other preferred top items history  (apps, etc.) a couple of months ago but it did not resolve the bookmark ordering issue for me. 

 

I can’t remember exactly when everything went sideways for me (sorry, not helpful I know). I remember the new caching and the reading list results but I could live with it.

 

I switched to Chrome as my default browser this year and started adding bookmarks accordingly after Apple nerfed extensions the last time (or maybe the time before when they required a paid developer account causing several developers to abandon Safari). Basically some my most used extensions were on borrowed time and 1 or more quit working.

 

I vaguely remember the correct bookmark as top item up until a few months ago when it stopped working either after a system/Safari update or an Alfred update. So it’s likely I’m misremembering it happening with the new bookmark implementation. I had forgot Chrome bookmarks were not included before so it’s likely that my issue is not related to the caching change. Not helpful I know but after trying clearing my history I just lived with it. 

 

I’ve checked to make sure I’m on the lasted version of Alfred. I’m also up to date on macOS High Sierra (I hate new capitalization scheme. Mac really is second class citizen to Apple). 

 

Any my ideas on resetting, etc. would be greatly appreciated since my setup is evidently not working as designed. 

 

Thanks,

Mike