Getting More Advanced With Alfred

[cwdaniels]

After listening to the Keyboard Maestro episode I decided to revisit my workflows in Alfred, which I own and use daily for launching, moving around the mac, clipboard, custom searches, and some other very useful features. But I don’t really use the workflows all that much.

So I tweaked three personal ones that are pretty simple but have me thinking about more ways to build workflows using the triggers and actions Alfred has built in:

First, Custom Hotkeys:

You can build your own hotkeys in Alfred. These will launch apps, files, scripts and more. Here are a few simple ones I’ve set up using the CapsLock trick and then another key I’m able to launch various folders and files.

Second, Morning Review Workspace:

Like many others, I have a “morning review” I follow each morning to help me get started. I set up a “workspace” that launches with a simple keyboard shortcut that opens up my morning checklist and the apps I use for my routine, including an Evernote file where I write all my gratitudes.

Third, a coffee roasting workspace:

As I shared in another post, I roast coffee as a hobby. So I am using a particular set of apps, spreadsheets, and recipes during that time. So I made another workspace that launches all of those needs things for me at once. One of the cool things here is using a callback URL with Things that pulls up my roasting project where I keep track of all my orders and subscribers.

I’d love to hear from others who are using the more advanced features with Alfred. It seems like most folks talk about the launching part of Alfred, with the clipboard and snippets, but less on the more advanced features and I’d love to see if and how folks are using these aspects of Alfred. I’m surprised by how much this tool can do and would love to go deeper into its features.

[Jonathan_Davis]

Loving those ideas. Might have to try the morning routine one. I think I’ll create one to launch Omnifocus (a specific perspective), launch Spark, Spotify, and maybe another app to be productive. All good ideas.

[cwdaniels]

If you create something share it back, I’ll be interested to see what you figure out!

[Jonathan_Davis]

So I started working on the workflow but it doesn’t seem to be working when I use the hotkey. I have screenshots below. Not sure entirely what the issue is, might post to the Alfred forum.

[cwdaniels]

I think it has to do with the “don’t have focus” selection. I’d clear all that out.

Here’s what I put together just to test and it seems to be working:

Then under “launch files/apps”

[dfay]

I posted one of my start-your-day type workflows on the Alfred forum a few years back.

Alfred/Workflows for teachers

Using the script to open the syllabus PDF to the current date is a big help.

[cwdaniels]

Great idea! Thanks for sharing.

[cwdaniels]

I’m interested in knowing how you arrange the files/windows with Moom? is this something you think I can do with BetterTouch Tool or Magnet? I’ve never used moom but love the idea of being able to preset windows with alfred.

[dfay]

I use Moom snapshots, then call them with simple AppleScript at the the end of the workflow:

tell application "Moom"
arrange windows according to snapshot named "teaching"
end tell

I’ve never used Magnet. I have BTT but don’t use it for window management.

[cwdaniels]

I know this is another simple hotkey but thought @MacSparky and others using basecamp might like this one.

You can setup hotkeys to launch different projects, campfire, etc. in your browser using Alfred. I was using the Basecamp app but having hotkeys tied to Safari is more appealing to me. I just opened these three areas and pinned them in Safari so there is less load time.

[MacSparky]

Thanks @cwdaniels going to try this out the next time I have some tech play time.

[MacSparky]

@cwdaniels I finally got back around to this. This is a great idea. I’m actually thinking this would be better for me as a Keyboard Maestro Palette.

[cwdaniels]

If you end up setting something up, I’d love to know what you do. I’m not on KM yet but I use basecamp a ton so I’m interested in any tricks you find with that combination.

Thanks!

[MacSparky]

@cwdaniels Will do. I continue to like Basecamp. It isn’t the most powerful solution but it’s solid, and the people I have helping me really grok it. I’m increasingly using it for any project that involves other people.

[sotojuan]

The Snippets feature in Alfred is underrated. I actually cancelled by TextExpander subscription because Alfred is enough for my basic needs on macOS and the iOS/macOS keyboard feature is fine for iOS which I don’t use to write much.