Feedback: Window Manager missing Automation Tasks

[canadaduane]

Hi! I'm using Alfred (5.1) for the first time in a long while, hoping to control window placement on screens and within spaces. I read an article comparing Alfred to another product and recalled just how awesome your support is, and came straight here despite the other product hype

 

I came back to Alfred because I wanted to control my windows, and saw that the Alfred Gallery has a Window Manager add-on. The experience was a bit confusing, so I thought I'd write in. Here's what I did:

 

1. Downloaded and installed Alfred 5.1 (no problem!)

2. I clicked the "Install in Alfred" button on the Window Manager web page. After a permission and validation check, this worked fine.

3. I was greeted to a page that listed what I thought were many keyboard defaults (e.g. "Keyboard shortcuts below are suggestions...") but when viewing the flow, I didn't see any of these filled out. That's ok, but I guess I expected some reasonable defaults. Perhaps it would have helped me find the right boxes whose keys needed replacing with my own preferences. Amethyst and other tiling window managers offer sane defaults (for example) and I think it helps make it less overwhelming to start.

4. At this point, I set some keyboard hotkeys and then tried moving windows around with these new hotkeys. Unfortunately nothing worked.

5. I had to scroll over to the area to the right (hidden, see screenshot below) to see that there was something wrong: all the actions said "Task Missing".

6. This is where I found it to be frustrating--thoughts in my head: What does it mean? How do I fix it? Did I do something wrong? Why doesn't it work out of the box?

7. I searched for "task missing" and discovered there is a whole set of Automation Tasks that are, oddly, not installed by default?

8. Instructions indicated to open up one of the missing task actions, then find the Options button, then check some boxes to auto-update and install Automation Tasks.

9. Once installed, the hotkeys and their actions started working (albeit with a 300ms or so delay... still trying to work that out)

 

BTW I am so impressed that my original Alfred 1 and then 2.0 license was upgraded to 5.0 license after a long hiatus from Mac OS. I think this shows such incredible integrity and commitment to your customers, thank you!

 

[Vero]

@canadaduane First, could you please update to the latest version of Alfred? You're currently using a version of Alfred from April last year

 

Next, if you haven't already done so, you can set Automation Tasks to be automatically updated, which means you'll never have to manually update them again:

https://www.alfredapp.com/help/workflows/automations/automation-task/#update

[vitor]

Some further notes:

• Alfred workflows strip hotkeys by default because otherwise they could conflict with others you have already set. Unlike tools which only do window management, you can have a hotkey trigger anything in Alfred. It’s neither viable nor desirable to have a workflow be an exception to this rule. For example, let’s say the creator used ⌘T to move windows to the top half of the screen; you’d install the workflow and when trying to open a new browser tab the whole window would resize itself. Hotkeys work outside of Alfred’s window, so it’s important to not make them surprising in the wrong way.
• While that workflow is a fine starting point, the best way to approach it is to make your own. Automation Tasks don’t require any coding knowledge on your part so they’re easy for you to add exactly what you need, and only that. On my personal setup, I only have four movements.
• Automation Tasks are updated independently of Alfred releases, which allows for greater flexibility and for them to be fixed/released when ready, which is particularly relevant when they interact with specific apps or features (e.g. all the web browser tasks).
• The delay is due to AppleScript’s slowness. We’re aware of it and there are plans to improve that, but no ETA. The good news is that you can just add and use them now, and when they became faster that’ll just happen in your workflow without you having to change anything.
• Thank you for the kind words and feedback. As you’ve noticed, Alfred continues to improve all the time and even these small interactions get tweaks. What you see now making Automation Tasks auto-update is itself an update from when they were first introduced in Alfred 5.0.