No Alfred after laptop wakes from sleep

[Richard D]

Hello

 

For the last couple of days I've opened up my laptop, hit cmd+space and Alfred doesn't popup. I've found I have to go to Activity monitor, kill Alfred, and then relaunch it. Not sure how to track down what's causing this (obviously racking my brains for anything I've changed in the last couple of days, but coming up blank).

 

Any suggestions for tracking this down?

 

Thanks!

Richard

[Vero]

@Richard D Could you please let us know which version of Alfred and macOS you're using? This is fairly vital information when posting an issue.

 

Assuming you're on Catalina, there are two possible sources of this issue:

 

1. Display issue

 

Do you use an external screen occasionally? One possibility is that if macOS has to switch between retina and non-retina, it loses resolution of where your visible screen is and is actually showing Alfred off-screen. If that's the case, you should be able to hit Cmd + Space and type something that will give you a predictable result like "Safari" for example, and hit return and see the action actually performed. This shows that Alfred is still functioning but just not visible.

 

First, go to Alfred's Appearance > Options preferences and choose to not save Alfred's window position (top right of the preferences).

 

2. Forgetting the hotkey

 

Alternatively, if you sync your preferences in a location that isn't available when your Mac wakes up, Alfred won't have access to the preferences and will revert to Alt + Space and all the default preferences.

 

If you're not sure, let me know what your sync path is and I'll help you out. If you're using something like Google Drive or other non-local storage location, change it to a more reliable option so that the preferences are available instantly on wake.

 

Let us know how you get on.

 

Cheers,
Vero

 

 

[Richard D]

Thank you!  I'm on macOS 10.15.1, Alfred 4.0.6 with Powerpack.

 

I do have an external display sometimes. I'll check next time this happens to see if the first suggestion is the one for me... thanks! (Although... I just had a look and "Save position when dragging Alfred main window" is unchecked - screen grab attached).

 

I don't have syncing enabled (syncing: Not synced).

 

Thanks for the super fast response, and I'll post an update when I have one...

[davfive]

@Vero,

 

I woke up this morning and it seemed like Alfred didn't. As his mum I imagine that you can imagine my concern for him. This has been happening regularly and it's been the only trait of Alfred that rubbed me the wrong way.

 

When this happens, I give him (and my Mac) a couple minute to quietly reboot while I get ready for the day - and it always works, but is slightly annoying. The good thing is that after he wakes up from a fresh reboot we can once again greet the day together.

 

I've been worried for him that this might be chronic and he (and I as his caretaker) was just going to have to live with it.

 

And then came this morning and you. Swooping in from out of nowhere with a great bedside manner, calmly giving us hope.

 

So when I wake up after (ahem, a night of streaming Netflix in bed) and before I open my laptop, I reconnect it to my dual-monitor setup at my desk. Then with the laptop still closed (I don't leave it open when I work), my monitors come to life but Alfred doesn't. With your explanation above about Alfred being confused and groggy in the morning (aren't we all sometimes) and showing up on the wrong display I decided to lift the lid of my laptop and call Alfred again (cmd+space).

 

And he was right there hiding out under the cover(s). We played peek-a-boo for a minute and then once he was more awake I closed my laptop cover called his name again and there he was back on my dual monitors, awake and ready to face the day with me.

 

His symptoms weren't caused by either of the two diagnosis you mentioned above, but they were similar enough to diagnose this third case and the arrive at a remedy we can live with.

 

Thank mum for having his back. Should've thought of asking you sooner.

David

Edited September 3, 2020 by davfive