Alfred not finding alias to application

[Nat Harari]

I'm having a problem since a long time with Alfred: half the time, it doesn't find the alias to my Emacs install with Homebrew.

 

Alfred Version: 5.1.4

Emacs path: /opt/homebrew/Cellar/emacs-plus@30/30.0.50/Emacs

Alias path:/Applications/Emacs Alias

MacOS: Sonoma 14.1

 

I dragged both the Emacs app from the homebrew location, and the alias from Applications into the Advanced interface in the Features section. About half the time, it finds it when I type Emacs, and half the time, it doesn't. It's completely random.

I'm not sure why. Sure, I can click on the icon but, as an avid keyboard launcher and Emacs user who doesn't like to use the mouse for most things, this is a bit annoying.

I just thought you might like to know.

Please let me know if there is more information that you need.

 

[Vero]

@Nat Harari Drag the relevant folder into your search scope in the Default Results preferences to include apps from that folder into your results.

 

Alternatively, if you just want one app from an obscure folder and would prefer not to add anything else to the scope, you can create a nickname workflow like this for a one-off file you want to open:

https://www.alfredapp.com/blog/tips-and-tricks/give-files-nicknames-to-find-them-faster/

 

Let us know how you get on  

[Nat Harari]

35 minutes ago, Vero said:

@Nat Harari Drag the relevant folder into your search scope in the Default Results preferences to include apps from that folder into your results.

 

Alternatively, if you just want one app from an obscure folder and would prefer not to add anything else to the scope, you can create a nickname workflow like this for a one-off file you want to open:

https://www.alfredapp.com/blog/tips-and-tricks/give-files-nicknames-to-find-them-faster/

 

Let us know how you get on  

 

Thanks. Yeah, I already had it in my search scope (the entire folder of /opt/homebrew/Cellar/ ) which includes emacs-plus@30 and many others. They are simply not showing in the Alfred results. I tried with the specific emacs-plus@30 folder, sadly producing the same non-result.

 

I will check out the link that you posted and see if that works.

 

Note: All my brew setups are using the proper ln links after setup, including Emacs. In fact, Emacs is my default text editor for the system, and double-clicking a text file results in it opening up, so my .zshrc setup is also completely correct to point to it for any editing.

 

But, for some reason, Alfred doesn't see it. I have no idea why and it's driving me bonkers.

 

EDIT: Your solution creating the workflow from template to launch it seems to have worked very well. Thank you!

Edited October 28, 2023 by Nat Harari

[vitor]

1 hour ago, Nat Harari said:

ln links

Note that is not the same thing as an alias (created by the Finder). They are different file types with different capabilities. For Terminal use you (in general) want the former and the latter for launching through Finder and other apps.

 

1 hour ago, Nat Harari said:

my .zshrc setup is also completely correct

Alfred (by design) won’t read that file by default (and neither will most apps).

 

1 hour ago, Nat Harari said:

Your solution creating the workflow from template to launch it seems to have worked very well.

Great that you got it working! That solution is the way to go if you only have one need (seems to be the case). If your needs ever grow to more apps (unlikely since the non-Cask side of Homebrew is moving to have fewer GUI apps), there is a workflow for that.