solved [SOLVED] Removing /Applications from search scope removes applications from search results

[personalnadir]

Alfred's preferences menu states "Applications are always included in Alfred's default results". I took that to mean that I could safely remove the /Applications folder from the search scope. It turns out that if I do that no applications appear in the search results.

 

I am not sure whether this is working as intended or is a bug. If working as intended there needs to be a simple UI change to highlight the dependency between having /Applications in the search scope and applications appearing in the default results. I read the UI as implying that these were independent. In my case including it brings in a lot gumph from applications that include samples; I want a feature where only application file types are pulled out the Applications folder.

 

If it's a bug I have run the metadata on Safari which is one application that vanishes from my search results:

 

Quote

/Applications/Safari.app

Internal File Metadata
======================

 Display Name: Safari
    Alt Names: Safari.app
    File Type: com.apple.application-bundle
     Comments:
     Keywords:
    Last Used:

Raw mdls File Metadata
======================

_kMDItemDisplayNameWithExtensions      = "Safari.app"
kMDItemAlternateNames                  = (
    "Safari.app"
)
kMDItemAppStoreCategory                = "Productivity"
kMDItemAppStoreCategoryType            = "public.app-category.productivity"
kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier              = "com.apple.Safari"
kMDItemContentCreationDate             = 2019-05-01 05:27:32 +0000
kMDItemContentCreationDate_Ranking     = 2019-05-01 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemContentModificationDate         = 2019-06-04 13:51:00 +0000
kMDItemContentType                     = "com.apple.application-bundle"
kMDItemContentTypeTree                 = (
    "com.apple.application-bundle",
    "com.apple.localizable-name-bundle",
    "com.apple.application-bundle",
    "public.directory",
    "public.executable",
    "com.apple.application",
    "public.item",
    "com.apple.package",
    "com.apple.bundle"
)
kMDItemDateAdded                       = 2019-06-04 13:50:10 +0000
kMDItemDateAdded_Ranking               = 2019-06-04 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemDisplayName                     = "Safari"
kMDItemExecutableArchitectures         = (
    "x86_64"
)
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate             = 2019-06-04 13:51:00 +0000
kMDItemFSCreationDate                  = 2019-05-01 05:27:32 +0000
kMDItemFSCreatorCode                   = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags                   = 0
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon                 = (null)
kMDItemFSInvisible                     = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden             = 1
kMDItemFSIsStationery                  = (null)
kMDItemFSLabel                         = 0
kMDItemFSName                          = "Safari.app"
kMDItemFSNodeCount                     = 1
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID                  = 0
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID                   = 0
kMDItemFSSize                          = 25932908
kMDItemFSTypeCode                      = ""
kMDItemInterestingDate_Ranking         = 2019-05-01 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemInterestingDate_RankingRepaired = 1
kMDItemKind                            = "Application"
kMDItemLanguages                       = (
    de,
    he,
    "en_AU",
    ar,
    el,
    ja,
    en,
    uk,
    "es_419",
    "zh_CN",
    es,
    da,
    it,
    sk,
    "pt_PT",
    ms,
    sv,
    cs,
    ko,
    Base,
    no,
    hu,
    "zh_HK",
    tr,
    pl,
    "zh_TW",
    "en_GB",
    vi,
    ru,
    "fr_CA",
    fr,
    fi,
    id,
    nl,
    th,
    pt,
    ro,
    hr,
    hi,
    ca
)
kMDItemLogicalSize                     = 25932908
kMDItemPhysicalSize                    = 20791296
kMDItemVersion                         = "12.1.1"

 

 

[Andrew]

@personalnadir Applications can exist in many places on your Mac, including /Applications. Removing a path from Alfred's search scope will prevent anything being found in that folder, including Applications. The subtext under the scope says:

 

These folders define where Alfred looks for files, applications and metadata. Fewer paths give more accurate results. Drop folders above from Finder or Alfred.

 

If you want Applications in /Applications to be found, this path will need to be in your search scope. Having said that, you can use Spotlight's privacy preferences to remove folders from within /Applications from the index if there are things you don't want showing up.

 

Cheers,

Andrew

 

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