Alfred 2 loses search entries over time

[Z86]

First of all, this is a weird one and I've only seen this with Alfred 2. Here's what happens:

 

Over time, Alfred 2 can't find certain entries (apps) anymore. If I run Alfred 1 beside it, Alfred 1 *can* find the entries I'm searching for. (Right now Alfred 2 can't find Terminal.app, Alfred 1 can, Spotlight can too).

 

Here's where it gets weird: I can start an app with Alfred 2 in the morning, then several hours later, Alfred 2 can't find that app anymore. If I quit Alfred 2 and start it again, the app remains missing. Clearing the application cache doesn't work either. Rebuilding Spotlight sometimes helps.

 

In the meantime Alfred 1 does not have this issue at all. Nor does Spotlight.

 

I've thrown away the application support data a couple of times to start anew, but it hasn't helped. I love the workflow feature, but not being able to start Terminal.app, something I use a lot, is quite a pain.
 

What you were doing when the issue happened:

Searching for an app in Alfred 2

• Whether you were able to replicate it a second time by performing the same action
• Yes, I haven't found a pattern yet, but entries/apps keep disappearing.
•  
• Include any screenshots that might help us
• Not really applicable?
•  
• Include the Alfred version & build number you are using
• Alfred 2.0.3 b187, but I've had this issue since the Alfred 2 release.
•  
• Include your OS X version
• 10.8.3, but I've had this issue on 10.8.x.

Thanks!

Edited May 18, 2013 by Z86

[Vero]

 

First of all, this is a weird one and I've only seen this with Alfred 2. Here's what happens:

 

Over time, Alfred 2 can't find certain entries (apps) anymore. If I run Alfred 1 beside it, Alfred 1 *can* find the entries I'm searching for. (Right now Alfred 2 can't find Terminal.app, Alfred 1 can, Spotlight can too).

 

Have you rebuilt your OS X metadata (there is a shortcut in Alfred's Advanced preferences "Rebuild OS X metadata")?

 

Both versions of Alfred, as well as Spotlight, have their own temporary cache, so what you may be seeing in Spotlight and v1 is the cache, while v2 may be showing the real index (where Terminal is missing). I would recommend rebuilding your metadata (which can take up to an hour) and typing "reload" into Alfred v2 once it has completed to refresh v2's index.

 

Let me know how you get on

[Zorg]

I'm running into a similar issue. I'm also on 10.8 (on a beta seed to be exact) and running on 2.0.3.

 

There are some applications that Alfred cannot find in /Applications such as Transmit, Notes, Calendar.. This seems to be somewhat random.

 

I've tried rebuilding OS X metadata and cleared Alfred's cache, and also the "reload" command suggested above, but it doesn't fix the problem. Spotlight can find these apps just fine. Oddly enough, after relaunching Alfred, it can find Transmit but still can't find Notes or Calendar.

 

I found a few error messages in Console.app generated from Alfred 2, where an exception is raised. These messages occurred several times yesterday. I'm not sure if this is related to the problem at hand, but it's probably worth mentioning:

 

 

5/19/13 12:59:35.180 AM Alfred 2[341]: *** -[__NSSetM addObject:]: object cannot be nil

5/19/13 12:59:35.185 AM Alfred 2[341]: (

0   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff89242b06 __exceptionPreprocess + 198

1   libobjc.A.dylib                     0x00007fff8c7193f0 objc_exception_throw + 43

2   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff892db6bc -[__NSSetM addObject:] + 796

3   Alfred Framework                    0x00000001000bf9ed -[AlfredMetadataQuerier updateResults] + 1790

4   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff891f4eda _CFXNotificationPost + 2554

5   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff89225b5e CFNotificationCenterPostNotificationWithOptions + 110

6   Metadata                            0x00007fff8d8db93e ___pushNotification_block_invoke_0 + 97

7   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff891ffcd2 __CFRUNLOOP_IS_CALLING_OUT_TO_A_BLOCK__ + 18

8   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff891c047f __CFRunLoopDoBlocks + 255

9   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff891e4c7c __CFRunLoopRun + 1948

10  CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff891e40e2 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 290

11  HIToolbox                           0x00007fff8b7a6eb4 RunCurrentEventLoopInMode + 209

12  HIToolbox                           0x00007fff8b7a6c52 ReceiveNextEventCommon + 356

13  HIToolbox                           0x00007fff8b7a6ae3 BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInMode + 62

14  AppKit                              0x00007fff8dbec533 _DPSNextEvent + 685

15  AppKit                              0x00007fff8dbebdf2 -[NSApplication nextEventMatchingMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 128

16  AppKit                              0x00007fff8dbe31a3 -[NSApplication run] + 517

17  AppKit                              0x00007fff8db87bd6 NSApplicationMain + 869

18  Alfred 2                            0x0000000100001468 Alfred 2 + 5224

19  ???                                 0x0000000000000002 0x0 + 2

)

Edited May 21, 2013 by Zorg

[Andrew]

I found a few error messages in Console.app generated from Alfred 2, where an exception is raised. These messages occurred several times yesterday. I'm not sure if this is related to the problem at hand, but it's probably worth mentioning:

 

I have identified and fixed (worked around) a few issues relating to this stack trace for 2.0.4 which should be in pre-release within a week. This stack trace is related to bad metadata being passed back to Alfred via the metadata query which Alfred is defending against.

[Z86]

Have you rebuilt your OS X metadata (there is a shortcut in Alfred's Advanced preferences "Rebuild OS X metadata")?

 

Both versions of Alfred, as well as Spotlight, have their own temporary cache, so what you may be seeing in Spotlight and v1 is the cache, while v2 may be showing the real index (where Terminal is missing). I would recommend rebuilding your metadata (which can take up to an hour) and typing "reload" into Alfred v2 once it has completed to refresh v2's index.

 

Let me know how you get on

 

Thank you for getting back to me.

 

Yes, I've rebuilt the OS X metadata regularly to try to solve this issue. This was also part of the five(?) steps on the support page. It hasn't helped so far. I'd like to add that Alfred v1 was a fresh install, that I hadn't installed on this computer yet.

 

I'm hopeful for the 2.0.4 release that @Andrew is talking about. Let's wait and see if that helps!

[Andrew]

Thank you for getting back to me.

 

Yes, I've rebuilt the OS X metadata regularly to try to solve this issue. This was also part of the five(?) steps on the support page. It hasn't helped so far. I'd like to add that Alfred v1 was a fresh install, that I hadn't installed on this computer yet.

 

I'm hopeful for the 2.0.4 release that @Andrew is talking about. Let's wait and see if that helps!

 

2.0.4 is now available as a pre-release (in Alfred's Update prefs). If you grab this, let me know if you have better behaviour.

 

[i'm moving this to investigating for now]

[Zorg]

I installed 2.04 pre-release, cleared cache, re-did spotlight indexing, used reload command, and restarted computer.

 

It still couldn't find some applications in /Applications like Notes and Google Chrome. After maybe a minute or so after typing reload though, it started to find those two but there were still other apps it couldn't find like DashBoard. I tried executing reload again, now Alfred can't seem to find Notes and Google Chrome anymore.

[Andrew]

I installed 2.04 pre-release, cleared cache, re-did spotlight indexing, used reload command, and restarted computer.

 

It still couldn't find some applications in /Applications like Notes and Google Chrome. After maybe a minute or so after typing reload though, it started to find those two but there were still other apps it couldn't find like DashBoard. I tried executing reload again, now Alfred can't seem to find Notes and Google Chrome anymore.

 

Could you perform a low level spotlight reindex including removing the spotlight data folder:

 

http://skillzdesign.com/blog/clarifies/forcing-spotlight-reindexing-using-terminal/

[Zorg]

Could you perform a low level spotlight reindex including removing the spotlight data folder:

 

http://skillzdesign.com/blog/clarifies/forcing-spotlight-reindexing-using-terminal/

 

Doing this and using "reload" seems to have made things work correctly for me again.

[Z86]

2.0.4 is now available as a pre-release (in Alfred's Update prefs). If you grab this, let me know if you have better behaviour.

 

[i'm moving this to investigating for now]

 

Oops, I totally forgot about this thread because 2.0.4 (or the one right after) fixed the issue completely for me! Sorry for not getting back sooner! And thanks for fixing this!

[Z86]

And the bug is back. Version 2.0.7 seems to lose access to apps again. Can I revert to 2.0.6?

[Andrew]

And the bug is back. Version 2.0.7 seems to lose access to apps again. Can I revert to 2.0.6?

 

App searching hasn't changed between 2.0.6 and 2.0.7, so reverting won't make any difference.

 

As this is an isolated issue for you (not an Alfred bug), have you trued the low level reindex in the link I gave you above? Also, have you repaired permissions?

 

Cheers,

Andrew

[Z86]

App searching hasn't changed between 2.0.6 and 2.0.7, so reverting won't make any difference.

 

As this is an isolated issue for you (not an Alfred bug), have you trued the low level reindex in the link I gave you above? Also, have you repaired permissions?

 

Cheers,

Andrew

 

Did both those things, I'll see if it makes a difference and let you know.

[Z86]

Update for today: Alfred can't find certain Applications. After I rebuilt the Spotlight caches (by removing the spotlight folder from my drive as instructed) and repaired permissions, Alfred could find some of the files it couldn't find before, but now can't find others.

[Andrew]

Update for today: Alfred can't find certain Applications. After I rebuilt the Spotlight caches (by removing the spotlight folder from my drive as instructed) and repaired permissions, Alfred could find some of the files it couldn't find before, but now can't find others.

 

There may be some corruption in your user account, could you try creating a new user account on your Mac, switching to that user, starting Alfred and seeing from there?

 

Could you download this little app, and drag one of the applications which isn't being found into it:

 

http://cachefly.alfredapp.com/tools/AlfredMetadataTool_v1.0.zip

 

This will let me see the metadata associated with that app.

[Z86]

Thanks, but I'm not going to create a new account at the moment. I'll do that when I upgrade to Mavericks later this year. I do have my laptop running Alfred 2.0.7, I'll let you know if Alfred exhibits the same problem there (on a different user account).

 

As soon as I had dragged the offending app into your tool, Alfred was able to find it, interestingly enough. I'll keep your tool around to see if it helps with other apps Alfred can't find. In the meantime, here's the output of your app with the previously offending app:

/Applications/Kiwi.app

Internal File Metadata
======================

 Display Name: Kiwi
    Alt Names: Kiwi.app
    File Type: com.apple.application-bundle
     Comments: 
     Keywords: 
    Last Used: 2013-08-29 07:12:54 +0000

Raw mdls File Metadata
======================

kMDItemAlternateNames          = (
    "Kiwi.app"
)
kMDItemAppStoreCategory        = "Social Networking"
kMDItemAppStoreCategoryType    = "public.app-category.social-networking"
kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier      = "com.yourhead.kiwi"
kMDItemContentCreationDate     = 2013-06-29 10:29:44 +0000
kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2013-06-29 10:29:44 +0000
kMDItemContentType             = "com.apple.application-bundle"
kMDItemContentTypeTree         = (
    "com.apple.application-bundle",
    "com.apple.application",
    "public.executable",
    "com.apple.localizable-name-bundle",
    "com.apple.bundle",
    "public.directory",
    "public.item",
    "com.apple.package"
)
kMDItemDateAdded               = 2013-07-01 08:36:11 +0000
kMDItemDisplayName             = "Kiwi"
kMDItemExecutableArchitectures = (
    "x86_64"
)
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate     = 2013-06-29 10:29:44 +0000
kMDItemFSCreationDate          = 2013-06-29 10:29:44 +0000
kMDItemFSCreatorCode           = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags           = 0
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon         = 0
kMDItemFSInvisible             = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden     = 0
kMDItemFSIsStationery          = 0
kMDItemFSLabel                 = 0
kMDItemFSName                  = "Kiwi.app"
kMDItemFSNodeCount             = 1
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID          = 20
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID           = 501
kMDItemFSSize                  = 20880988
kMDItemFSTypeCode              = ""
kMDItemKind                    = "Application"
kMDItemLanguages               = (
    en
)
kMDItemLastUsedDate            = 2013-08-29 07:12:54 +0000
kMDItemLogicalSize             = 20880988
kMDItemPhysicalSize            = 23207936
kMDItemUseCount                = 1
kMDItemUsedDates               = (
    "2013-08-28 22:00:00 +0000"
)
kMDItemVersion                 = "3.1.0"

[Z86]

At the moment Alfred cannot find "Activity Monitor", however if I press space first and start typing "ac", Alfred shows "Activity Monitor" as the second entry. So the search string looks like: 

'ac

 and Alfred shows "Activity Monitor" as the second entry. It will not show "Activity Monitor" at all if I just type "act" into Alfred.

[Andrew]

At the moment Alfred cannot find "Activity Monitor", however if I press space first and start typing "ac", Alfred shows "Activity Monitor" as the second entry. So the search string looks like: 

'ac

 and Alfred shows "Activity Monitor" as the second entry. It will not show "Activity Monitor" at all if I just type "act" into Alfred.

 

Could you pop activity monitor in that tool and show me the output, so I can see if it's missing anything?

 

This tool doesn't repair any metadata, so the fact that Alfred found something after you dragged it into the tool (which directly asks OS X for info about that specific app), tells me that there is an underlying OS X metadata issue. This will almost certainly be fixed if you do a clean install of OS X, which I suggest you take the opportunity to do when you update to Mavericks

[Z86]

Could you pop activity monitor in that tool and show me the output, so I can see if it's missing anything?

 

 

/Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor.app

Internal File Metadata
======================

 Display Name: Activity Monitor
    Alt Names: Activity Monitor, Activity Monitor.app, AM
    File Type: com.apple.application-bundle
     Comments: 
     Keywords: 
    Last Used: 2013-08-29 14:34:45 +0000

Raw mdls File Metadata
======================

kMDItemAlternateNames          = (
    "Activity Monitor",
    "Activity Monitor.app",
    AM
)
kMDItemAppStoreCategory        = "Utilities"
kMDItemAppStoreCategoryType    = "public.app-category.utilities"
kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier      = "com.apple.ActivityMonitor"
kMDItemContentCreationDate     = 2012-06-27 02:43:08 +0000
kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2012-06-27 02:43:08 +0000
kMDItemContentType             = "com.apple.application-bundle"
kMDItemContentTypeTree         = (
    "com.apple.application-bundle",
    "com.apple.application",
    "public.executable",
    "com.apple.localizable-name-bundle",
    "com.apple.bundle",
    "public.directory",
    "public.item",
    "com.apple.package"
)
kMDItemDateAdded               = 2012-11-28 12:47:26 +0000
kMDItemDisplayName             = "Activity Monitor"
kMDItemExecutableArchitectures = (
    "x86_64"
)
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate     = 2012-06-27 02:43:08 +0000
kMDItemFSCreationDate          = 2012-06-27 02:43:08 +0000
kMDItemFSCreatorCode           = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags           = 0
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon         = 0
kMDItemFSInvisible             = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden     = 0
kMDItemFSIsStationery          = 0
kMDItemFSLabel                 = 0
kMDItemFSName                  = "Activity Monitor.app"
kMDItemFSNodeCount             = 1
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID          = 0
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID           = 0
kMDItemFSSize                  = 9071897
kMDItemFSTypeCode              = ""
kMDItemKind                    = "Application"
kMDItemLanguages               = (
    Dutch,
    English,
    French,
    German,
    Italian,
    Japanese,
    Spanish,
    ar,
    ca,
    cs,
    da,
    el,
    fi,
    he,
    hr,
    hu,
    ko,
    no,
    pl,
    pt,
    "pt_PT",
    ro,
    ru,
    sk,
    sv,
    th,
    tr,
    uk,
    "zh_CN",
    "zh_TW"
)
kMDItemLastUsedDate            = 2013-08-29 14:34:45 +0000
kMDItemLogicalSize             = 9071897
kMDItemPhysicalSize            = 10428416
kMDItemUseCount                = 1
kMDItemUsedDates               = (
    "2013-08-28 22:00:00 +0000"
)
kMDItemVersion                 = "10.8.0"

This tool doesn't repair any metadata, so the fact that Alfred found something after you dragged it into the tool (which directly asks OS X for info about that specific app), tells me that there is an underlying OS X metadata issue. This will almost certainly be fixed if you do a clean install of OS X, which I suggest you take the opportunity to do when you update to Mavericks

 

 

The thing is, this started a few days ago, it was working all perfectly until then. And this install isn't even a year old. I'll pay attention to what Alfred is doing on my laptop, that is an even newer install.

[Z86]

Another update: I think I'll chalk this up to an idiosyncrasy of my system for now. The laptop does not exhibit the same problem, but more importantly; after I did a reboot, my system would not start up at all. I'm running from a backup on an external drive until Mavericks is released. Then I'll do a fresh install as always. I'm sure the problem won't return. Sorry for the false alarm and thank you for your help and patience! :-)