A workflow generator to open often visited urls faster.

[politicus]

I have been creating a lot of workflows that let me access a specific url of a specific website. For example, a workflow that would open the page of the "Alfred V2 suggestions Feature Suggestions". So that, I just have to open Alfred, type the 3 letters of the keyword, hit enter and voila. 

 

I use keyboard shortcuts to open the urls I use often/daily (= about 20 urls). With keywords based workflows, I can open urls that I use "now and then" (= about 100 urls). It is really a game changer as it makes it smoother/faster than typing the address bar in the browser.

 

The problem is creating the workflow. Not that it is hard or that much of a time killer. It is just that it could be streamlined. Here is my idea. 

 

The goal of the feature is to create a workflow that will be launched via a keyword and will open one url. 

 

I would love to have a workflow that when launched would:

- take the url of the active window of my browser (Google Chrome),

- launch Alfred,

- create a blank workflow similar to the "Open URL with a hotkey" (The only difference here is the hotkey trigger would be replaced by a keyword input).

- would open the input panel so that I could add my keyword.

 

I would just have to hit enter and boom. Job done!

 

I know I could use the clipboard feature but urls are too often to long to be red. And workflows with keywords are way faster.

[deanishe]

There's no need to directly involve Alfred: you can generate an entire workflow programatically. As long as it's in Alfred's workflow directory, Alfred will notice the new workflow in seconds. This method is way less error prone than trying to emulate mouse clicks and key presses.
 
See my Fuzzy Folders workflow for an example (it adds keywords and actions to itself by rewriting its own info.plist).

Edited November 29, 2015 by deanishe

[Vero]

I have been creating a lot of workflows that let me access a specific url of a specific website. For example, a workflow that would open the page of the "Alfred V2 suggestions Feature Suggestions". So that, I just have to open Alfred, type the 3 letters of the keyword, hit enter and voila. 

 

A very simple way to get easy access to your favourite URLs is to activate Alfred's URL history:

https://www.alfredapp.com/help/features/web-search/#history

 

By pasting each URL once into Alfred as you get started, you could then use Alfred's built-in URL history to search for them in the future - especially if you set the expiration at the bottom to a year

[politicus]

@Vero

I already use Alfred's History. It is a great feature and answers my question only partially because

 

- urls are too long almost all the time -> not readable in Alfred results. 

 

- urls are not always very descriptive. For example, I can't differentiate http://media4.giphy.com/media/qIl4vxscgGCMo/giphy.gif and http://media4.giphy.com/media/FR3q/giphy.gif in Alfred results.

 

Alfred's History is not the perfect answer to my needs but heading in the right direction 

 

@Deanishe

Thanks for your answer. Very interesting!

[jamesd7856]

@politicusdid you ever get this resolved? I too just want to add urls to alfred and have them appear in default search