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File System Navigation and Text Matching


ehrlund

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Hey,

 

I've been using the new v2 beta since it's launch. I've been impressed with the features and the possibilities and flexibility of the workflow system, it allowed me to replace TextExpander and Keyboard Maestro to a certain extent and I'm a big fan of less. But there is a feature I really miss from LauchBar when navigating the file system.

 

Let's say I have these folders, and I'm navigating them in Alfred.

 

/A Blue Sky Haze

/Red River

/Purple Haze

 

I remember the folder I'm looking for had something to do with Haze, and I start writing it by pressing "H", it gives me an empty results. Since It's not word matching the actual folder names but checking if the folders there start with the letter "H". I'd love to keep the great abbreviation matching system that Alfred has also available when navigating through the file system with Alfred, as it would really make it easier navigating some larger folder and company servers when project numbers and such are involved? 

 

What do you guys think?

 

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I also noticed that worked. But it would be amazing to have a preference checkbox for searching in file navigation to always work like there was a "*" infront. I know it's a small thing, but for users coming from LaunchBar this would be lovely "glue" feature. 

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File Navigation behaves much like navigating a unix shell (like Terminal.app). I believe this in intended.

But maybe it would be possible to automatically add a "*" if the user write a space after a slash ( "/ " ) -> ( "/*" ).

 

This would be very similar to starting a default search with a space to go into "find" mode. And as file and folder names usually don't start with space it would not change the way File Navigation is used now.

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Yes, I'd also prefer an option to do a 'fuzzy search' by default. I'm not a Terminal user and even though I've heard of adding the asterisk before I never remember to use it ( I also came over from using LaunchBar and prefer how it searched in folders that you'd navigated into).

 
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+1 I prefer fuzzy search unless performance precludes it.

 

I've also noted that fuzzy search no longer works in the file actions dialog. In Alfred 1 I could open an Application with AppCleaner to uninstall it by typing 'ac'. Now I have to start typing 'app' to bring up AppCleaner - fuzzy search no longer works.

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I've also noted that fuzzy search no longer works in the file actions dialog. In Alfred 1 I could open an Application with AppCleaner to uninstall it by typing 'ac'. Now I have to start typing 'app' to bring up AppCleaner - fuzzy search no longer works.

 

AC for AppCleaner should work (I use CS for ColorSnapper, CR for CodeRunner, etc) so check that Spotlight can find it, as you might have a small metadata indexing issue that means AppCleaner isn't coming up at all? :)

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AC for AppCleaner should work (I use CS for ColorSnapper, CR for CodeRunner, etc) so check that Spotlight can find it, as you might have a small metadata indexing issue that means AppCleaner isn't coming up at all? :)

 

Hi Vero, let me clarify with some pics.

 

Fuzzy search works when running AppCleaner directly:

 

Screen%20Shot%202013-01-21%20at%2010.50.

 

But if I select an app (A Better Finder Rename) and select "Open With..." from the file actions dialog, fuzzy search doesn't work there:

 

Screen%20Shot%202013-01-21%20at%2010.51.

 

I have to type 'app' (or 'clea' even) to find AppCleaner. In Alfred v1, fuzzy search was available on this dialog.

 

Screen%20Shot%202013-01-21%20at%2010.51.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Hi Vero, let me clarify with some pics.

 

Fuzzy search works when running AppCleaner directly:

 

Screen%20Shot%202013-01-21%20at%2010.50.

 

But if I select an app (A Better Finder Rename) and select "Open With..." from the file actions dialog, fuzzy search doesn't work there:

 

Screen%20Shot%202013-01-21%20at%2010.51.

 

I have to type 'app' (or 'clea' even) to find AppCleaner. In Alfred v1, fuzzy search was available on this dialog.

 

Screen%20Shot%202013-01-21%20at%2010.51.

+1

Alfred would feel more logical if the file actions dialog could use fuzzy search in the same manner as in the main pane. Since you become used to searching by abbreviation e.g. AC for AppCleaner which is very convenient it's somewhat frustrating that it doesn't work for file actions, e.g. for often used actions such as "Open with..." and "Copy To...".

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