Aliases Not Prioritized

[SilverSideDown]

This is in reference to short Twitter conversation

https://twitter.com/alfredapp/status/732980169980448768

 

In Default Results, I have added "com.apple.alias-file" as a file type to complete, which was a workaround recommend in another forum post a long time ago. This makes aliases to badly named apps come up. An example is Oracle SQL Developer, which is named SQLDeveloper.app, but which I want to launch by typing Oracle...

 

No matter how many times I launch it, the alias for this app does not even show up in the list of results until I get much further into typing the name. I also have this app installed on Windows in Parallels, and the Parallels version that shows up first when I start typing in "Oracle", even though I never launch that one.

 

The Mac version, the one I want to start, does not even appear in the list of results until I type "oracle sql d". Until that point it's all Windows version (in "Applications (Parallels)" folder) in #1 position, followed by SQL script files.

 

I was really hoping version 3 would address this issue, but that does not appear to be the case. Suggestions very welcome.

[FroZen_X]

Go to Alfred preferences → Features → File Search → Advanced → And check if "Touch folders after opening" is active.

Activating this should make your file appear at the top after a few launches.

[Vero]

This is in reference to short Twitter conversation

https://twitter.com/alfredapp/status/732980169980448768

 

In Default Results, I have added "com.apple.alias-file" as a file type to complete, which was a workaround recommend in another forum post a long time ago. This makes aliases to badly named apps come up. An example is Oracle SQL Developer, which is named SQLDeveloper.app, but which I want to launch by typing Oracle...

 

No matter how many times I launch it, the alias for this app does not even show up in the list of results until I get much further into typing the name. I also have this app installed on Windows in Parallels, and the Parallels version that shows up first when I start typing in "Oracle", even though I never launch that one.

 

The Mac version, the one I want to start, does not even appear in the list of results until I type "oracle sql d". Until that point it's all Windows version (in "Applications (Parallels)" folder) in #1 position, followed by SQL script files.

 

I was really hoping version 3 would address this issue, but that does not appear to be the case. Suggestions very welcome.

 

 

Hi there,

 

Rather than adding aliases to default file types, you can add tags or spotlight comments to your apps:

https://www.alfredapp.com/help/features/file-search/tagging-files/

 

Alternatively, you can create a tiny workflow connecting a keyword object (with your nickname) to a Launch Apps/Files object and set a name there. The latter is my preferred way of doing it and I have a single workflow, which contains various keyword > app connections for the apps where I just can't seem to remember the correct name.

 

Cheers,

Vero

[SilverSideDown]

"Touch folders after opening" was already set, so that was no help, but Vero's suggestions were dead on, thanks so much!

 

I've removed alias as a file type. The Spotlight comment approach worked very well, and I think I'll leave those in, for those rare cases I accidentally launch Spotlight instead of Alfred with the wrong keystroke :-) The downside is that you see the real app name as the result (acgui not AccuRev), so there's a mental disconnect there before you go "yeah, that's the thing I really want to launch".

 

The workflow method is a bit more work, but is worth it because the presentation is much better. I've only used other people's workflows before, so that was new to me, but it was easy. Thanks again, I'm all set.

[Andrew]

"Touch folders after opening" was already set, so that was no help, but Vero's suggestions were dead on, thanks so much!

 

If you update to the 3.0 b633 pre-release, I've now added an option to touch aliases after opening them (on by default). This should allow you to add aliases to Alfred's default search file types, and then when using them, they will immediately prioritise in Alfred.

 

Let me know how you get on

 

Cheers,

Andrew