"notes" not showing "FSNotes" app

[idontcare]

Alfred 4.6.7

macOS 12.4

 

I've verified Spotlight is running, rebuilt macos metadata, cleared the application cache, and verified with the mdls troubleshooting tool.

 

Alfred will show FSNotes.app if I search for "open notes", "find notes", "*notes", or "'notes", but it will not show when I just search for "notes" - why?  It shows Notes.app and 0 other results.  I've turned fuzzy searching for word boundaries on, but it doesn't seem to count the end of the word as a boundary. 😏

 

Is there a way to enable proper subset or fuzzy matching for applications?  Opening applications is pretty much all I use it for. 😓

[vitor]

Welcome,

 

Use a Spotlight comment in the app. Or make a Workflow with a Keyword Input connected to a Launch Apps and Files Action.

[idontcare]

So that's the intended behaviour? 😓  Spotlight finds it when I search for "notes".

 

 

[idontcare]

Does the spotlight comment system still work?  I've had the word "notes" at the top of the comments field since your post on Saturday (thanks!), I've rebuilt the metadata & clear the application cache a couple of times.  It's still not working.   Any other ideas?

[Vero]

@idontcare Spotlight comments should work on both files and apps (and are working for me), without having to rebuild the metadata or clear the cache. Could you please drag FSNotes into the Troubleshooting tool and paste the output so that we can see what metadata there is for the file?

[idontcare]

Starting Diagnostics...

File: 'FSNotes.app'
Path: '/Applications'

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check file cache database...

✅ File cache integrity is ok

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check if file is readable...

✅ Alfred has permissions to read this file.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check if volume '/' is indexed by macOS...

✅ Indexing is enabled on this drive

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check direct file metadata...

✅ Direct metadata available

Display Name: FSNotes.app
 Other Names: FSNotes.app
Content Type: com.apple.application-bundle
   Last Used: 

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check mdls file metadata...

✅ Metadata contains required items

_kMDItemDisplayNameWithExtensions       = "FSNotes.app"
kMDItemAlternateNames                   = (
    "FSNotes.app"
)
kMDItemAppStoreAdamID                   = 1277179284
kMDItemAppStoreCategory                 = "Productivity"
kMDItemAppStoreCategoryType             = "public.app-category.productivity"
kMDItemAppStoreHasReceipt               = 1
kMDItemAppStoreInstallerVersionID       = "849824677"
kMDItemAppStoreIsAppleSigned            = 1
kMDItemAppStoreParentalControls         = "4+"
kMDItemAppStorePurchaseDate             = 2022-06-06 11:57:05 +0000
kMDItemAppStoreReceiptIsMachineLicensed = 0
kMDItemAppStoreReceiptIsRevoked         = 0
kMDItemAppStoreReceiptIsVPPLicensed     = 0
kMDItemAppStoreReceiptType              = "Production"
kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier               = "co.fluder.FSNotes"
kMDItemContentCreationDate              = 2022-06-05 17:31:07 +0000
kMDItemContentCreationDate_Ranking      = 2022-06-05 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemContentModificationDate          = 2022-06-06 11:57:45 +0000
kMDItemContentModificationDate_Ranking  = 2022-06-06 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemContentType                      = "com.apple.application-bundle"
kMDItemContentTypeTree                  = (
    "com.apple.application-bundle",
    "com.apple.application",
    "public.executable",
    "com.apple.localizable-name-bundle",
    "com.apple.bundle",
    "public.directory",
    "public.item",
    "com.apple.package"
)
kMDItemCopyright                        = "Copyright © 2017-2022 Oleksandr Hlushchenko. All rights reserved."
kMDItemDateAdded                        = 2022-06-06 11:57:15 +0000
kMDItemDateAdded_Ranking                = 2022-06-06 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemDisplayName                      = "FSNotes.app"
kMDItemDocumentIdentifier               = 0
kMDItemExecutableArchitectures          = (
    arm64,
    "x86_64"
)
kMDItemFinderComment                    = "notes"
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate              = 2022-06-06 11:57:45 +0000
kMDItemFSCreationDate                   = 2022-06-05 17:31:07 +0000
kMDItemFSCreatorCode                    = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags                    = 0
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon                  = 0
kMDItemFSInvisible                      = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden              = 0
kMDItemFSIsStationery                   = 0
kMDItemFSLabel                          = 0
kMDItemFSName                           = "FSNotes.app"
kMDItemFSNodeCount                      = 1
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID                   = 0
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID                    = 0
kMDItemFSSize                           = 1
kMDItemFSTypeCode                       = ""
kMDItemInterestingDate_Ranking          = 2022-06-06 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemKind                             = "Application"
kMDItemLogicalSize                      = 39684750
kMDItemPhysicalSize                     = 17408000
kMDItemVersion                          = "5.4.4"

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check file is in search scope...

✅ File exists within Alfred's default search scope

-----------------------------------------------------------

✅ Troubleshooting passed

 

[idontcare]

@Vero thanks very much for the confirmation of functionality.  Is there anything in the output that might indicate where the issue lies?  Thanks!

[Andrew]

@idontcare I can see you have "notes" as the comment, so be sure to have the "Match Application's keywords in default result" option checked in Alfred Preferences > Default Results > Application Options:

 

When you do this, "notes" will match FSNotes.app in Alfred's default results.

 

Note that this option is disabled by default because some apps started keyword cramming to get "SEO" in spotlight (yep, that's a thing!!), so having this option checked may give you additional irrelevant results.

 

The best way to solve your issue is to do what @vitor suggested in his initial reply. Create a simple workflow with a keyword to open an app. This way, you can keep Alfred's default results completely clean while achieving your objective of wanting "notes" to match this app.

 

Cheers,

Andrew

[idontcare]

Thanks for the response, Andrew.  I had checked that box earlier and tested but there's obviously a cache that needs to be updated somewhere as the change is not immediate.  Additionally that checkbox calls it "keywords" and everywhere else has referred to the field as "comments".

 

I appreciate the keyword/launch app workaround, but FSNotes.app was a symptom of my issue, not the issue itself.  Another is "qBittorrent.app" and the search term "torrent".  I didn't really want to put a single ad hoc solution in place for this app because I'll always be wondering if Alfred is really showing me what it should be.

 

I admit the need for arbitrary substring matching is rare.  I guess I'll just have to change my habits to reach for one of the full text search operators and turn off everything but applications and prefpanes.

 

Thanks again!