Alfred 3 snippets don't auto-expand [Fix awaiting chromium bug fix]

[stever777]

I have enabled Alfred 3's accessibility in System Preferences, I have "Automatically Expand Snippets by Keyword" checked in Alfred's preferences, and I have several snippets defined with "Autoexpand" selected for those snippets.

 

They don't autoexpand. They still work with the "snip" keyword, but they don't expand on their own in Textedit or in Notes.

 

I am sad.

 

 

Edited May 18, 2016 by stever777

[Vero]

I have enabled Alfred 3's accessibility in System Preferences, I have "Automatically Expand Snippets by Keyword" checked in Alfred's preferences, and I have several snippets defined with "Autoexpand" selected for those snippets.

 

 

Hi Stever,

 

Did you follow the steps to grant Alfred Text Service access when the pop-up appeared?

 

To activate Alfred's Text Expansion, you'll need to follow these steps:

• In Alfred's preferences, under Features > Snippets, check the "Automatically expand snippets by keyword" in the top right
• When the Alfred Text Service box launches, go to OS X System Preferences > Accessibility and grant Alfred Text Service access
• Return to your Snippets preferences and check the box once again
• Set one of your snippets to auto-expand
• Type the keyword for a snippet in a text window to expand your first snippet!

As mentioned in response to your other post, Alfred is currently in beta and the documentation is not yet live. Don't hesitate to ask if you have questions, but keep in mind that all the information will also be live as soon as Alfred 3 goes to general availability

 

Cheers,

Vero

[piarasj]

1. Accessibility is enabled: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jtaeen325w7xjeh/Screenshot%202016-05-18%2017.34.21.png
2. Alfred 3 seems ready https://www.dropbox.com/s/wu7gnrm44ce15ce/Screenshot%202016-05-18%2017.36.38.png
3. But there's no result: !human !whoosh

They expand if I type them in the Clipboard Viewer: 

!human - "To err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential." - Anonymous

!whoosh - "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." - Douglas Adams

[Vero]

 

1. Accessibility is enabled: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jtaeen325w7xjeh/Screenshot%202016-05-18%2017.34.21.png
2. Alfred 3 seems ready https://www.dropbox.com/s/wu7gnrm44ce15ce/Screenshot%202016-05-18%2017.36.38.png
3. But there's no result: !human !whoosh

They expand if I type them in the Clipboard Viewer: 

!human - "To err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential." - Anonymous

!whoosh - "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." - Douglas Adams

 

 

 

Hi there,

 

Looking at your screenshot of the Accessibility preferences, you seem to have multiple instances of Alfred 3 installed, as it should not say "Alfred 3 2". Have you installed multiple versions of Alfred 3?

 

I would recommend removing Alfred 3 and Alfred Text Service from Accessibility, ensuring that you only have one instance of Alfred 3 installed and that it's named correctly. You can then re-start the process to add the Text Service to accessibility.

 

Cheers,

Vero

[piarasj]

Thanks Vero, but that is the top of the accessibility list and there are no other Alfreds below. 

Note that it says "Alfred 2' and Alfred 3 2' - so I thought one referred to Alfred 2.

Anyway I deleted all of them, let Alfred put them in again and they work now.

> "To err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential." - Anonymous

> "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." - Douglas Adams

Thanks again 

P

[stever777]

I definitely have all the correct permissions set everywhere. I've tried unsetting and re-setting them. After several minutes of just opening snippets, changing them and re-saving them, suddenly the autoexpand is mostly working. Sometimes keywords expand, other times they don't. I have no idea what the rhyme or reason behind it is, though I have a vague feeling that the intermittent nature of the expansions may have something to do with some of my snippets being set to autoexpand and others not.

[Vero]

I definitely have all the correct permissions set everywhere. I've tried unsetting and re-setting them. After several minutes of just opening snippets, changing them and re-saving them, suddenly the autoexpand is mostly working. Sometimes keywords expand, other times they don't. I have no idea what the rhyme or reason behind it is, though I have a vague feeling that the intermittent nature of the expansions may have something to do with some of my snippets being set to autoexpand and others not.

 

 

In order to expand, snippets do need to have the box next to them checked. Otherwise, they'll only be available via the "snip" keyword and the Snippets Viewer, like the Alfred 2 snippets were.

[stever777]

Hi, Vero,

 

Yes, I understand. All of the boxes are checked for the snippets I wish to have autoexpand. Some snippets, I do NOT want to autoexpand, so I have not checked their autoexpand box.

 

I have a snippet set to autoexpand. Let's say it is the snippet FOOBAR set to autoexpand to MY DOG HAS FLEAS.

 

I type FOOBAR and press space. My text editor input says: FOOBAR

I type it 3 more times. Now my text editor input says: FOOBAR FOOBAR FOOBAR FOOBAR 

Now I type it a 4th time. This time, it expands, and my text editor input says: FOOBAR FOOBAR FOOBAR FOOBAR MY DOG HAS FLEAS

 

Sometimes the snippet expands, sometimes it doesn't.

 

Snippets that do NOT have the "autoexpand" checkbox checked do NOT autoexpand.

[Tarique Naseem]

I'm having the similar issues to 'stever777'...

 

In my case snippets generally work, but for some unknown reason (and seemingly at random) they stop auto expanding. Of course, I have ALL the necessary settings in place. In fact I go back and unset, and reset the Accessibility settings, restarting alfred, unchecking/checking 'Automatically expand snippets'.

 

This has happened on two occasions today already.

 

The only way to get snippets working again is to either restart, or log out and back in again.

 

So, *something* is stopping the snippets from working after a while.

 

Mac is running El Capitan 10.11.5 and this is with Alfred build 645, but was also happening in the 2 builds prior to that. Just downloading build 648 now and will report back.

 

Edit: Just realised this is in the 'Closed' section. Not quite sure why that is, as it, obviously, still needs resolving.

Edited May 19, 2016 by tnaseem

[Vero]

Thanks for your feedback guys.

 

If you could please provide more details, we'll be looking at refining snippets over the next little while. 

 

Could you please include as much information as you can on:

- Whether you're encountering the issue in all apps, or only certain apps

- What snippet keywords you're using and in what context you're writing it

- Whether the issue occurs every time, occasionally or as a one-off that can't be replicated

- Check Console.app to see whether there is a crash log for Alfred Text Service (if so, please email it to beta@ with details)

- Any other useful information about your keyboard language, layout, etc

- [Edited to add:] Whether you have "Expand Snippets mid-string" checked in the cog prefs for expansion

 

Please keep in mind that this is a brand new feature; We've tested as many scenarios as possible with thousands of beta testers, but there may still be some particular cases we haven't yet encountered. As such, we really appreciate your cooperation and patience with this

 

Cheers,

Vero

[Vero]

I'm having the similar issues to 'stever777'...

 

In my case snippets generally work, but for some unknown reason (and seemingly at random) they stop auto expanding. Of course, I have ALL the necessary settings in place. In fact I go back and unset, and reset the Accessibility settings, restarting alfred, unchecking/checking 'Automatically expand snippets'.

 

 

Could you please check Console.app for any crash logs relating to Alfred Text service as this may explain why you need to set it to automatically expand again? If you do find crash logs, please email them you find to beta@ and provide any additional details.

 

Thanks

Vero

[Tarique Naseem]

Not a problem. I'll get the all the info emailed to you asap... But also answer some of those points here, allowing others to compare their answers:

 

- Whether you're encountering the issue in all apps, or only certain apps

 

All apps. Once it happens, I open up a blank plain text document to test with, when enabling / disabling features as part of diagnosing the problem.

 

- What snippet keywords you're using and in what context you're writing it

 

My main one is '!e' which I use to auto expand to my email address: 'tarique@<domain.com>'. I then try all the others in an open text document to see if they work (they don't!). All are enabled in Alfred Prefs. Will send screenshots of the settings in my email, as not sure how to include inline images here!

 

- Whether the issue occurs every time, occasionally or as a one-off that can't be replicated

 

Occasionally, during the day, seemingly at random. But once they stop working, it remains that way until I either reboot or logout and login again.

 

- Check Console.app to see whether there is a crash log for Alfred Text Service (if so, please email it to beta@ with details)

 

19/05/16 6:11:45.658 PM Alfred Text Service[60498]: [default] Failed to updated bookmark for item (null) [C1ABF467-1A8C-42FD-9A5F-14956F5978DA] - URL:file:///Users/tarique/Library/Mobile%20Documents/com~apple~TextEdit/Documents/Untitled.txt with error Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file couldn’t be opened because it doesn’t exist."

 

19/05/16 6:11:45.658 PM Alfred Text Service[60498]: -[sFLListItem synthesizeMissingPropertyValues] Failed to updated bookmark for item (null) [C1ABF467-1A8C-42FD-9A5F-14956F5978DA] - URL:file:///Users/tarique/Library/Mobile%20Documents/com~apple~TextEdit/Documents/Untitled.txt with error Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file couldn’t be opened because it doesn’t exist."

 

19/05/16 6:12:38.536 PM Alfred Text Service[60655]: [default] Failed to updated bookmark for item (null) [00CBCC34-EFB2-4643-AE51-D1354D1CFBC7] - URL:file:///Users/tarique/Library/Mobile%20Documents/com~apple~TextEdit/Documents/Untitled.txt with error Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file couldn’t be opened because it doesn’t exist."

 

19/05/16 6:12:38.536 PM Alfred Text Service[60655]: -[sFLListItem synthesizeMissingPropertyValues] Failed to updated bookmark for item (null) [00CBCC34-EFB2-4643-AE51-D1354D1CFBC7] - URL:file:///Users/tarique/Library/Mobile%20Documents/com~apple~TextEdit/Documents/Untitled.txt with error Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file couldn’t be opened because it doesn’t exist."

 

19/05/16 6:12:38.536 PM Alfred Text Service[60655]: [default] Failed to updated bookmark for item (null) [C1ABF467-1A8C-42FD-9A5F-14956F5978DA] - URL:file:///Users/tarique/Library/Mobile%20Documents/com~apple~TextEdit/Documents/Untitled.txt with error Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file couldn’t be opened because it doesn’t exist."

 

19/05/16 6:12:38.536 PM Alfred Text Service[60655]: -[sFLListItem synthesizeMissingPropertyValues] Failed to updated bookmark for item (null) [C1ABF467-1A8C-42FD-9A5F-14956F5978DA] - URL:file:///Users/tarique/Library/Mobile%20Documents/com~apple~TextEdit/Documents/Untitled.txt with error Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file couldn’t be opened because it doesn’t exist."

 

- Any other useful information about your keyboard language, layout, etc

 

​Language is set to New Zealand, US Keyboard.

 

Other possible relevant apps running: Dash, Better Touch Tool, PopClip, Bartender, Evernote Helper, iStat Menus.

Development software running: iTerm2, Visual Studio Code, Unity 5, Maya LT.

 

- Whether you have "Expand Snippets mid-string" checked in the cog prefs for expansion

 

This setting is off.

 

 

Hope this is useful!

 

Will email this, with screenshots, etc to the beta@ address.

 

Cheers,

Tarique.

[chadv]

Hi, I'm really liking the new snippet functionality. I've found a specific case where auto-expand is not working: in a terminal window, immediately after a Ctrl-C, and with "expand snippets midstring" turned off. This is reproducible every time.

Edited May 19, 2016 by chadv

[anil]

I had the same issue. Auto-expand wasn't working although everything looked correct. I fiddled around (toggled "Automatically expand snippets by keywords" a few times, quit Alfred Preferences) and suddenly they started working - yay.

[dechimp]

I had the same problem as everyone here.  Disabling Alfred 2 in System Preferences and unchecking/rechecking 'Automatically expand... ' fixed the issue for me.

[Tarique Naseem]

Right. Update on my findings. I had contacted Support (as mentioned in my last post) and they had asked me to close apps one by one until it started working again, assuming it's a conflict with one of the apps. So, that's what I did this time, when it finally happened again (took 2 days this time!)

 

I managed to narrow it down to Safari (or at least one of the extensions within). By snippets started working again once I closed Safari (and re opened).

 

The next time this happens instead of closing Safari, I'll disable the Safari extensions one by one to see if it's any of them that are causing a conflict with Alfred snippets. I have a hunch though that it might be LastPass extension doing this (I was fiddling with LastPass username/passwords at the time), but will now for sure the next time I can test!

 

If this happens to anyone else, could you try the same and see if this works? Be good to get some more heads on this to isolate the issue for the Alfred Support peeps!

[Tarique Naseem]

Ok. Looks like my hunch was right. The LastPass Safari plugin is the problem. I can make it happen every time...

 

Snippets work fine until I bring up the LastPass menu in Safari. Happens every time. Disabling/enabling the plugin and the snippets start working again. I've also tried this on Chrome, but that doesn't appear to affect the snippets. So, it's only the Safari version of the plugin that this happens with.

 

I've attached a gif to illustrate this. As you can see, I'm using a test snippet '!h' which brings up "Hello, this is a snippet". It works, then I bring up the LastPass menu, and try again, and this time it stops.

 

 

I've sent this to support too, but posting here to help anyone else. Be good to hear if this is the same issue with the everyone, or maybe just one of the apps/plugins that are interfering.

 

 

[Vero]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for your reports; We're aware that there are a few scenarios where snippet expansion doesn't fully work as expected and we'll be working on making it more reliable over the next few updates.

 

If you have reproducible cases, these are particularly helpful. A good example is tnaseem's case above, where the LastPass Safari plugin stops Alfred's snippet expansion from working until disabled, and tnaseem has been able to reproduce the issue to narrow it down to that scenario.

 

Please provide as much detail as you can when reporting a scenario where snippets don't work as expected, as this helps us defend against these kinds of issues.

 

Cheers,

Vero

[nikstanbridge]

Yay, I just disabled LastPass plugin in Safari and I'm back in business!

[EdRalf]

Problem solved. Unsure what exactly solved it, but here what I did:

• While Alfred 2 was not automatically started, its files were still around. I deleted it.
• Apple just pushed El Capitan 10.11.5 today. I installed that
• Of course there was a restart

It then worked... 

[jossmeele]

Same problem here.

Needed a system restart to get it to work!

[drwatson]

Snippets are not being shared in instances of alfred that share preferences over dropbox.

[Andrew]

Snippets are not being shared in instances of alfred that share preferences over dropbox.

 

 

This is an issue to do with unicode in the filenames - I actually already have this fixed for the next build. If you go look in Dropbox, you'll see a red cross on any snippets or collections with an e.g. emoji in their name.

 

Cheers,

Andrew

[Andrew]

Hi there,

 

Could anybody who is still experiencing issues with text expansion please update to the b655 pre-release to let me know if that helps.

 

While we haven't been able to reproduce this issue yet, I've made some general changes to the way Alfred expands text.

 

Many thanks,

Andrew

[drwatson]

This is an issue to do with unicode in the filenames - I actually already have this fixed for the next build. If you go look in Dropbox, you'll see a red cross on any snippets or collections with an e.g. emoji in their name.

 

Cheers,

Andrew

 

Hi Andrew, only some of the snippets are marked red, but I don't see the collection being shared at all.  Also some of my settings aren't being sycned