Alfred's version 0.9 has been released now so to get it straightaway, go into Updates in the Alfred Preferences and click "Check now". This is one of the most significant releases, bringing you many new features and improvements and really expanding the scope of what's possible to do with Alfred. Have a look!
New: Global Hotkeys
Quick and easy access is at the core of Alfred's philosophy which is why we're very happy to have added Global Hotkeys. This Powerpack feature allows you to create custom global shortcuts for your most used applications, files and scripts. Once you set the hotkey, you'll have single-hotkey access and a good feeling about all the time you get to save.
New: Custom Terminal Commands
For the advanced Mac users among you, Alfred's Powerpack now also brings much improved Terminal/Shell integration and the ability to create custom commands that work right inside Alfred. You can easily run your scripts with keywords and arguments, either via opening up a Terminal window or even silently behind the scenes. Here's an example of a script allowing integration with the popular task manager Things on Andrew's tumblr.
With this feature you'll also be able to add custom shell actions to the Actions panel inside Alfred, extending the scope of how you can work with your files and apps.
New: Preference Syncing
Are you using multiple Macs and want to keep Alfred synchronised across your machines? With the Powerpack, syncing your most important preferences and thus keeping your snippets, scripts, custom searches and themes synchronised and ready to be used whichever Mac you're using is easy and quick.
We recommend using Dropbox, but any cloud-synching service with a locally synced folder can be used.
New: Hide/Quit/Force Quit
With these new System commands, you can now easily hide, quit or force quit applications currently running on your Mac.
New: iTunes DJ
Experience the full power of iTunes DJ and play or add to your playlists, making you the life of the party. It's a great way to pre-select songs to be played and allows you to compile your own 'music queue'. Don't forget to turn this Powerpack feature on in Alfred's preferences.
And so much more...
The 0.9 release brings over 80 improvements, new additions, bug fixes and a complete overhaul of how Preferences are presented.
Amongst other things, you'll now be able to drag files right from Alfred onto other applications, add icons to your custom searches, customise some of the keyboard functionality in File Navigation and Result Actions or have a peak at how much of your Alfred usage is spent using the iTunes Mini Player or the Clipboard Viewer.
The full (and it's certainly long) list of what's new is in our changelog so go have a look.
Tempted by all the new Powerpack features? The list of advanced features available to you grows with every release so why not grab your Powerpack now? :)
Fancy becoming a productivity ninja with Alfred? Some might say that calling yourself a "ninja" is cliché but the ninja is efficient, stealthy and a master of his tools, just as you can be with Alfred. Besides, I've been gagging for an excuse to post this awesome Lego ninja picture so bear with me, alright? ;) To help you discover some of the more advanced features, I've put together this mini series to introduce some of the power user functionality you may not have used before.
First, use the web searches
Before jumping into Custom Searches, have a look at the dozens of web searches in the preferences. We've included a stack of standard searches you're likely to want to use. Simply type the keyword followed by your search term.
Create your own custom web searches
There are no doubt websites you want to search that we haven't included. In that case, it's time to create your own! The key to creating custom web search is to work out the search URL for that site. Simply do a search and replace the search term with {query} like so:
http://www.netflix.com/Search?v1={query}
You can then use the searches to do super useful stuff:
And much more...
Searching apps on your Mac
There's more than one flavour of custom searches; you can also create them for applications on your Mac. Not all apps offer an application URI so it's worth digging around or asking the developer. Here are a few of our favourite ones:
- Spotify: spotify:search:{query}
- App Store: itunes://ax.search.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?term={query}
- Facetime: facetime://{query}
A custom search without a query
Did you know that your custom "searches" can in fact not be searches at all? Launch any website with a custom keyword by saving it in Alfred's custom searches.
Check out the Tips & Tricks category of the blog for regular tips on using Alfred and discover many more custom search ideas on Alfred fan Olivier Guerriat's alfredtips.com.
Share your searches
As Jack Johnson says, "it's always more fun to share with everyone..." so swap custom searches with friends. Use the copy icon to copy the custom search query and click on any special URL starting with alfredapp:// to import one to your own custom searches.
Websites change and evolve, so searches that worked in the past may stop working. If this happens, take a look at the website you created the custom search for and go through the steps above again. It's likely that the exact search URL has changed, so you'll need to update your custom search accordingly.
Chime in in the comments if you've become a black belt of productivity and want to share your own tips. We'll feature some of the best ones in future posts!
Since we launched the colour theming for Alfred, you've been creating a wide variety of beautiful, interesting and, in some cases, downright bizarre colour themes. It was tricky, but we picked a few of our favourite themes that you've submitted or shared.
To install: You need the Powerpack to use custom themes. Click on any of the themes' screenshots to install them on your Mac.
Your favourite websites
Daring Fireball by @GrandLarceny
Facebook
Mac Appstorm by @vero
MacGeneration by MacGeneration
Your favourite sports teams
Boston Bruins by @drossignol10
Toronto Raptors by @drossignol10
Los Angeles Lakers by @drossignol10
More great themes
Homebrew by @elliotlevin
Go in peace, Quicksilver by @ivanneto
Tron by @drossignol10
Cool Green by @peter_woodworth
Blue Light by @drossignol10
Rockslide by @maxsteenbergen
Want to contribute your own? Leave a comment with a link to it _(Pass it through tinyurl.com first, as WordPress disallows the alfredapp:// URI)_ or submit it to alfredtips.com, a site by Alfred fan Olivier Guerriat.
What are the best themes you've seen? ...Or the worst ones? ;)
This was a parody post for April 1st. Unfortunately, Universal Powerline Cloud™ technology which allows for effortless and security free connection to your neighbours networks doesn't exist :)
Over the past few weeks, Andrew has been working on a new feature for version 0.9 which we've kept under wraps until now. This feature will make Alfred the most useful app in your household; it will help you communicate effectively with your community and influence what happens behind closed doors. Alfred will be more powerful than ever before.
So without further ado, here's a sneak peak of "Neighbours", the greatest feature for Alfred yet:
"Neighbours" feature
With the new "Neighbours" feature, no house will ever be an island again. Just use the keyword "neighbour" inside the main Alfred window and choose from the available list of neighbourhood computers.
Once you've chosen a computer to connect to, use Alfred with the keywords and shortcuts that you're used to. Alfred will help you quickly find documents on your neighbour's Mac or PC. Check out Jimmy's latest school report card, connect to their music library, or copy over the files you have been chatting about.
Security & hassle free
Because we are using new Universal Powerline Cloud™ technology, Alfred will be able to effortlessly connect to your neighbours networks and computers without having the hassle of authentication. Even better, Alfred doesn't need to be running on their computer (Mac or PC) to be able to browse and search their files.
It's convenient and fast and you'll never have to wait for your neighbour to take the time to send the files over! Just pop into Alfred, quickly identify the file you want, maybe take a peek at what they have been up to over the past few days and you are done, without them even having to know.
We give you Alfred Neighbours: Bringing you and your neighbours much closer together.
As Alfred is a true English butler, you are required to spell it "neighbour". No alternative keyword will be accepted.
When we updated our Macs to iTunes 10.2 a few days ago, we noticed that our album artwork seemed to have vanished for a number of our albums when browsing with Alfred's iTunes Mini Player.
After some head scratching and a dig around, it appears that iTunes has changed the way it references album artwork. Whereas iTunes previously allowed Alfred to see referenced artwork files, it now only allows artwork embedded within the file to be used. This explains why a part of my music collection appeared to have lost its artwork.
Thankfully, it's fairly straightforward to add the artwork to every track of an album:
- Open iTunes and pop up the artwork preview pane below the iTunes playlists column on the left
- For every album where the artwork vanished, first drag the artwork to your desktop
- Select all tracks from the album in iTunes and "Get info"
- Drop the artwork from your desktop into the artwork information field. iTunes will then embed the artwork rather than reference it in the iTunes database
How can you tell whether the artwork is embedded or not? The easiest way is to drill into your iTunes music folder using Finder and look at the files in grid/icon view. If the artwork has been embedded into a file using an ID3 tagger or other method, the artwork should show up. If the artwork is referenced the file will have a missing artwork icon, but if you look at the file in iTunes you will see the artwork there.
Can you help?
It's an easy fix, but one that can be somewhat time consuming for those with large music collections. If anyone has discovered an alternative fix, we'd love to hear it!
A huge thanks to Brian Van Peski for his email about iTunes artwork which put us on the right track to identifying this issue.
