Alfred file selection hotkey is causing unexpected behavior in other applications

[ewohlken]

I am using the latest version of Yosemite and Alfred.

 

I first noticed this problem a while ago while using sublime text, but simply assumed it was an OS X bug and didn't even think of Alfred as a possible culprit. Finally decided to look into the issue though, and I think it is being caused by the Alfred File Selection Hotkey feature.

 

The Issue: In some applications outside of Alfred (Sublime Text & Finder to be more specific, I haven't noticed it happening anywhere else yet), pressing the File Selection Hotkey will perform an unexpected action, in my case the "Copy" command (or whatever command is bound to CMD + C for that application,  e.g. In Sublime it copies the currently selected text, but in finder it copies the currently selected file). I have my File Selection Hotkey set to CMD double tapped, but have tried setting it to different combinations and it still doesn't work. When I remove the file selection hotkey, the problem no longer occurs.

 

Can anyone help me out? To be honest its actually not much of an inconvenience, just annoying when I overwrite my clipboard history accidentally while hitting back-to-back keyboard shortcuts. If I change the hotkey to double-tap shift it is actually sort of useful. I really just want to know why its happening, I can't seem to find anything about it online and that always drives me nuts.

 

Thanks!

Edited May 18, 2015 by ewohlken

[Andrew]

 

Can anyone help me out? To be honest its actually not much of an inconvenience, just annoying when I overwrite my clipboard history accidentally while hitting back-to-back keyboard shortcuts. If I change the hotkey to double-tap shift it is actually sort of useful. I really just want to know why its happening, I can't seem to find anything about it online and that always drives me nuts.

 

 

This is actually by design as it allows Alfred to get the file selection from any application regardless of scripting... even, for example, a text selected path in Terminal.app. If Alfred didn't use the pasteboard to get the file selection, it would be limited to a very small subset of apps which have scripting support.

 

Remember that you've always got Alfred's clipboard history to get back to previously copied text!

 

Cheers,

Andrew