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File searching with Alfred not matching as expected


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Hi,

 

When I search for a folder by its exact name with Alfred, it often does not match. For example, I have a folder called "Work", yet Alfred matches 40 *other* files and folders, that all have Work* as part of the name, and doesn't even match my "Work" folder! Surely Alfred should put the *exact* match at the top?

 

I regularly try to use Alfred to go to a folder and find this happening for me... in some cases, I get my match when I type part of the folder name, but once I type the full folder name, Alfred matches loads of other files instead.

 

I'm assuming this is a bug and not intentional?

 

Thanks,

 

Alex

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Hi,

 

When I search for a folder by its exact name with Alfred, it often does not match. For example, I have a folder called "Work", yet Alfred matches 40 *other* files and folders, that all have Work* as part of the name, and doesn't even match my "Work" folder! Surely Alfred should put the *exact* match at the top?

 

I regularly try to use Alfred to go to a folder and find this happening for me... in some cases, I get my match when I type part of the folder name, but once I type the full folder name, Alfred matches loads of other files instead.

 

I'm assuming this is a bug and not intentional?

 

Thanks,

 

Alex

You could narrow it down with the keyword find. Or try unticking where you don't want alfred to search, it will clean up all those results.
Link to comment

Hi,

 

When I search for a folder by its exact name with Alfred, it often does not match. For example, I have a folder called "Work", yet Alfred matches 40 *other* files and folders, that all have Work* as part of the name, and doesn't even match my "Work" folder! Surely Alfred should put the *exact* match at the top?

 

I regularly try to use Alfred to go to a folder and find this happening for me... in some cases, I get my match when I type part of the folder name, but once I type the full folder name, Alfred matches loads of other files instead.

 

I'm assuming this is a bug and not intentional?

 

Thanks,

 

Alex

 

Alex, 

 

Alfred should eventually learn that you use this folder more frequently and begin to place it at the top of the results for the specified keyword. If you are having trouble with this, perhaps you could try resetting Alfred's knowledge and trying again to see if he begins to prioritize your results correctly.

 

You could use something like my Faves workflow to add folders/files that are accessed all the time. That would provide you quick access to the files and folders you use the most.

 

You could also create filters that will only show folders, folders in specific locations, etc. You can customize filters to be extremely specific.

 

Lastly, you could create a workflow that would allow you to set a specific keyword for that folder.

 

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. I'd be happy to help. Until then, this isn't really a bug so I'm going to move this thread to the discussion and help forum.

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Hi David,

 

The problem was that the folder wasn't showing up in the list of 40 so I couldn't train Alfred that it was the folder I wanted. I still consider the exact match not coming top (unless you've trained Alfred otherwise) to be a bug.

 

Thanks for the workflow, I'm downloading it now (and the YouTube and Lipsum workflows!). I'll either use it or create a workflow and keywords manually.

 

Thanks also to Ddyracer for the suggestions.

 

 

All the best,
 
Alex
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Hi David,

 

The problem was that the folder wasn't showing up in the list of 40 so I couldn't train Alfred that it was the folder I wanted. I still consider the exact match not coming top (unless you've trained Alfred otherwise) to be a bug.

 

Thanks for the workflow, I'm downloading it now (and the YouTube and Lipsum workflows!). I'll either use it or create a workflow and keywords manually.

 

Thanks also to Ddyracer for the suggestions.

 

 

All the best,

 

Alex

Your welcome! Edited by Ddyracer
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The problem was that the folder wasn't showing up in the list of 40 so I couldn't train Alfred that it was the folder I wanted. I still consider the exact match not coming top (unless you've trained Alfred otherwise) to be a bug.

 

All the best,

 
Alex

 

This is mutually exclusive with usage based ranking where the default 'importance' and ranking of files is provided by OS X. For some reason, on your Mac, OS X decided that this wasn't an important folder or not used (you can verify this by looking at the mdls for that file in Terminal).

 

As soon as Alfred has learnt and has knowledge itself, he can provide significantly more accurate ranking himself.

 

A reindex of your OS X metadata may fix this default ordering issue, but outside of this, it won't be an Alfred bug as it's just OS X not returning the folder to Alfred by default.

 

Cheers,

Andrew

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