Settings & Workflow Syncing?

[Smpl]

In Alfred settings, I have set the Syncing "Preferences Folder" however the .alfredprefences file shows that it has not been modified since Dec 2021.

The same folder is set in Alfred on my MacBook Pro, which is not updating with any of the changes or new workflows created on my desktop Mac.

 

How do I force an update/sync? 

 

Is there a better way to sync settings/workflows/snippets/etc between two instances of Alfred?

[Vero]

@Smpl The Alfred.alfredpreferences file is essentially a folder containing your preferences. The fact that the date hasn't changed on it doesn't mean it's not syncing.

 

Which syncing service are you using?

 

Try adding a custom search, or changing a snippet, then once your sync service has done its job, checking the Alfred preferences on your other Mac. Provided it's set up properly, you'll see the changes

[Smpl]

On 3/6/2022 at 5:24 AM, Vero said:

@Smpl The Alfred.alfredpreferences file is essentially a folder containing your preferences. The fact that the date hasn't changed on it doesn't mean it's not syncing.

 

Which syncing service are you using?

 

Try adding a custom search, or changing a snippet, then once your sync service has done its job, checking the Alfred preferences on your other Mac. Provided it's set up properly, you'll see the changes

 

 

It only seems to be working if I close Alfred, then relaunch it. The new workflow, or changes to something are then applied after Alfred has been restarted.
I made the change on the desktop Mac, waited about 15min for that change to show up on the MBP, but it never did... until the restart.

 

The "syncing service" I'm using is just an in-home server rack. The Alfred docs said iCloud was not recommended, and I will not install GDrive or Dropbox on my machines. 

So I'm just using a folder on my server, which is mounted/mapped in Finder.

[Vero]

@Smpl Alfred and Alfred Preferences are two separate apps, and rely on underlying file system notifications to communicate the preference changes with each other. It could be that these notifications aren't happening on your network volume setup.

 

A more reliable solution would be to keep your files locally on your Mac, and use rsync to coordinate changes with your local server. That way, Alfred always has instant access to local preferences, even when the network volume isn't available. 

[Smpl]

2 hours ago, Vero said:

@Smpl Alfred and Alfred Preferences are two separate apps, and rely on underlying file system notifications to communicate the preference changes with each other. It could be that these notifications aren't happening on your network volume setup.

 

A more reliable solution would be to keep your files locally on your Mac, and use rsync to coordinate changes with your local server. That way, Alfred always has instant access to local preferences, even when the network volume isn't available. 

 

Network Volume is always available.

 

If these are "two" apps, then why did I only have to install one app? Sync setting is under Alfred>Advanced 

[Vero]

@Smpl The Alfred preferences app is stored within the Alfred.app bundle. 

 

It's not possible for us to know the exact cause of why this isn't working on your particular network configuration, however, it's imperative that Alfred has quick always-on access to his preferences file. The best way to ensure this is to keep the preferences locally and use a system to handle the sync aspect.

 

This is essentially why we, until this point, recommended Dropbox, as the files remain local and immediately accessible. Dropbox then syncs it up with the Dropbox cloud service. In your particular case, the files aren't local and are actually on a network volume, so while you can set it, YMMV.

 

In your particular case, I still recommend keeping the files local and using a sync mechanism to push these to your server. Many NAS drives will have a client app that can do this type of syncing for you.

 

Cheers,
Vero

[chowderresearcher]

I've been looking at this after setting-up Syncing on a new, work iMac via Dropbox, and failing to remember what I'd done several years ago on my home ('primary') Mac. 

 

The Alfred.alfredpreferences old Date Modified confused me too. But, if I right click and 'Show Package Contents', I see ~½ dozen folders with the 'workflows' folder being updated after creating a test workflow from Alfred. 

 

So this should be syncable on my work iMac now🤞