Universal Action shortcut while on Quick Look window triggers Copy action (⌘C)

[Uupis]

'elloes!

 

It seems that as of Monterey, if I have the Quick Look window 'focused', pressing my Universal Action selection hotkey activates ⌘C instead. It used to work correctly on Big Sur.

Specific steps for the issue I run into:

1. select something in Finder
2. press Space Bar (Quick Look shows up; issue occurs with ⌘Y as well)
3. press the Universal Action selection hotkey
4. → Finder selection gets copied to clipboard (Edit menu highlights, and if it's open – the Copy action highlights)

Things I've tried/checked:

• if while the Quick Look window is open I click on the file in Finder, it works as expected – the file is actioned
• changing the selection hotkey – doesn't change the wonky behavior, the same issue occurs regardless on what shortcut I've set
• removing and re-adding Alfred in the permissions preferences (restarted Alfred) – no change
• close any other apps that might conflict
• checked the macOS keyboard shortcuts for anything that might conflict, and found nothing
• I don't have set any keyboard shortcuts in my workflows

While searching around on the matter, I've seen it mentioned that Alfred sends ⌘C to get the current selection, which lines up with the bit where the issue occurs regardless of the keyboard shortcut I set for Universal Action selection.

 

Is there anything else I can do to attempt to get to the bottom of this?

I can imagine that this is a macOS issue, especially with it appearing after the upgrade, but I would appreciate a confirmation if that's the case. And a workaround would be a wonderful bonus. 😅

[vitor]

On 12/16/2021 at 1:07 AM, Uupis said:

Is there anything else I can do to attempt to get to the bottom of this?

 

I imagine not. I can reproduce the behaviour you mention on Monterey, though this is something I haven’t tried in previous versions.

 

On 12/16/2021 at 1:07 AM, Uupis said:

I can imagine that this is a macOS issue

 

I suspect you’re right. That being the case, there might not be a fix possible from Alfred’s side. I’d wager the previous behaviour was simply incidental, thus why it wasn’t documented (I think).

[deanishe]

On 12/16/2021 at 2:07 AM, Uupis said:

It used to work correctly on Big Sur.

 

What were you expecting to happen?

[vitor]

1 hour ago, deanishe said:

What were you expecting to happen?

That the actions panel would pop up for the QuickLooked file.

[deanishe]

11 hours ago, vitor said:

That the actions panel would pop up for the QuickLooked file.

So, you expect the COPY event to go to the Finder windows, not the Quicklook window?

 

This sounds like it might be related to some of the issues with Spotlight not disappearing when Alfred is activated on Monterey.

 

Apple appear to have changed the way focus works in Monterey, and quite a few events aren't reaching the same windows they would under previous versions of macOS. 

[Uupis]

6 minutes ago, deanishe said:

So, you expect the COPY event to go to the Finder windows, not the Quicklook window?

 

Sort of, maybe. I want the Universal Action list to appear for the Quick Looked file, and as I understand the Copy event itself is a means to get the current selection. It's a bit odd, because the menu bar remains that of the Finder, so it seems that Finder does get the Copy event, and the file does get copied. The Universal Action panel does not pop up, though.

 

On 12/18/2021 at 1:23 AM, vitor said:

there might not be a fix possible from Alfred’s side

 

Fair enough. Thank you for the confirmation that it's probably not just a configuration error on my part!

[deanishe]

1 hour ago, Uupis said:

The Universal Action panel does not pop up, though.

 

Sounds like a window manager issue. Could you try setting Focusing to Compatibility Mode in Appearance > Options? (Enter ?options into Alfred to go straight to “Appearance Options”.)

 

There have been several similar reports about Alfred not appearing properly when Spotlight's window is visible on Monterey. I can imagine that Quicklook uses the same type of window. I believe using Compatibility Mode fixes that issue.

[Uupis]

19 hours ago, deanishe said:

try setting Focusing to Compatibility Mode in Appearance > Options

 

Set the mode, restarted Alfred – no improvement. File still gets copied, but no Universal Actions panel. Thanks anyway!