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Run workflow without a keyword


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Is it possible to run a workflow without a keyword? So basically just run it everytime I search for something? 

I have installed a Chrome Bookmarks search workflow, and it works when I use a keyword. But if I remove the keyword, nothing is coming up. But ideally I would just just like the bookmark results to show in the default search results without having to enter a keyword. I use the internet a lot, so it would help to just start typing a website I use often to have the bookmark appear without using the keyword. 

 

Thanks

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It cannot be done, no, and likely won’t be (it has been discussed before). It’s a very good thing it doesn’t happen, though. Imagine having two or three of those workflows eating up resources and having everything slow down every time you try to use Alfred.

 

That said, if all you want to do is open certain websites, you’re in luck. If you type a website address via Alfred and go there, it will save it in your results, and you can go there later.

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Imagine having two or three of those workflows eating up resources and having everything slow down every time you try to use Alfred.

 

 

@Vítor Firstly, I would not want ALL workflows doing this, just this one. So it would be an option in the workflow (perhaps as simple as removing the prefix!). So would one more really slow it down a lot? What if I disable one app from showing results and replace with this workflow, would that really slow it down a lot? More importantly, shouldn't I be the best person to decide if the speed of adding this workflow is acceptable or not? Both the default and this workflow are fast enough that I think doubling the time if thats what happens is still OK for me :) 

 

@deanishe I am not familiar with brow but looks like its some sort of bookmark sync process. In which case should I just not use Xmarks which is what Alfred states here https://www.alfredapp.com/help/troubleshooting/chrome-firefox-bookmarks/. 

 

Thanks

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Firstly, I would not want ALL workflows doing this, just this one. So it would be an option in the workflow (perhaps as simple as removing the prefix!). So would one more really slow it down a lot?

Yes, yes it would. You might be thinking just of your use case as you’d use it, and not Alfred usage as it actually is. Yes, running an arbitrary command every time you call Alfred could be really resource intensive and slow it down considerably. Furthermore, most Alfred users don’t build workflows, they use the ones that are already built. Many of them come to this forums and they have no clue about programming, and if they installed a workflow that would make their Alfred experience worse, they’d likely blame Alfred and not the workflow, because they wouldn’t know who was really to blame. Sure, you would want only this workflow doing it, but many people could want more, or even install them and not realise that is why their experience became crappy — bad impression of Alfred, bigger support overhead. Having to pay attention to every workflow you install with a caveat is not fun.

When you have a community so centred around sharing workflows, these things matter. It is likely one of the reasons workflows can’t run commands automatically on install (there is a thread about this in these forums): to prevent a bad experience (be it caused maliciously, by incompetence, or by accident) that would be reflected on Alfred itself. Apple also follows a similar philosophy, as they do not do what they think would be crappy (when they are right or not is another issue altogether).

 

More importantly, shouldn't I be the best person to decide if the speed of adding this workflow is acceptable or not? Both the default and this workflow are fast enough that I think doubling the time if thats what happens is still OK for me

No, for the reasons above. You might understand the tradeoffs, but most users don’t. I spend enough time on these forums and contributing to open-source to be able to say this pretty confidently. Alfred is about empowering users no matter their expertise, after all, and you can see that by the fact there are so many predefined actions that many users are extremely happy with and sing praises to, precisely because they don’t not have to (and many times do not know how to) write a single line of code, but can still accomplish fairly complex tasks.

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