Automation Tasks Get a Big Update in Alfred 5.1

Automation Tasks were introduced in Alfred 5 to allow you to build even more complex Workflows without a line of code. Nothing beats introducing someone to Automation Tasks, and seeing the world of new ideas they spark!

With Alfred 5.1, they've had a big upgrade; New Automation Tasks were added, and installation, auto-updating and searching is even easier now.

New installation mechanism and auto-updates

When navigating the Workflow Preferences, Alfred lets you know if Automation Tasks updates are available.

Turn on auto-updates and you'll never have to wonder if you have the latest version.

New ways of searching Automation Tasks

Automation Tasks can now be searched for and added directly from the Workflows Palette, helping you filter and find what you want faster.

New Automation Tasks

New tasks have been added, including keyboard simulation (media keys, volume keys, screen and keyboard brightness keys), clicking menubar items, opening in Quick Look, timezone conversion, and general improvements to existing tasks.

We add new tasks regularly, so do check the Automation Tasks object periodically to discover what new ones you can include in your own workflows!

More ways of providing input

Tasks like Does Path Exist? used to have no configuration. Instead, you'd need to have the preceding object (or Inbound Configuration) send it the path to check. This makes the task versatile, allowing dynamic paths or multiple paths to be specified. But sometimes you always want to act on the same fixed file, or you saved it as a variable earlier in the workflow and don't want to add a new Arg and Vars Utility just to pass that in.

So we added an alternative: Automation Tasks which require an input can now have it be given from the preceding object or from configuration directly in the task ({var:} variables work). This makes them easier to set up for simple cases, while keeping the more powerful functionality. And it gives you more hints of what's happening!

Future Automation Tasks

This update gives you new functionality to play with while strengthening the framework Automation Tasks are built upon. New ones will continue to be added with these improvements for all Alfred 5 users.

If you're just discovering Automation Tasks, this Introduction to Automation Tasks is a good place to start.

You can also ask questions about using them in our friendly community forum.