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Feature request: Show Alfred window on all screens instead of a single screen


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Hello, lately I've become aware of and started loving a hidden feature on macOS, where you can make the cmd+tab app switcher appear on all the connected monitors instead of only on the active screen, details here: https://superuser.com/questions/670252/cmdtab-app-switcher-is-on-the-wrong-monitor/1625752#1625752

 

It would be great to have it on Alfred as well as an appearance setting. Instead of Alfred appearing only on one of the monitors, it could appear on all of them at once.

 

I use 3 monitors and try to use the mouse as little as possible and the app sometimes throws me off by not appearing on the monitor I'm looking at. This would solve that once and for all.

 

Thanks!

Edited by akaralar
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  • 6 months later...

in addition to the app switcher, another app that provides this functionality is https://contexts.co , which is an alternative to the macOS app switcher.

 

Again, I don't think which screen Alfred appears on is important, what's important is it should appear on the screen I'm looking at. With a multi-monitor setup, the screen I'm looking at is not necessarily the screen where the focus is at. I might be coding on one screen and looking at the documentation on the other screen. The focus is of course on the code editor, but I might be looking at the documentation and want to look up something I don't know via Alfred. in this case I'm looking at the documentation screen but Alfred appears on the code editor screen, which makes me think, "ok why did not Alfred appear?" and I end up pressing the hotkey a few more times, only to understand it was appearing on another screen.

 

When we take an action, it's ok for Alfred to take that action in the monitor with focus, but the search window is easier to notice when it's on all the screens.

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19 hours ago, llityslife said:

Let it follow the mouse point.

 

That is my current setting, but it’s not enough. I’ll try to clarify with a better description of the issue:

 

I have 2 screens, let’s call them screenC (C for coding) and screenD (D for documentation).

 

I’m writing code, and my mouse is on screenC, and the app on screenC is the topmost app. I’m also looking at documentation while writing, and there is no focus there, just a browser open with the part I’m interested in.

 

Let’s say at one moment I see something in screenD that I want to look up with Alfred. It can be a word I don’t know or something I want to search with a predefined search of mine or something with numbers that I want a quick calculator for… When I spawn Alfred it appears on screenC but I’m actually looking at screenD and that’s when I sometimes think the hotkey didn’t trigger and get confused. I need to turn my head to screenC again and then to screenD again, which is a hassle if I just needed Alfred for something quick like looking up a word. 

 

You might think I’m exaggerating but I actually have 3 screens and the one in the middle is a 34” ultrawide so the headturns aren’t very small and can be disruptive to focus and flow. Also the fact that macOS has a secret setting for this and another utility app that’s meant to be used many times in a day added this shows that there’s at least some smoke to this fire.

 

I encourage you to try the hidden macOS setting if you use cmd+tab switcher and use multiple monitors, it always appears where you’re looking at, and the fact it also appears on other screens is irrelevant since you’re not looking at those anyway. 

 

Sorry for the lengthy response, I hope it makes some sense.

Edited by akaralar
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