Migrating from QuickSilver ...

[mlartz]

I'm attempting to migrate from QS to Alfred, but I'm having a couple of issues with my QS muscle memory not translating well.  Two things are initial showstoppers.

 

First, Alfred doesn't seem to find files that are in my home directory (~/nofind.txt) using the 'open' keyword (e.g. 'open nofind').  I was under the impression that the 'open' keyword is effectively spotlight, right?  Or is it still scoped to only the search directories listed in the "Default Results" page?

 

Second, I use a custom build of emacs (via Homebrew), and it installs a symlink /Applications/Emacs.app => /usr/local/blah/blah/blah/Emacs.app.  This doesn't seem to be found via Alfred when I just type "emacs", and it doesn't get executed when I browse to it via the filesystem view.  I'm assuming that its because its a symlink.  Is there a way to execute it via Alfred?

 

Any ideas?

 

btw: OSX 10.8.5 MBP Retina, Alfred 2.3 (264)

 

-Mike

[raguay.customct]

It works fine for me. I checked my Alfred setup and I do have "/usr/local" set in my search scope. That might be way it is working for me. Brew doctor always flags the fact that I am not the owner of /usr/local. You might want to check that.

[vitor]

As stated in the mentioned Default Results page, under Search Scope — “These folders define where Alfred looks for files, applications and metadata. Fewer paths give more accurate results”. So yes, you’ll have to define the scope, but the default is already very acceptable. It’s interesting, though, that the option Incude folders in Home is taken so literally. As you noticed, it seems to ignore files that are directly in the home directory. If you include it in the search scope it’ll work, though.

Regarding homebrew apps, as raguay.customct pointed out you can add /usr/local to your scope and it’ll do. That might be a bit too broad if all you want are the apps, in which case I’d recommend adding only /usr/local/Cellar.

[mlartz]

Thanks, adding ~ and /usr/local to the Search Scope did the trick, although I was thinking that the Search Scope was just for Default Results (i.e. those without a command/keyword prefix), not file-specific (open blah blah) results.  Guess I have a bit of retraining to do.

 

Also, in the FAQ, there is an article that references these sorts of problems (http://support.alfredapp.com/kb:indexing), however it also references a scope-like setting under the File Search tab that I can't seem to find.

 

Again, thanks for your help.

[Carlos-Sz]

Thanks, adding ~ and /usr/local to the Search Scope did the trick, although I was thinking that the Search Scope was just for Default Results (i.e. those without a command/keyword prefix), not file-specific (open blah blah) results.  Guess I have a bit of retraining to do.

 

Also, in the FAQ, there is an article that references these sorts of problems (http://support.alfredapp.com/kb:indexing), however it also references a scope-like setting under the File Search tab that I can't seem to find.

 

Again, thanks for your help.

 

Open Alfred Preferences. Click the Features tab at top bar of the preferences. Now click Default Results at left side bar.

[Andrew]

Vitor is correct in saying that Alfred treats "Include folders in home" literally, and not just including the full home folder. This allows specific exclusions such as ~/Library which keeps Alfred's results much cleaner. You could always untick this option and add ~/ to the search scope if you wanted to both include folders in home and the contents of the home folder itself.

 

Cheers,

Andrew