With Christmas on its way, we're counting down the days with our very own calendar.
Until Christmas Eve, every day, a new box will open, filled with tips for using Alfred, fun links to things we love and, who knows, perhaps a deal or two on apps we love!
Today is day 2 of the calendar, and this entry is a little different. We're sharing the love with more than just you, our lovely Alfred users. We'll be donating £1000 GBP to WaterAid. Water is the source of life, and clean water is a luxury we often take for granted when we turn on the tap in the morning.
WaterAid helps provide water and sanitation to millions of people around the world, transforming the lives of these communities through access to clean water, toilets and health education.
Don't forget to bookmark the Alfred Christmas Calendar to see what's behind the door every morning until 24th December!
[Image credit: WaterAid/Layton Thompson]
Working smart is not the same as working hard. Alfred workflow creators know the difference, and have created some fantastic workflows to give you that extra efficiency boost when using teamwork tools.
Note: These workflows were created in 2014, and may no longer be supported on more recent versions of Alfred. Always check Alfred forum for workflows and help using them.
If you're not yet familiar with workflows, you'll need a Powerpack license to take advantage of this, as well as many other of Alfred's great range of features.
Slack
Slack is a team communication platform, and is quickly gaining popularity with teams where staff members might not be working in the same office yet need to keep in contact. The Slackfred workflow by Frank Spinillo allows you to search for files added by your team, usernames and room names. It lets you quickly set your presence as "active" or "away" and more.
It simply requires an API token, and you're up and running with no further setup. If you're an everyday Slack user, download the workflow from Packal.
GitHub
GitHub needs little introduction for developers; It's the favourite code management platform for millions of users. While working on your own software, or even your latest Alfred workflow, you may end up with quite a few code repositories. This workflow also uses an API token to get you started.
With this handy workflow by Edgar Suarez, you can quickly search through your GitHub repositories and open them.
In fact, there are many GitHub workflows on Packal, of various degrees of complexity, so if you have a different task in mind, take a look. You might find a suitable time-saving workflow for your needs, or be able to fork an existing one to turn it into your perfect workflow!
Pinboard
Pinboard is a bookmarking service, superbly useful for saving and tagging links to documentation you'll need in the future.
This Pinboard workflow, created by Carlos A. Sztoltz, allows you to search, add and delete Pinboard bookmarks. Enter your API token and the workflow will cache your bookmarks locally for quick access.
Custom searches for your bug tracker of choice
If you're using a web-based bug tracker, it's likely that you can also use a custom search. Whether it's JIRA, Bugzilla or any of the dozens of bug trackers out there, many will allow you to create a simple keyword-based search. Add it in Alfred's preferences, under Features > Web Search, by clicking "Add custom search" or learn how to create your own custom searches with this tutorial.
For a pleasing look and quick access using a hotkey, I transformed the custom search into a simple hotkey-based workflow:
Many of the workflows above can be downloaded on Packal, where you can find many more excellent productivity boosters. In fact, as of today, there are over 375 workflows on Packal, as well as over 70 colour themes you can import with one click. If you've created something useful, you can also submit your own as a contributor.
Got any questions about creating workflows? Let us know on Twitter (@alfredapp) so that future tutorials can cover the topics that interest you the most! :)
Following Apple's release of OS X Yosemite to the public on 16th October, Alfred v2.5.1 is now available with a few Yosemite-friendly improvements.
Primarily, this release adds support for 1Password 5. If you've upgraded to Yosemite and use Alfred's 1Password Bookmarks integration, you'll need to update to Alfred v2.5.1 to be able to access your 1Click bookmarks. You can go to Alfred's "Update" tab or download the update manually from alfredapp.com.
We've also improved the workflows search to make it easier to see your workflow categories and settings. Click on the cog to set up your categories, or find out more in this tutorial on organising your workflows.
Finally, this release also adds more underpinnings for the upcoming Alfred Remote app for iOS. If you missed it, we shared the first sneak preview of Alfred Remote yesterday.
As ever, you can keep up with Alfred's development by taking a look at the change log.
A few months ago, we announced Alfred Remote for iOS. While we put the final beautiful touches to it, here's the first sneak preview of what's coming.
Alfred Remote is the perfect companion to Alfred v2, giving you a way to control your Mac from your iPad or iPhone. With the same efficiency and speed as Alfred's hotkeys, you can launch any action on your Mac with a single touch of the screen - without having to remember any hotkey combinations!
The actions in Remote range from quick and simple to much more intricate. You can launch applications, your favourite websites and any custom searches on your Mac. Many of the actions available are built-in, making it easy to add iTunes controls, system commands and more to your Remote pages. Clipboard snippets can be created or imported from the existing ones you've created in Alfred.
And of course, thanks to workflows, you can also create triggers for advanced script-based actions.
The Remote pages are created on your Mac, and you'll see them appear instantly on your iPad or iPhone. Remote pages can also be bundled with a workflow, so adding a new page can be as quick as importing a workflow.
While we can't yet give an exact release date, you can expect to see Alfred Remote in the App Store before the end of 2014. Your best bet is to sign up to our newsletter, which we'll send as soon as Remote becomes available.
If you're a blogger or member of the press, contact us with your credentials to be added to our press list for Alfred and Alfred Remote news.
Lately, I've seen a few tweets from Alfred users who discovered a feature they hadn't tried before, and immediately found their discovery life-changing. We always get a kick out of your friendly tweets, the best of which we add to our favourites.
Whether you're new to Alfred or have been a power user for years, take a look at the great tips from recent tweets. A number of these features are available in the core version of Alfred, available for free, and Powerpack-only features are denoted with [P].
Weather web search
It's unavoidable, the whole northern hemisphere is hurtling towards winter. Find your local weather by typing "weather" followed by your location and see whether you should dig out your hat and mittens or reach for the shorts and sandals one last time. (hey, let me dream a little!)
File Buffer [P]
A lesser known feature, the File Buffer allows you to stack up files before taking action on all of them at once. Especially handy to move multiple files to Dropbox in a single action, for example.
It's never too late to learn how to use the File Buffer!
Alfred's built-in Calculator
Simple, yet effective.
Quicklook
Quick way to check you've found the right file. Particularly useful when looking at obscurely named screenshots!
Force Quit keyword
System Commands are a brilliantly handy way to control your Mac.
Clipboard History & Merging [P]
Even if you're aware of Clipboard History, it bears repeating.
But you might not yet have discovered clipboard merging, a handy way to append a copied item to the previous one.
1Password bookmarks integration [P]
Terminal commands [P]
Put your sunglasses on and you'll feel like you're in a scene out of Hackers.
Large Type
And finally, this is truly technology at work.
Use Cmd + L to show text in large type on your screen, whether it's a contact's phone number, the result of a calculation or asking your other half whether they want pizza for dinner.
I can't help but finish this post by giving a huge shout out to all the lovely +38,400 people who follow us on Twitter and make us smile every day!
