Alfred 4 - search requires open operator to return SnapGene .DNA files

[Tcellguy]

I have been using Alfred 4 on several machines to search for SnapGene .DNA files for years and obtained results without using the open operator. 

Now I can't find the files without using the open operator. I have added the .DNA file type to the search list. 

 

I have downloaded the 4.1 pre-release and Alfred can see the files on troubleshooting. 

I have rebuilt my index twice. Spotlight search finds the files with no problems. 

 

I had this issue on another computer recently and it resolved with rebuilding the index - no luck this time. 

 

Any thoughts on why this might be happening?

[deanishe]

Hi @Tcellguy, welcome to the forum.

 

How did you add the SnapGene files to the filetype list? What does the filetype list show? Are the folders that contain the .DNA files in Alfred's search scope?

[Tcellguy]

I dragged the file from the file location into the Advanced field in Default Results.

 

It reports that it is a SnapGene DNA File. 

 

Not sure how Alfred search scope is defined. On my iMac Alfred has been able to find these files since version 3 without using the "open" operator. 

 

With an identical setup, on my MacBook Pro, Alfred requires the Open operator to see the files. It clearly can see the files, it just requires the open operator and I don't understand why. Spotlight sees the files too. 

I have had this working on 3 other machines recent times so I'm not sure what other setting could be affecting this. Maybe there is another toggle setting I'm missing that is different between the machines. 

 

 

[deanishe]

2 hours ago, Tcellguy said:

Maybe there is another toggle setting I'm missing that is different between the machines.

 

Search Scope.

[Tcellguy]

Yeah looks like the scope is identical between the two current machines. I even deleted Afred and removed all the settings files and re-installed, but its still the same way. 

 

It's not the end of the world; it's just hard to have different muscle memory for searches between computers. 

 

Thanks for the suggestions. 

[deanishe]

Have you checked the files you can't find with the metadata tool?

[Tcellguy]

The metadata looks good. 

 

Just to clarify, Alfred can find the files if I use spacebar or "open" before the search query. It's just that on my other machine the search does not require the open operator. 

 

It's similar to searching for a PDF if the documents toggle is not clicked on the search settings. For some reason on my iMac Alfred sees the DNA files as a document or something and searches without an operator. On my MacBook Alfred does not try to find the file unless I use the open operator. 

[deanishe]

32 minutes ago, Tcellguy said:

Alfred can find the files if I use spacebar or "open" before the search query.

Yeah, that searches all filetypes. What sometimes happens is that different files of the same type actually have different UTIs assigned to them, so they aren’t found when looking by filetype.

[Tcellguy]

Aha! That was the key. I used the Metadata tool and found a file type that had a weird UTI = dyn.ah62d4rv4ge80k5xb. 

 

I added that UTI to the list and now all the files show up with normal search. 

 

Thanks for your help. 

[deanishe]

15 hours ago, Tcellguy said:

a weird UTI = dyn.ah62d4rv4ge80k5xb

 

That's what happens when the OS doesn't know the filetype. I think the Filetypes list in Alfred 4.1 shows what the dyn.a UTI means, doesn't it?