Jump to content

How to download and install previous version(s) of Alfred for macOS?


Recommended Posts

Is there a way to download and install a previous version(s) of Alfred for macOS?  A previous version was working perfectly; since I installed/updated to a new version, things are breaking -- details below.

 

-- details

 

Coincidentally or not, since the latest upgrade of Alfred a few days ago my file indexing is no longer working. Yes, I have or am trying all the "things" in https://www.alfredapp.com/help/troubleshooting/indexing/.

 

And since I want to keep the "rebuilding macOS metadata index" popup window open while the index is rebuilding and not close it, I can not reliably determine the version of Alfred. But I _think_ it's v5.1.1, which I vaguely recall updating/installing within the last few days or week.

Edited by hydrostarr
Link to comment

Updates:


1. how to tell if reindex finished? my metadata reindex _appears_ to have completed... but how can one tell? `Activity Monitor` processes suggest that it has... but... how reliable is _that_?

 

2. reload not working. https://www.alfredapp.com/help/troubleshooting/indexing/ says to "reload"... but "reload" is not working (in Alfred), either. (sigh)

 

3. my versions. I'm running v5.1.1. I want to go back to v5.1 which was running flawlessly for a long time... to see if it still works. Hence: how can I revert to v5.1 (the point of my posting this thread/question in the first place)?

 

4. docs upgrade? general observation: Alfred docs are not thoroughly-clear for this scenario, which seems odd given how problematic this file-indexing topic seems to be for Alfred. They're close and generally good but not 100% "on it." (eg: how do I tell when the metadata re-index is done? what do I do if "reload" is not working? there's no mention of this stuff.) That's my general experience with Alfred. (And Alfred seems like the best "thing" out there, by the way... so I'll gladly take it.)  I realize all these are covering super-complex scenarios, so it is tough work. This in stark contrast to how thoroughly (seemingly?) and wonderfully Alfred documents its changelog. So... it does not all seem to "add up." Can anyone share to shed light ont his? Maybe I'm just too picky / have too high an expectation?  (This is normal conclusion in my world, fwiw.)

 

5. why no older-version download found easily? I find it good practice for apps to make previous versions easily finde-able and downloadable precisely for this kind of debugging case. I get the impression Alfred wants to be "smarter" than me. Frankly, I would _love_ this. The problem: one has to deliver software that never introduces new bugs in new versions. (Hint: that's kind of impossible per my experience.)

Edited by hydrostarr
Link to comment

@hydrostarr Nothing has changed regarding search and indexing between Alfred 5.1 and 5.1.1, so this will be coincidental rather than related to the latest update.

 

As per the indexing documentation, you can use Spotlight to check if the indexing has completed:

 

image.png

 

If it has, drag a few files into the File Troubleshooter and see whether there's any insight. You can paste the output here and we'll help you if needed.

 

If you can provide the details outlined in the "Still having issues?" section of the same indexing page, it'll give us more information on what you've tried, whether your Mac's index is looking good, and whether Alfred has the right scope set up. :)

Link to comment

My problematic-file indexing is back to working again. Not sure why.  (I checked much earlier today after indexing had been well completed... and the error was still there. Sigh.)

Thank you very much @Vero for highlighting how I overlooked the "here's how to tell if re-indexing is done"... my fault for not seeing that earlier, apologies.

I still want the means to re-test previous version of Alfred by downloading them, now and any time in the future.  Is Alfred refusing to provide this?  (It's okay if Alfred will not provide this. I'm simply seeking a definitive "yes we will" or "no we will not" answer. I'm not trying to be mean or difficult.)

 

I did _not_ save my 'Built-in Troubleshooting' (I do not know what the URL anchor is for that section) error output from earlier... that was a bad move on my part, again my apologies.

Doubtful it's a scope problem, but never say never. The scope had not changed from "working" to "not working"... and the indexing was finding the similarly-named files in the same directory area (specially: dated-snapshot-backup copies were found in a subdir of the problematic could-not-find file location).

If this happens again I'll be smart and post all my data here (and get over the fact I'll have to spend time redacting the info). 

</rant=on>
All in all... I've just plain grown tired of what are simple file-indexing problems for macOS/Spotlight/Alfred over the years. I'm not sure who/what is at fault. But it's a mess and it's one of the few things on my computer that feels like the computer is "just being emotional and there's nothing deterministically I can do to fix/solve it"... and I've just grown tired+emotional myself of this topic. Given all the docs Alfred has written on this, I suspect it's a drain on them, too.
</rant=off>

Edited by hydrostarr
Link to comment

Actually, I have a snippet of the 'Built-in Troubleshooting' error I was originally experiencing (per my notes above), this was the first error section/portion in the (longer) output:

 

Quote

Check MDQuery file search...

macOS failed to return a match for this file on your macOS drive.

 

Does this help in any way?

 

(again, my usual MO is to report the _entire_ output/error_log... but again, I failed to record it, my bad)

Link to comment

Alfred releases tend to be stable and it’s rare that something stops working from one version to the next. When it does it’s usually quite small but regardless of the size the preferred approach is to report the situation so it can be promptly fixed. The latest version is what’s supported and it’s important to ensure that’s what users are on. The fewer differences there are between setups, the faster and more accurately a problem can be debugged and fixed.

 

That MDQuery error indicates the problem to be somewhere in Spotlight’s database, as suspected. Unfortunately that snippet alone is too short to draw any more conclusions, so when/if it happens again please provide the full output at that time and we can take it from there.

Link to comment

The fewer differences there are between setups, the faster and more accurately a problem can be debugged and fixed.

 

Not always. But it does reduce some/initial/etc complexity from the software provider, which may be why the policy was set as such.

 

It also removes somes ability to remove variables to more-scientifically debug problems. Thus sometimes causing problems in some scenarios.

 

I will not argue further. It's clear the policy is "set" here, and will not change.

 

Thanks all for your help.

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...