Alfred: work with the Mac keyboard like a king. Alfred - an indispensable assistant (Mac) Alfred mac os use

Alfred is an Old English name that literally means "good advisor", and also this universal app launcher for Mac OS X, in addition to launching programs itself, it can do a bunch of other things. Quite a few applications have been released for the Mac that make it easier or faster to launch programs, using different approaches to organizing their launch. Some create directories of programs, divided into groups, some do something else, and Alfred, as well as some other alternative launchers, uses the principle used in the Spotlight search engine, based on lightning-fast search of programs by the first letters of their name.

LAUNCHING PROGRAMS

Launching a particular program in Alfred is not easy, but very simple: just press the Option+Space key combination and in the window that appears with a field for entering information, type the first 2-3 letters of the program name. Alfred will display a list of programs whose names contain these letters and the user will only have to press the Enter key if the program is first in the list, or Cmd+ the serial number of the list line in which the program is located. In principle, you don’t even need to rack your brains and count the lines in the list of programs - to the right of the name of each search result there is a keyboard shortcut to launch it. Considering the time that elapsed from the moment the query entry window was opened until the found application was actually launched, we can say that the launch is almost instantaneous. But if the user does not remember a single letter from the name of the program he is looking for, then such an instant launch may not work.

SEARCH

In addition to quickly launching programs, Alfred can search among applications, settings panels, folders, archives, images, etc. If desired, you can disable search in a particular group, which will give an increase in search speed in other groups and a more accurate result. For those who want to be able to find almost any file, Mac OS X provides an option "Search all file types" , but even the developers themselves warn that enabling this option will reduce the search speed and accuracy of the output result, which, in principle, turned out to be the case.

By default, Alfred searches by user's home folder, program folders and settings remotes. If you want to organize a search not only in these folders, but also in others, then new search paths should be specified in the program settings section Preferences->Features->Default Results->Search Scope. So, if the user has a second hard drive on which he stores his entire music collection and Alfred does not know about the existence of this disk, then searching for a particular artist or musical composition will not yield anything.

In terms of Alfred search speed, maybe not much, but still faster than Spotlight but, nevertheless, it is not opposed to Spotlight, but rather complements it. So, if after entering a request you press the key combination Ctrl+Enter, then the request will be sent to Spotlight, but if you click Alt+Enter, then the request will be sent to the web search engine.

If nothing was found for the specified request, the program will offer to search for this request on the Internet, or go to the developers’ website to solve a possible problem with the search.

USING KEYWORDS

Using keywords greatly enhances Alfred's functionality.

• SEARCHING OR OPENING A FILE

In normal mode, Alfred searches not only among files, but also among folders, bookmarks, etc. If the user needs to find or open a specific file, then to quickly search for it in the window with an input field, before the request, type find, and to quickly open a file - open. Alfred will search only among files, without taking into account the presence of folders of the same name, bookmarks and other elements, even if the settings allow searching among them. In the first case, the desired file will open in the Finder window, and in the second case, it will open in the program associated with it.

Alfred (like Spotlight) can be used not only for searching or launching applications, but also for computing. As a calculator, the application can work in simple and advanced modes. Simple mode is designed for performing basic arithmetic operations. To do this, just enter the required operation in the request field and Alfred will immediately display the result.

In advanced mode, trigonometric functions, logarithms, etc. are added to simple arithmetic operations. To perform operations in advanced mode, you must enter an equal sign before the request. Available functions: sin, cos, tan, log, log2, ln, exp, abs, sqrt, asin, acos, atan, sinh, cosh, tanh, asinh, acosh, atanh, ceil, floor, round, trunc, rint, near, dtor, rtod.

• SYSTEM COMMANDS SUPPORT

This function greatly reduces the time spent on running a particular command. In just a few keystrokes, you can launch a screensaver, view the contents of the recycle bin or empty it, end the current work session, lock the screen, restart the operating system, put the computer to sleep or simply turn it off.

• DETERMINING THE MEANING OF A WORD AND CHECKING ITS SPELLING

Not the most requested feature, but nevertheless, in Alfred you can find the definition of a word or clarify its spelling using the application Dictionary. To determine the value, you must enter a keyword before the request define, and for spell checking - the keyword spell.

That, in fact, is all the main functions of Alfred. There are also so-called experimental functions related to keyboard settings, metadata indexing, etc., but they are experimental because their stable operation is not guaranteed.

However, the application's capabilities can be expanded with functions such as working with the file system and clipboard, managing the iTunes library, working with email, etc., but for this you will have to purchase a PowerPack costing $19.

In addition to the icon in the Dock, at the user's request, in the menu bar you can also enable the display of an application icon, which provides access to the application settings.

Among other features of Alfred, I would also like to note the ability to reassign all used shortcuts, including the shortcut for calling a window with a field for entering a request; remembering the last typed query and the position of the program window; maintaining application usage statistics.

Alfred is easy to set up and easy to use, has an attractive design, works very quickly and without errors. The application will be useful to anyone who needs an application launcher with rich local and web search functions and support for system commands to quickly manage their computer. Those who miss the functions of the free version can buy a paid add-on to the program, which further expands its capabilities.

ATTENTION! If, after familiarizing yourself with the program, you plan to buy a paid add-on to it, then you should download the program from the developer’s website. The version of the program from the Mac App Store does not include additional features.

Oldfags and advanced users will be delighted.

I admit honestly - I rarely use Spotlight on macOS. On an iPhone - all the time, but on a MacBook for some reason I haven’t gotten used to turning to the branded search engine every time for many years.

With each update of the system, Spotlight becomes smarter and more advanced, but it still remains quite backward compared to the specialized programs that have been successfully replacing and supplementing it for many years.

One of the main advantages of Alfred in comparison with Spotlight is its support for various scripts, plugins and work algorithms, united by the name Workflow. The official website contains the most popular recipes that automate and simplify many actions.

For example, searching for TV series or music in Spotify, support for third-party programs, smart technology, and so on. For this it is worth buying a license.

What is the price

There are three types of license: for one user and two devices for 19 pounds, family license for 29 pounds for five devices and a lifetime license for all future versions of the program for one person with one device for 35 pounds.

If you just need a faster analogue of Spotlight, then purchasing a license does not make sense; the program can be used for free. But if you need functions that a standard search engine has never even dreamed of, feel free to pay the developers money.

Why and for whom

This program is not only speeds up and simplifies search, but also makes life easier for those people who do not take their fingers off the keyboard and are not used to being distracted by various graphical whistles in the operating system, looking for something with a mouse or trackpad, remembering in which folders what is located, and so on.

This is all useless when you can simply enter what you need from the keyboard and instantly get the result. In general, it’s difficult to come up with something more useful and convenient to increase productivity.

Are there any disadvantages?

Here are a few unpleasant features of the program that I identified for myself:

Does not find videos without enabling all formats in the settings, and this slows down the search speed;
- does not convert currency without additional extensions;
- all the coolest functions require a license, but nothing stopped the developers from adding a couple of work flows to the basic set to let users understand how useful and convenient it is.

I liked that the program works very quickly and instantly finds the necessary files in the first two or three letters, unlike Spotlight. A huge number of extensions is an undeniable plus. Well, executing system commands from the keyboard is a brilliant thing.

Conclusion

An excellent replacement for the standard macOS search and its wonderful addition. Nothing prevents you from using both options at the same time, tailoring them to different actions and habits.

An ideal tool for increasing productivity, especially if you are a hardcore keyboard user. Must-have.

There is a fairly large segment of users who consider frequent use of a mouse or trackpad to be detrimental to overall productivity and performance. To put it simply, these people love to do everything on the keyboard. They know most of the function keys and shortcuts in the operating system and applications they use, which allows them to perform relevant actions objectively faster. We all, to one degree or another, use keys. At the very least, it’s hard to find a person who doesn’t use the canonical “copy/paste”.

OS X, like Windows, handles keys very well. Any experienced Mac user will also add that in OS X the combinations are much more convenient and intuitive, however, a seasoned Windows user will immediately object. But the point is not who is more convenient - this only confirms that working with the keyboard is well represented in both places. Good, but not perfect.

Today we will tell you about an OS X application called Alfred. In a general and basic understanding, this tool is a tool for quickly working with applications, but its capabilities are, in fact, much broader. Alfred is not the only tool of its kind. It has several analogues, including LaunchBar, Quicksilver and Butler. Choosing the most optimal product among them means trying everything, thus finding the most suitable solution specifically for yourself. At the same time, Alfred has objective advantages - the vast majority of its basic functionality is available completely free of charge. You can install and try Alfred in action without risking your wallet, after which you can either check out the premium features and buy them, or uninstall the application and immediately forget about it.

Application management

One of Alfred's main features is to replace the traditional ways of launching, hiding, and exiting apps. The only problem here is that you will have to retrain your brain to perform such frequent operations in a different way, but, in the long term, this will yield results.

Once installed, Alfred is invoked by the user's chosen keyboard shortcut. As you enter the beginning of the name of the desired application in its search window, a list of likely suitable applications will appear. Almost like in live Google search. An ordinary user is unlikely to keep hundreds of applications on his computer, which makes it possible to find what he needs literally from the first letter entered.

When forming the displayed list, each application is assigned a keyboard shortcut for quick access. The first option in the list is called via Return, and the rest by the combination Command + number in the list. This numbering allows you to instantly call up any application from the list without having to go through unnecessary elements with arrows. Alfred remembers your choices as it runs, bringing your most frequently launched apps to the top of the list.

Once you've finished working with a particular app, you can quickly close it through Alfred by adding a "quit" command after the app name. The “hide” command will hide the interface of the desired application from the user’s eyes, without stopping the operation of this software. You can close all running applications using the “quitall” command, or kill a frozen application using “forcequit”

Search on the Web

Alfred's expertise extends far beyond the applications installed on your computer. Instead of launching your browser and entering another query through your preferred search engine, you just need to enter a keyword + query into Alfred. To contact Google, write “google [query]”.

Corresponding keywords are provided for other services of the Good Corporation: “maps” for maps and “images” for pictures. Any of these operations will entail opening the default browser and opening in it the page of the called web service with the results of the request.

At the same time, as in the case of applications, Alfred learns, and after a couple of trips to the search, for the subsequent access to Google it will be enough to enter one letter “g”.

When you enter a search query without a keyword, Alfred offers search engine suggestions, a list of which can be customized by the user.

Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn and others are available as search areas. The services that should be searched are specified by the user through the application settings.

Gmail and Google Drive

Google services are extremely popular, including among Mac users. There's a good chance you use Google Mail in combination with Drive for a more convenient file management experience. In this case, Alfred implements the basic functionality, allowing you to access the web version of the mailer. It does not know how to work in the user's preferred email client. Typing “gmail” will automatically redirect the user to the inbox, and adding a specific query will additionally search the emails.

Accessing Google Drive and searching its contents is done with the “drive” command.

As a side effect, the user may feel an increased attachment to the Google Cloud, since close integration with the more popular Dropbox, as well as with SkyDrive, is not provided in Alfred.

Custom requests

We all have our favorite places on the Internet. The beauty of Alfred is that it allows you to define your own keywords, which when entered will trigger user-defined actions. The example below provides a way to quickly navigate to the TNW website, where the original instructions for using Alfred were posted.

By analogy with this example, you can create a request “LH”, linking it to your favorite site, after which visiting us will become even easier and faster :)

Adding a custom search is done in the application settings through the “Add Custom Search” option. In the same way, you can set a deeper path to a specific page on the site by simply adding its full link in the “Search URL” field.

In addition to creating a custom request, Alfred gives you the ability to add a unique visual identifier for the request - this is a simple site icon that you can drag into the appropriate field when creating a request.

It happens that it is necessary to create not a specific transition to a particular page, but to simulate a search query directly inside a given site. To do this, you will have to go to the site itself through a browser, enter a request (for example, the display of all posts on Lifehacker related to the iPhone will look like “//site/?s=iPhone”), then copy the resulting link in Alfred and set it to her is your keyword.

Files and folders

Despite the growing popularity of cloud storage, many of us still prefer to store important files locally on our computer. Quick access to the files you need through Alfred is achieved by directly entering part of the file name, without any keywords. Prefixing the command name with “open” will open the selected file, and “find” will indicate the full path to it.

If you know a word or set of characters in the desired file, but cannot remember the name and location of the file itself, then you should use the “in” command. The text entered after it will be searched inside documents on the computer.

Clipboard and blanks

You know that wonderful feeling when you copied something to the clipboard, and then copied something else, and the previous piece of important information that you need now is lost?

Alfred automatically saves your entire copy history to the clipboard and makes it accessible with the ⌥⌘C keyboard shortcut, which you can reassign to your liking.

After calling up the copy history, the user is also equipped with a search tool to quickly find the desired piece that was once copied.

Templates are simple text templates called by a given keyword. For example, such a template could be any frequently used link, phrase or phrase in email correspondence.

Complex commands

If you look at all our work as a whole, then absolutely all actions can be linked into certain sequences of operations.

Are you looking for a movie? Your search may consist of typing the movie name + "trailer" into YouTube, looking up details about the movie on IMDb, and reading reviews. In Alfred, this combination of actions can be assigned to a single keyword (for example, “movie”), and the most relevant combinations are already preset. The sequence described above is called “Should I watch this movie?” and is available in the application settings.

If desired, any actions and their combinations can be easily changed, or you can create your own complex commands. The trigger by which the command is launched is also specified. This could be a keyword, search query, and so on. It turns out to be a simple analogue of IFTTT.

iTunes and more

Alfred supports working with iTunes through a miniature player with text control (commands play, pause, next, prev, random).

Some users will find it quite convenient to use short prompts for system commands. You can quickly shut down and restart your Mac using the “shutdown” and “restart” commands, respectively. “eject” is added here to safely disconnect peripheral devices, as well as “emptytrash” - emptying the trash.

Unfortunately, the sweetest features, like comprehensive commands and iTunes control, aren't available in the free version of Alfred. However, not every user wants to master this product so deeply, and the simplest and most basic functions work fine in the free version of Alfred.

Most of them are of interest primarily to developers and designers, but some are also suitable for ordinary users.

Description

• search for installed programs,
• carry out advanced searches on Internet resources,
• count like a calculator
• search in system contacts
• run system commands (sleep, empty trash, enable screensaver, etc.)

In general, the list is quite standard, and in the free version it is difficult for Alfred to compete with the standard Spotlight built into the system.

However, Powerpack greatly expands the standard set. Added:

• file navigation directly from the search bar
• iTunes management
• view recent documents
• function to attach files on the fly to letters created in many email clients
• integration with 1Password
• syncing Alfred settings between Macs via Dropbox
• customizable search panels, as well as workflows - add-ons that you can create yourself

Topics

Interesting examples of add-ons (workflows)

Convert colors from RGB to HSL and more

Checking domain availability

Google Music Management

Addition for finding additions to Alfred:

Useful links

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Alfred, since its introduction, has practically revolutionized my typical workflow, speeding up some of my daily tasks many times over and essentially replacing Spotlight. We created the first version of this program, but version 2 was recently released, in which a lot of pleasant things have changed. I will try to tell and show it all.

I'll briefly tell you what Alfred is for. It is primarily a program for searching and launching programs and files. Once you press the specified key combination (by default it is Alt+Space), a window will appear for entering a search query. The program can search for everything that is on the computer: files, folders, programs and even contacts in the address book. Everything that was found is shown in the form of a list; you can immediately open what you found, or perform various operations. The program also has a good mini-player that allows you to manage iTunes, and storage of clipboard history with search (I use this especially often). Alfred can count expressions entered into its line, control various system functions, and much more.

Despite the fact that the basic version of Alfred is distributed free of charge, I still recommend purchasing the advanced version (the developers call it Powerpack), it costs a fairly significant 15 British pounds, but saves a lot of time in the process, which is generally priceless.

The main innovation of the second version is the so-called Workflow. I don’t even know how to adequately translate this term into Russian; perhaps the word “process” is more or less suitable, although this is not a translation.

So, these same processes are essentially completely redesigned extensions of the first version of the program. They have become much more flexible, easier to create and distribute. Let's, for example, try to create a simple process that will allow you to launch your favorite AppleInsider by simply pressing a hotkey combination.

Click on the plus button in the list of processes and select “Blank Workflow” to create an empty project. Alfred comes with various examples and templates to help you understand how it works - I recommend checking them out. In the dialog box you can set the name of the process, information about its developer, icon, and register a ReadMe file. You don’t have to do all this if you don’t intend to distribute your Workflow.

The next thing we need is to select an event that will trigger this process. In the upper right corner, select the plus button, a menu of elements that we can add will appear. We need “Triggers” - “Hotkey”, that is, a trigger that is triggered when a certain combination of hot keys is pressed. They work globally, so the site can be accessed from anywhere. In the dialog box that appears, select the settings we need. For example, I chose the combination Cmd-Option-Shift-I as a hotkey. After this, our trigger will appear in the main field in the form of a square.


Now you need to set the desired action. Select “Actions” - “Open URL”. Again a dialog box, here we need to set the address we want to open and the browser. We customize everything to taste, a square appears, representing an action.

The last thing we need to do is connect them together. When you point a trigger at a square, an “ear” appears on its right side. This very eye needs to be grabbed and pulled with the cursor, thus connecting the trigger with the action. That's it, our first Workflow is ready and working right away.


If in the trigger you select “Selection in OS X” in the “Argument” drop-down list, and in the action you specify an address like:

//site/search?cx=partner-pub-6968868674851935%3A49rfe2v5oqx&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=UTF-8&q=(query)&sa=%D0%9F%D0%BE%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BA&siteurl=

our Workflow will become noticeably more interesting. Now you can select any text in any OS X application, press a key combination and automatically search for the selected text on our website.

Incredible power, despite the fact that this is all just the simplest scenario. The real capabilities of processes in Alfred are much wider, and where they fail, scripts in different programming languages ​​come to the rescue, and this allows you to create data processing scripts that are incredibly convenient and powerful. Some examples.

Overall, Alfred is a powerful tool that can make your daily Mac work incredibly easier and faster, but like any powerful tool, it requires a learning curve that will pay off in time saved.