How does Alfred populate the Open With list?

[Luis Martins]

The apps I get listed for selection rarely change and things like VS Code never show up in there even though 90% of the time I'm sending folders to the Open Width screen. Is there a way I can help Alfred "learn" which apps to list there?

[deanishe]

1 hour ago, Luis Martins said:

Is there a way I can help Alfred "learn" which apps to list there?

 

No, I don't think so. As far as I can tell, Alfred's Open With menu keeps track of which applications you opened most recently (not necessarily via the menu) and shows the ones that declare that they can open the type of file currently selected. So the reason you're never seeing VS Code in the list is because the application doesn't declare to the system that it can open folders (even though it can).

 

Personally, I'd much prefer Alfred to learn from how I use the Open With menu instead of trying to guess. The types of files an application can open doesn't have a lot to do with the types of files I actually open with it. I guess I should submit a feature request…

 

What you can do with apps like VS Code is create your own File Action in a workflow that opens the selected files in the app. This is also faster, as the File Action shows up in the first list (i.e. you don't have to select Open With first).

[Luis Martins]

Thank you @deanishe that lead me to a simple but super useful workflow that does this super well

https://www.packal.org/workflow/open-vscode