Provide a hotkey to pin Alfred on top temporarily

[zhaowu]

The reason is that some workflow requires a bit of time to run. and some of them related to monitoring, notes and tasks can be useful to just pin on the top for a while.

[drking]

I was thinking the same exact thing.  This would be really useful.

[Tyler Eich]

The reason is that some workflow requires a bit of time to run. and some of them related to monitoring, notes and tasks can be useful to just pin on the top for a while.

 

I'd never thought of this before, but it's a great idea 

 

Sometimes I know I'll need Alfred for something. I hit Cmd-Space as a reflex, but then I realize I'm not ready to use him; I have to close Alfred, get what I needed, and open him again. Or sometimes I need to look at Alfred while performing another task, but he disappears because he doesn't want to get in my way 

 

It's a small feature, but it could save a few occasional headaches

[mklement0]

I have a slightly more exotic use case:

 

Sometimes I want to activate a given application (making it frontmost) while still having Alfred stay on top.

 

This is useful for workflows that perform searches in other applications and want to use that application's GUI to provide rich, real-time feedback while searching (as opposed to the limited feedback that Alfred's results can provide).

 

Case in point: I have an Evernote workflow where I type in a query and, via a script filter, have Evernote perform the same query as I type (the advantage of still using Alfred to formulate the query - rather than typing into Evernote directly - is that an Alfred script filter can apply convenient transformations that would be cumbersome to type into Evernote directly.)

 

I know that, as a workaround, I can use AppleScript to activate an application and then re-invoke Alfred, but that (a) causes flickering and (b ) doesn't work when redisplaying Alfred with a remembered query.

Edited May 11, 2013 by mklement0

[mklement0]

Another use case:

 

For workflows that opt in, keep Alfred open indefinitely.

 

For instance, I have a text-to-speech workflow that I'd like to play with iteratively:

• Type in a word or phrase, have it pronounced  - without closing Alfred.
• Rinse and repeat.

I know that for now I can use AppleScript to redisplay Alfred, but it would be nicer if it didn't close to begin with (which avoids flashing).

 

On a related note, it would be nice to control what part of the command line is preselected on actioning (and continued display).

 

In the described use case it's desirable to pre-select all *arguments* for instance - allowing either easy replacement or modification of existing arguments.

 

With current (Alfred 2.0.3) AppleScript support, the cursor is invariably placed at the *end* of the specified query, with nothing selected.

[Tom6]

+1
I'm interested in this feature as well

[smartishhome]

Is this possible now?  I'd love for Alfred to be pinned to the screen sometimes.