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File dock?


joonas

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I've not been a big user of the File buffer, but I'd love it if there was a feature much the like the File buffer, but not. Something more like "File dock".

 

So, basically the same as file buffer except:

  • Files can only be removed by the user manually. Never automatically.
  • I'd like to be able to add workflows there.
  • I'd love to be able to drag files into these icons. ( Just imagine typing "find some-file.jpg" and dragging that into the photoshop icon above, for instance. Aaah the possibilities... B)   )

Alfred%20attached%20icons.png?raw=1

I understand that as it is, file buffer would either have to be somehow extended, changed or replaced by this feature, so that the File dock icons could be placed in the same position. So I don't know, but I'd love it if the icons would sit in the same position as in the screenshot.

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Files can only be removed by the user manually. Never automatically.

Alfred PreferencesFeaturesFile SearchBufferBuffer Clearing. Uncheck both options.

 

I'd like to be able to add workflows there.

I don’t see the point. Care to elaborate on the feature, why it’d be useful and how exactly it’d work?

 

I'd love to be able to drag files into these icons. ( Just imagine typing "find some-file.jpg" and dragging that into the photoshop icon above, for instance. Aaah the possibilities... B) )

No need to imagine, that’s exactly how OS X’s Dock behaves. It even works with results straight from Alfred!

 

Seeing as Alfred is keyboard-centric, I don’t seem this happening. You can already use file actions with the keyboard to open the selection with whatever app you choose. Yes, Alfred does let you perform some operations with the mouse, but never something you wouldn’t be able to do with the keyboard as well. For that reason I don’t see the feature being implemented, and I’m all for it (not being included).

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Alfred PreferencesFeaturesFile SearchBufferBuffer Clearing. Uncheck both options.

 

I don’t see the point. Care to elaborate on the feature, why it’d be useful and how exactly it’d work?

 

No need to imagine, that’s exactly how OS X’s Dock behaves. It even works with results straight from Alfred!

 

Seeing as Alfred is keyboard-centric, I don’t seem this happening. You can already use file actions with the keyboard to open the selection with whatever app you choose. Yes, Alfred does let you perform some operations with the mouse, but never something you wouldn’t be able to do with the keyboard as well. For that reason I don’t see the feature being implemented, and I’m all for it (not being included).

 

1.

Buffer still gets cleared when the app is restarted, so I'd have to restock it every time I start my computer, at the very least.

 

2.

I don't see it as necessary, but why not. The only real benefit would be not having to remember a workflow hotkey or keyword. Which I am quilty of, occasionally. Then I have to go to alfred settings and see what it was. I'm sure this isn't the best solution for that, but if you can open any file by clicking it there, why not workflows too.

 

3.

I know I can drag from Alfred to somewhere else, but it's the difference between dragging a file file 30px on the screen vs something like +1000px ( depending on the osx resolution, Alfred position and dock position  ). Not to mention finding the right icon from the many many icons in the dock ( of course having multiple icons in the dock is my own preference / stupidity ).

I find the file actions a bit cumbersome sometimes. For example: "find file.jpg" > Alt > Cmd+number > "Application name (or part of it) > enter vs "find file.jpg" > Drag and drop. Would be a bit simpler. Currently I use both for different situations, but as I said above, dragging a file to dock is not as ideal as it could be.

Edited by joonas
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You clarified the first point, so no further comment there. As for the other two, I can give the same answer for both: it isn’t worth it.
 
As you said, the third option saves only a minimal amount of trouble. That is fine and perfectly reasonable to ask for, until you realise (and you personally do realise, as you pointed out) the huge amount of work it would take to rework the File Buffer feature (and after, what would happen to that feature, how would they be distinguished from one another?). When you ask for a feature, you should be clear about how it works, how it’d be interfaced with, and how it affects other features. Otherwise you’re shifting all that responsibility to the developers, and hurting your changes of even having the feature being thought about. This is in no way a criticism of your request, since you did most of this.
 
As for the second feature, that is not reasonable at all. “I don't see it as necessary, but why not” is the worst possible reason to implement a feature. “Why not”? Because it is only:

  • Adding bloat.
  • Making the app more complex (and hence harder to work on) for no reason at all.
  • Taking time away from implementing other features.

If you can’t remember your keywords, there’s a workflow for that (more than one, actually).

To be clear, I’m in no way being confrontational with this response, but I’ll say there are a bunch of other workflow users and developers (myself included) that have been asking for clear specific features ever since Alfred 2 was launched. We go to great lengths to explain precisely how they would work, what they would do, give real examples of where they’d be needed and why none of the current features fill the gap, and try to reduce their scope considerably to make them as easy as possible to implement, in the hopes we’ll eventually get them. Alas, many of us are still waiting. Sometimes we do get some of them, and other times we even get features no one asked for (and the odd no one even uses).

This is to say I could in no way support a “why not” feature, and hope to change your opinion on this as well. Development is painstakingly slow already as it is (Alfred’s team is dedicated but small), so we should focus on the features that actually have a purpose.

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The why not feature was hardly the main point.

 

I'll just use other apps to bridge the gap.

 

While I think Vitor has answered fairly thoroughly why it's unlikely this kind of feature will ever be added to Alfred, I wanted to pop in and suggest an alternative which is more keyboard-driven but may satisfy your need to have a set of apps and files at hand very quickly.

 

You can tag the files, apps and folders you'd like to show - let's say your tag is "useful" - using the OS X Tags feature (https://www.alfredapp.com/blog/tips-and-tricks/3-ways-to-use-osx-tags-for-better-search/). Then create a simple workflow where you link a hotkey to the text "tags useful", which means that when you hit that particular hotkey, the results tagged with "useful" will immediately appear, allowing you to either arrow down, use the Cmd + number combo for the row or click on the result to select and launch it.

 

Let me know if you need any help creating a workflow like this :)

 

Cheers,

Vero

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While I think Vitor has answered fairly thoroughly why it's unlikely this kind of feature will ever be added to Alfred, I wanted to pop in and suggest an alternative which is more keyboard-driven but may satisfy your need to have a set of apps and files at hand very quickly.

 

You can tag the files, apps and folders you'd like to show - let's say your tag is "useful" - using the OS X Tags feature (https://www.alfredapp.com/blog/tips-and-tricks/3-ways-to-use-osx-tags-for-better-search/). Then create a simple workflow where you link a hotkey to the text "tags useful", which means that when you hit that particular hotkey, the results tagged with "useful" will immediately appear, allowing you to either arrow down, use the Cmd + number combo for the row or click on the result to select and launch it.

 

Let me know if you need any help creating a workflow like this :)

 

Cheers,

Vero

 

 

I haven't really had any issues finding the files themselves. I'm just not too fond of the steps you need to take to open the file(s) in a specific app, which I admit is not the worst, but I would love to be able to take a specific action after I've selected the files I want.

 

Is it possible to make a workflow where I can select files in Alfred and press a hotkey to open whem in a specific application?

Like this: Open alfred > Write "find file.jpg" > Press hotkey that opens the file in Photoshop ( and similarly open buffered files in a specific app, via hotkey )

 

The best I've been able to do is make a File action workflow, but that doesn't really tick all the boxes for me. It's pretty close to what I want, but I'd rather use a hotkey instead.

 

I tried to make a workflow with "Open file", but I couldn't figure out how to pass in files from Alfred selection.

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Is it possible to make a workflow where I can select files in Alfred and press a hotkey to open whem in a specific application?

No, but you can do the reverse. You can write ps file.jpg and it’ll search/filter for that file and open it with Photoshop when you ↩ (example).

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