5 small suggestions that would make a HUGE difference in day-to-day usability!!!

[Alfred0]

Over the years using Alfred I started capturing small tweaks that I think would make a HUGE difference in the day-to-day usability and efficiency of this tool. Some of these may be

bigger requests than others but most of them have to do with removing friction here and there to boost efficiency in an app that already does this so well. 

 

Apologies in advance... this list grew a lot bigger than I had planned so instead of creating individual posts i've consolidated them all into this post below  

 

Suggestions:

 

1. Triggering Alfred when it's already visible should reset Alfred to the opening state instead of hiding it. I often want to reset the search, or do something else while Alfred is open and currently. 
2. Easy way to exit out of file browser mode e.g. perhaps Esc?
3. Hide Alfred window when dragging a file from it so it doesn’t obscure the drop target
4. Ability to drag ALL files from File Buffer vs having to drag them 1 by 1
5. Press enter when holding down a key... another small tweak from LaunchBar that seems trivial but really needs to be tried to be fully appreciated.

 

I'm no Alfred expert so some of these may already be possible or simply user error. 

 

Again, thank you @Andrew / @Vero  for making such an indispensable tool!

Edited February 1, 2021 by Alfred0

[deanishe]

4 hours ago, Alfred0 said:

Triggering Alfred when it's already visible should reset Alfred to the opening state instead of hiding it. I often want to reset the search, or do something else while Alfred is open and currently.

 

⌘⌫

 

4 hours ago, Alfred0 said:

Easy way to exit out of file browser mode e.g. perhaps Esc?

 

Ditto.

 

Some interesting suggestions, but this isn't a very good way to present them. You've got a dozen different things there that are a dozen different conversations. Better to add your input to existing threads, and if there aren't any, create one focussed new thread on one feature or group of functionally-related features.

[Alfred0]

22 hours ago, deanishe said:

⌘⌫

 

This only works if you're performing a top level search. Was hoping for something that would completely reset Alfred to the empty state when it is first triggered eg. you're navigating a folder or on the file actions menu.

 

22 hours ago, deanishe said:

Some interesting suggestions, but this isn't a very good way to present them. You've got a dozen different things there that are a dozen different conversations. Better to add your input to existing threads, and if there aren't any, create one focussed new thread on one feature or group of functionally-related features.

 

Done.

Edited February 1, 2021 by Alfred0

[vitor]

12 hours ago, Alfred0 said:

This only works if you're performing a top level search. Was hoping for something that would completely reset Alfred to the empty state when it is first triggered eg. you're navigating a folder or on the file actions menu.

 

Hotkey Trigger → Show Alfred Utility (empty).

[deanishe]

On 2/1/2021 at 4:34 AM, Alfred0 said:

This only works if you're performing a top level search. Was hoping for something that would completely reset Alfred to the empty state when it is first triggered eg. you're navigating a folder or on the file actions menu.

 

ESC backs out of the file actions menu. Press ⌘⌫ twice if you've "dived down" into a workflow. Hitting Alfred's hotkey twice is also fast.

Edited February 3, 2021 by deanishe

[Andrew]

On 1/31/2021 at 1:45 AM, Alfred0 said:

Easy way to exit out of file browser mode e.g. perhaps Esc?

 

I can't flippantly change the default core behaviour as single Esc to close Alfred in this context has been the same for many years and will throw people's workflow out. Having said that, I've added this option to the Browse in Alfred workflow object allowing you to shape the Esc behaviour for the next build:

 

 

This would allow for a simple folder file filter where you can peek into folders using the Browse in Alfred object.