Alfred Results Vs Spotlight in Yosemite

[ChrisC]

When I search for something in Spotlight the result I'm looking for always appears. When I search in Alfred it's always hit or miss. I would just use Spotlight but of course Spotlight doesn't offer workflows or the ability to show a particular file in finder.

 

Here are some examples of search issues.

 

Anytime I download and install a new app, the very next second I can search Spotlight and the new app shows up immediately. When I search Alfred it does not until about say 10 seconds or so later. While that doesn't seem like long, when you install something you almost always will be opening it up right away. I've always noticed this issue through all the versions of Alfred and through different computers. Is it a known issue and or any workarounds?

 

The other issue is say I search for the word, "Pearl" in alfred. It shows 0 results. I search in Spotlight and it instantly shows 5 results. I discovered that since the word Pearl inside the text files and or pdf ocr data, it will only show up in Alfred if I type, "in Pearl". I understand Alfred has all of these prefixes to help keep Alfred fast, but Spotlight doesn't require them and I always have instant results nor issues with muddled results. Maybe that's not the case with people on slower or older computers. Is there a way to get search to function the same in alfred as it does in spotlight, so I can simply type "Pearl" and it will like Spotlight show first apps named Pearl, but if none exist show files named Pearl and if none exist search inside all documents instantly like Spotlight?

[Vero]

Anytime I download and install a new app, the very next second I can search Spotlight and the new app shows up immediately. When I search Alfred it does not until about say 10 seconds or so later. While that doesn't seem like long, when you install something you almost always will be opening it up right away. I've always noticed this issue through all the versions of Alfred and through different computers. Is it a known issue and or any workarounds?

 

Alfred makes the results available the instant Spotlight has indexed the result, so this seems like an odd issue. In my tests (including one just a few moments ago), as soon as the app's install is done, it's available in search. 

 

You may benefit from reindexing your Mac, which you can do from Alfred's Advanced preferences - This will cause OS X to rebuild the index and hopefully index apps faster in the future.

 

The other issue is say I search for the word, "Pearl" in alfred. It shows 0 results. I search in Spotlight and it instantly shows 5 results. I discovered that since the word Pearl inside the text files and or pdf ocr data, it will only show up in Alfred if I type, "in Pearl". I understand Alfred has all of these prefixes to help keep Alfred fast, but Spotlight doesn't require them and I always have instant results nor issues with muddled results. Maybe that's not the case with people on slower or older computers. Is there a way to get search to function the same in alfred as it does in spotlight, so I can simply type "Pearl" and it will like Spotlight show first apps named Pearl, but if none exist show files named Pearl and if none exist search inside all documents instantly like Spotlight?

 

That's an interesting approach Just for fun, Andrew has created a workflow that offers a behaviour similar to the one you describe.

 

Import this workflow into Alfred on your Mac, and go to Alfred's Features > Default Results > Setup Fallback Searches. Add a fallback search > Workflow Trigger > Search Mac. Drag this fallback search to the top of the list of fallback searches.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6749767/Alfred/Workflows/Search%20Mac%20Fallback.alfredworkflow

 

From now on, when you search in Alfred and you don't get a result by default, you'll see "Search Mac" as the top fallback search and hitting return will search your whole Mac.

 

It's worth noting that this workflow relies on you leaving the "find", "open" and "in" keywords as-is. If you change them in Alfred, you'd need to change them in the workflow as well. 

 

As Andrew's just thrown this workflow together, the workflow may need a little tweaking so let me know how you get on

 

Cheers,

Vero

[deanishe]

Anytime I download and install a new app, the very next second I can search Spotlight and the new app shows up immediately. When I search Alfred it does not until about say 10 seconds or so later. While that doesn't seem like long, when you install something you almost always will be opening it up right away. I've always noticed this issue through all the versions of Alfred and through different computers. Is it a known issue and or any workarounds?

Same here. I'd always assumed that's how long it takes for the metadata indexing subsystem to notice and index the new files and to propagate the updated database. I don't think there's anything Alfred could do about this.

The other issue is say I search for the word, "Pearl" in alfred. It shows 0 results. I search in Spotlight and it instantly shows 5 results. I discovered that since the word Pearl inside the text files and or pdf ocr data, it will only show up in Alfred if I type, "in Pearl". I understand Alfred has all of these prefixes to help keep Alfred fast, but Spotlight doesn't require them and I always have instant results nor issues with muddled results. Maybe that's not the case with people on slower or older computers. Is there a way to get search to function the same in alfred as it does in spotlight, so I can simply type "Pearl" and it will like Spotlight show first apps named Pearl, but if none exist show files named Pearl and if none exist search inside all documents instantly like Spotlight?

Spotlight is lightning fast on my MacBook Air (128 GB of data), but pretty darn slow on my Mac Pro (6 TB of data). And on the Mac Pro, Spotlight also returns a load of uninteresting results. Alfred stays relevant and goes like the clappers on both.

I like that Alfred is particular about restricting the datasets it searches. It's more work to set up, but leads to better results much more quickly.

[alfrednewuser]

Alfred makes the results available the instant Spotlight has indexed the result, so this seems like an odd issue. In my tests (including one just a few moments ago), as soon as the app's install is done, it's available in search. 

 

You may benefit from reindexing your Mac, which you can do from Alfred's Advanced preferences - This will cause OS X to rebuild the index and hopefully index apps faster in the future.

 

 

That's an interesting approach Just for fun, Andrew has created a workflow that offers a behaviour similar to the one you describe.

 

Import this workflow into Alfred on your Mac, and go to Alfred's Features > Default Results > Setup Fallback Searches. Add a fallback search > Workflow Trigger > Search Mac. Drag this fallback search to the top of the list of fallback searches.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6749767/Alfred/Workflows/Search%20Mac%20Fallback.alfredworkflow

 

From now on, when you search in Alfred and you don't get a result by default, you'll see "Search Mac" as the top fallback search and hitting return will search your whole Mac.

 

It's worth noting that this workflow relies on you leaving the "find", "open" and "in" keywords as-is. If you change them in Alfred, you'd need to change them in the workflow as well. 

 

As Andrew's just thrown this workflow together, the workflow may need a little tweaking so let me know how you get on

 

Cheers,

Vero

 

Thanks Vero for this Workflow.

 

I am wondering whether possible to include the default searching results as well. For instance I have a directory called Pearl and some files containing text "Pearl". I want to see all of them.

 

Thanks!

[Vero]

Thanks Vero for this Workflow.

 

I am wondering whether possible to include the default searching results as well. For instance I have a directory called Pearl and some files containing text "Pearl". I want to see all of them.

 

Thanks!

 

Hi there,

 

Could you please fill in your registered Powerpack email address in your forum profile? We'll then be happy to help you with your workflow

 

Cheers,

Vero

[alfrednewuser]

Hi there,

 

Could you please fill in your registered Powerpack email address in your forum profile? We'll then be happy to help you with your workflow

 

Cheers,

Vero

Done.

[Vero]

Done.

 

Thanks for filling in your details. 

 

Taking a look at your question, I'm not 100% sure I understand what you want to do. 

 

 

 

I am wondering whether possible to include the default searching results as well. For instance I have a directory called Pearl and some files containing text "Pearl". I want to see all of them.

 

Are you looking to create a file filter workflow that includes all file types AND all text within files? 

 

If so, create a file filter workflow and go into the settings for the File Filter object. Under Advanced, click the + next to the "Fields" box, add kMDItemTextContent and check the boxes next to it. This will include the text content of files to your search results.

 

If you have a specific search scope (e.g. a "Work" folder), it may be worth adding, so that you don't get unnecessary results from other locations.

 

Hope this helps