Launch App at Specific Time

[tphillips]

Is it possible to make an Alfred workflow to automatically launch an app at a specific time?  I want to start an app at a particular time of day, so starting on launch doesn't fit my needs and using a hotkey to trigger a workflow doesn't either.  I want to set up a workflow and simply forget about it.  Thoughts?

[RodgerWW]

One way of doing this which is simple if you use iCal, is to set up a repeating event and launch the app: http://osxdaily.com/2013/04/15/launch-file-app-scheduled-date-mac-os-x/

 

Another way is to use launchd, which is a bit more complex: http://nathangrigg.net/2012/07/schedule-jobs-using-launchd/

 

And the other way, which requires getting another app: http://www.peterborgapps.com/lingon/

I think there are other apps that can run tasks at specific times but 'Lingon' is the only one I can think of specifically.

BTW: 'Lingon' uses the systems "launchd" ... just that it gives you a nice GUI to work with instead of writing all that plist stuff yourself.

[jdfwarrior]

Is it possible to make an Alfred workflow to automatically launch an app at a specific time?  I want to start an app at a particular time of day, so starting on launch doesn't fit my needs and using a hotkey to trigger a workflow doesn't either.  I want to set up a workflow and simply forget about it.  Thoughts?

 

I don't know what happened last night, I was well into typing a reply on this and... I guess I never posted it?

 

Anyway, this CAN be done with Alfred but it would involve writing a script that sits in a loop checking the time and then executing when necessary. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this way though as there are other ways that are much better. The ways mentioned by Rodger above are the ways that I had typed up to recommend. In addition to Lingon, there's also LaunchControl. Using launchd to schedule it or using the calendar would be a much easier way of doing this. The one advantage I WOULD see to using launchd over the calendar method would be that with launchctl you could use Alfred (or just the terminal) to quicky enable/disable the launchd scripts in case there was a situation where you wanted to turn it off for a while.

[1957Goldtop]

Ok, I’m new here… literally just found out about Alfred yesterday.  I’m looking forward to building some workflows… but, is it just me or wouldn’t time/calendar based triggers be one of the first and most logical triggers you would build into the app?  Here we are at v2 and there is no easy way to make a workflow do something at a specific day/time.

 

It seemed so obvious to me that it would be a feature that I purchased the Powerpack assuming it would be in there.

 

[jdfwarrior]

 

Ok, I’m new here… literally just found out about Alfred yesterday.  I’m looking forward to building some workflows… but, is it just me or wouldn’t time/calendar based triggers be one of the first and most logical triggers you would build into the app?  Here we are at v2 and there is no easy way to make a workflow do something at a specific day/time.

 

It seemed so obvious to me that it would be a feature that I purchased the Powerpack assuming it would be in there.

 

 

 

For performance reasons and to keep Alfred lightweight, Alfred doesn't track external triggers. Alfred and his workflows are more designed to react to and perform actions based on user input whether it be a keyword, hotkey, etc. The method mentioned above or applications such as Keyboard Maestro are more geared toward monitoring external triggering and performing actions based upon those triggers.

[rice.shawn]

 

Ok, I’m new here… literally just found out about Alfred yesterday.  I’m looking forward to building some workflows… but, is it just me or wouldn’t time/calendar based triggers be one of the first and most logical triggers you would build into the app?  Here we are at v2 and there is no easy way to make a workflow do something at a specific day/time.

 

The workflows are great because, among other things, they can obsolesce other apps that you might use all the time. And David's comments about not responding to external triggers in an effort to keep it light-weight is totally spot-on. So, while Alfred could replace something like Text Expander on a manual basis, it wouldn't be able to make it work in the way that TE does as it expands after certain keystrokes.

 

Alfred could be a great interface, however, to create/enable/disable launchd services, which actually sounds like an interesting workflow.

 

If you want to see some of the other workflows available to see if they would help you in other ways, go ahead and page through the "Share Your Workflows" forum or head over to www.packal.org to find an easier navigation (but fewer workflows).