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Alfred shows an app's file path instead of opening the app


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I am not sure whether this is a bug or a feature that I do not understand, but here goes.

 

Description of the problem:

The problem occurs ~50% of the time if I do the following:

(1) I call Alfred (ALT+TAB on my system)

981480129_S_11_31.4614-01-2022.thumb.png.2b3924b342366b994e814b666e3d6b59.png

(2) I type in the program's name ("X"):

1988494069_S_11_19.2414-01-2022.thumb.png.3a6fc998c7753831a86e02e669a17ae4.png

(3) I press ENTER:

46378360_S_10_52.2814-01-2022.thumb.png.dff0406546d26eae6a77c46871a02eb8.png

Unless I'm missing something, the app should be opened instead of showing its path. If I press enter again, the app's package content is shown:

1011965380_S_10_52.5314-01-2022.thumb.png.5147bef0837c2d1828afef52a66b7601.png

If I press enter again, I go down into the folder.

712797687_S_10_53.0214-01-2022.thumb.png.3db8d14bc8bf67708827a7364a865ce0.png

 

Additional info:

*The problem also occurs if I press space into Alfred before writing "Excel" (so as to instruct Alfred to open the app).

*The problem never seems to occur if instead of pressing ENTER on the app in Alfred search, I click the app, i.e. there is no problem if I call Alfred (ALT+TAB), type "Excel", and then use my cursor to click on the first search result.


* What you were doing when the issue happened:

This happens for many apps, not just Excel. But when the issue last happened, I was trying to open Excel by calling Alfred (ALT+TAB). When it first happened I was trying to open Firefox.

 

* Whether you were able to replicate it a second time by performing the same action:

Yes, but the issue occurs sometimes only, and only when the program that I'm trying to open is not already open. That is, assuming Excel is not already running, when I call Alfred (ALT+TAB), type in "Excel" and then press ENTER, one of following two things occurs:

 

(1) Excel opens (what I want), with ~50% probability.
(2) The problem described above occurs, with ~50% probability.

 

If the problem occurs once, it can be consistently repeated for the next minute or two, i.e. the probability of the problem occurring given that it has happened in the last minute or two is ~100%. If the problem occurred in the last minute or two when trying to open the Excel app, it will occur when trying to open any other app too.

 

Likewise, if the problem does not occur (the desired program opens), then the problem will not recur in the next minute or two, i.e. the probability of the problem occurring given that it has not happened in the last minute or two (despite an attempt to trigger the problem) is ~0%.

 

* Alfred version: 4.6.1 (1274)

* macOS version: Big Sur 11.6.2. My mac, a mid-2014 Macbook Pro Retina 13-inch, is too old to upgrade to MacOS 12.

 

Edit: In a previous version of this post, I wrote that the problem does not occur if the app is already running. But this does not appear to be true, I also actually do get the problem with open apps.

Edited by TheThunderChimp
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44 minutes ago, TheThunderChimp said:

I am not sure whether this is a bug or a feature that I do not understand

 

Well, you seem to be entering Navigation Mode instead of opening the application.

 

Do you have any applications running that change the way the keyboard works?

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2 hours ago, deanishe said:

Well, you seem to be entering Navigation Mode instead of opening the application.

Do you know what default keyboard shortcut in Alfred would open Navigation mode on an app? In other words, which keyboard shortcut is supposed to allow entering Navigation Mode on an app?

 

2 hours ago, deanishe said:

Do you have any applications running that change the way the keyboard works?

 

Yes I do (most importantly BetterTouchTool and Keyboard Maestro). Keyboard Maestro is probably not the culprit because I get the problem without it, but apparently not without BetterTouchTool.

 

After tedious testing, I suspect some recursive shortcut in BetterTouchTool might be creating the problem. I will investigate this. Since the problem only occurs sometimes, it takes ten times longer to find what is causing the problem. Just now after an hour without the problem, I thought it was solved, but it seems to have randomly reappeared without any change in the keyboard-tweaking applications.

 

Thanks for your help deanishe

Edited by TheThunderChimp
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4 hours ago, TheThunderChimp said:

Do you know what default keyboard shortcut in Alfred would open Navigation mode on an app?

 

No, sorry. I've been using my own custom config for a decade. Anything I say regarding default shortcuts is very likely to be wrong.

 

4 hours ago, TheThunderChimp said:

Since the problem only occurs sometimes, it takes ten times longer to find what is causing the problem

 

:(Intermittent issues are a nightmare to figure out.

 

Sorry, I don't know what else to suggest. Perhaps @Vero has an idea?

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On 1/14/2022 at 7:19 PM, deanishe said:

 

No, sorry. I've been using my own custom config for a decade. Anything I say regarding default shortcuts is very likely to be wrong.

 

 

:(Intermittent issues are a nightmare to figure out.

 

Sorry, I don't know what else to suggest. Perhaps @Vero has an idea?

 

Thanks for your sympathy, I finally figured it out :D

 

The behaviour can actually be reliably reproduced by typing the name of an application in Alfred and then pressing CMD + Down arrow. The source of the problem what that, using BetterTouchTool, I had reprogrammed the enter key to CMD+Down arrow for the Finder only (which, in the Finder, is basically the same as a double click). This way, the enter key would behave more like it does in Windows. The reason the issue was intermittent was that it would occur only when I called Alfred with the Finder as the topmost window. This is actually not an Alfred bug, just a muddle on my behalf. My apologies and thanks for your help.

Edited by TheThunderChimp
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