Change Log

Please note that the Change Log covers all changes including Powerpack-only features. To enjoy all that Alfred has to offer, be sure to buy a Powerpack license. :)

Alfred 5.0.6

Build 2110, Tuesday 13th December 2022

Alfred Gallery Early Access
- Browse Workflows on our new Workflow Gallery at https://alfred.app/
  - Almost 100 workflows already added, and hundreds more already in review to be added over the Early Access period
- Install workflows directly into Alfred using the "Install in Alfred" button in the gallery
- Keep Gallery workflows updated to their latest versions from directly within Alfred's Preferences
- Manage Homebrew dependencies for Gallery workflows automatically using the new Resolve Dependencies feature
Overhauled the macOS Reindexing sheet and underlying framework
Add Voice Over accessibility to Contacts Viewer
Remove unused Show button from Alfred's macOS Notification
It's now possible to hide individual default actions from the default view in the Workflow Editor when no Workflow is selected
- Right-click in the view and select the action you would like to hide
Improve AppleScript behaviour for updating and removing workflow configuration
- Fixes bug where prefs.plist wouldn't be written under certain circumstances
Replace out some legacy Workflow icons with updated icons
Update Remote template icons to use updated Workflow icons
Strip kbd tags in markdown interpretation
Improve underlying view layout calculation of Workflow user configuration
Clear the icon cache for a Workflow when updating or reinstalling the workflow
Fix incorrectly caching Alfred theme when directly accessing feature views after a macOS dark mode toggle
Added option to ignore Universal Clipboard file lists in the clipboard history

Alfred 5.0.5

Build 2096, Thursday 3rd November 2022

Date placeholder rollbacks and enhancements
- Roll back 5.0.4 POSIX formatting fix, as this turned out to break language settings for formatted dates
- Fix 24h custom date formatting with the following:
  - Add new {isodate:...}, {isotime:...} and {isodatetime} placeholders which fix locale to POSIX and conform to ISO 8601
  - Using {isodatetime} will give 24h fixed ISO 8601 format yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZZZZZ
  - Updated template for sortable date time placeholder template to use iso formatting, to fix in 24h
  - Added new Date and Time ISO 8601 placeholder template

Alfred 5.0.4

Build 2095, Tuesday 1st November 2022

macOS Ventura Tweaks
- Clean up search result subtext for apps in the Cryptexes folder
- Pre-cache Safari's updated location
Workflow Tweaks
- Workflow user configuration values can now be set and removed via AppleScript
- Add "Configure..." item on Workflow list popup menu, and clarify button text to "Configure Workflow..." in Workflow editor header
- Add : label suffixes in Workflow user configuration back end items
- Update placeholder dates to use POSIX fixed formatting for user defined formats
- Fix List Filter object configuration sheet resizing
Clean up the AppleScript dictionary definition descriptions
Correctly open Aliased packages and apps from the File System Navigation
Improvements to file search scoping and troubleshooting
- Added additional options to the search scope Reset... button
  - Reset to Applications and Home - This enables Applications, disables Folders in Home, and adds ~ along with a few more relevant folders
  - Reset to Full Disk - This disables Applications and Folders in Home, and adds /
- Improve home folder discovery when Folders in Home is selected, rejecting more potentially irrelevant folders
  - Alter home folder location detection, and add redundancy check
  - Default to adding ~ to scope if unable to detect home folders
- File Search Troubleshooting
  - Add more details to the file readability step
  - Add 3 actual MDQuery searches for the file based on defined scope, home and all
  - Add progress indicator, as MDQuery may not return instantly

Alfred 5.0.3

Build 2087, Tuesday 11th October 2022

macOS Ventura Preparation
- Update build environment
- Update Alfred's build target version, and remove deprecated API calls
- Remove legacy text rendering (some custom themes may need tweaks)
Tweaks to Mini Player AppleScript to fix certain tracks from not playing
Tweaks to labels and descriptions in Features preferences
Workflow User Configuration updates
- Add "Default Value" for Popup configuration item
- Update File Picker to have user editable field which also accepts e.g. {var:}
- Added a placeholder configuration field to the File Picker
Performance tweaks to image caching
Tweaks to background local IP lookup for the Alfred Remote preferences

Alfred 5.0.2

Build 2073, Monday 29th August 2022

Prepare for updated v5 Corporate Powerpack activation
Hide folder's Icon file from navigation to match Finder behaviour
- If required, this can be brought back using defaults write com.runningwithcrayons.Alfred fsShowFolderIconFiles 1
Palette improvements
- Favourited Workflow palette items are now prioritised above non-favourited items in the palette search
- Add "Filter" to "Running Apps" object in palette for consistency
Write File Workflow output object improvements
- Add "Prepend" option to file writing
- Add option to write relative file to workflow's cache folder
- Improve accessibility descriptions and tabbing order
Remove /System/Volumes/Data/ from path subtext for file searches (default search and custom workflow file filters)
Warn in workflow User Configuration when there are duplicate Environment Variable keys
Add "Open Editor Shortcuts Help" to Workflow canvas popup menu
- Opens useful guide and cheatsheet for operating the canvas effectively using the keyboard
Add ⇧⌥arrows shortcut to Workflow editor to match ⇧⌥click behaviour of connecting but not moving the selection
Update Custom Search configuration test button to match encoding behaviour of resulting Custom Search
Update {clipboard} placeholder to better conform to {placeholder:variation.modifiers}
- {clipboard.lowercase} and {clipboard:2.lowercase} is now the recommended syntax
- {clipboard:lowercase} still works for backwards compatibility
Fix the help link on the Workflow Dialog Conditional object
Improve URL syntax parsing for Workflow markdown
- Now also makes plain URLs clickable
Workflow Export dialog
- Improve accessibility of fields and responder order
- Tweak help subtext on Workflow export dialog
Update Workflow Replace utility to pre-process newlines and tabs in RegEx replacement template

Alfred 5.0.1

Build 2067, Wednesday 27th July 2022

Improvements
- Additions to Split Arg utility object
  - Added new "Discard empty items" option
  - Improved VoiceOver and keyboard navigation
- Improve Automation Task Workflow debug output to show which task is being run
- Workflow markdown interpretation now also accepts both star and plus for unordered lists
- Update the Workflow Prefab icon to better visually differentiate it in the Palette search
- Improve experience on creating scripts via the Workflow Run Script / Script Filter "Create File" button
  - When no file extension is given to the file name, open the file in the default text editor
- Warn when there are duplicate variable names used between Environment Variables and User Configuration in the Workflow Configuration
- Palette search now also matches when not using spaces, e.g. "openurl" will now show "Open URL" in the results
- Workflow JSON overrides for certain objects improved
  - Debug utility now allows override of processing outputs, and clear debug text
  - Speak output now allows override of using VoiceOver
  - Split Arg now allows override of output mode
  - Browse in Alfred now allows override of sorting and stacking
Minor fixes and tweaks
- Clear workflow's constants cache on committing an edit to a workflow
- Fix spelling in Workflow Prefab dialog 'cavnas' to 'canvas'
- Fix spelling in Workflow Debug sheet 'do' to 'to'
- Fix button text colour for Workflow Getting Started Follow-Along guide when using macOS Light Mode
- Fix scrollbar behaviour in Workflow Configuration > User Configuration sheet when macOS scrollbars set to Always
- Add a warning dialog at startup if user doesn't meet minimum macOS 10.14 requirement
- Fix correctly saving object configuration when using Run Script or Script Filter set to "External Script" then selecting "Create File" button
- Remove / from the {query} and {var} URL encoded character list to make encoding options more forgiving
- Make additional tweaks to new URL encoding algorithm to better work with unicode
- Update Share Usage link URLs in Alfred Preference's Usage tab to use newer twitter URLs
- Fix scroll view content sizing in Configurable Config Text Area fields
- Fix scrollbars on Workflow User Configuration and Automation Task sheets when scrollbars set to always
- Tweak size of the Workflow Config backend shared "description" field to better vertically fit text
- Update info and error label colours in Workflow Delay utility object config to be dark mode compatible
- Fix sizing of Prefab and Favourite sections of the palette to properly fit text when no items are added

Alfred 5.0

Build 2057, Wednesday 13th July 2022

Workflows

Brand new Workflow Editor
- Completely rewritten from the ground up to put accessibility and performance first
- New palette for more efficient workflow creation
  - Drag and drop to add items to the canvas
  - Normal and compact mode, and easily expand and collapse sections
  - Favourites section to host your most used workflow objects
  - Preconfigured objects, or groups of objects, can be stored in the palette as Prefabs for faster workflow creation
- New Workflow landing screen when no workflows are selected, with handy shortcuts
- New Getting Started guide
  - Walks new users through the various aspects of workflow development
  - Interactive Getting Started section in the palette, with prefabs to drag and connect
- New configurable "User Configuration" for workflows
  - Add simple user-facing preferences to your workflows, making them easier for users to install and set-up
  - Recognisable controls such as Text fields, check boxes, picker boxes and more
  - Option for required fields which are highlighted with orange
  - Assign variable names and default values to each item which are then available throughout your workflow
  - Configuration shown on importing or upgrading a workflow
  - Quickly access a workflow's configuration from within the editor using the Configure Workflow button, or ⌘,
- Keyboard navigation around workflow objects
  - Use ⌘ arrows to select objects around the canvas
  - Use ⌘⌥ left / right to navigate along connection streams
  - Use ⌘⌥ up / down to navigate to connected siblings
  - When no objects are selected, arrow keys will navigate the scroll area (⇧ arrows for larger steps)
  - Improved view focusing progression during actions, making keyboard navigation more predictable
- New Workflow object icons to clarify workflow development
- Individual connections can now be disabled, allowing for easier workflow development and testing
- Efficient automatic workflow object connection with the ⌥ key
  - When dragging items from the palette or using the palette search, hold ⌥ to automatically connect to selected items
  - Select an item, hold ⌥ and click items to chain connect the items in order
  - Select one or more items, hold ⇧⌥ and click items to connect items to the first selected items
- When dragging a new connection to an empty space on the canvas, you can now scroll from the edges of the canvas to create more space
- Improvements to snapping and sizing to allow for better horizontal alignment
- Notes are now intrinsically rendered as part of the object, so they don't get rendered behind other objects
- Improved connection path detection, including recognising clicking the alternative path indicator
- Improved rendering quality when zooming a canvas
- Added alignment options for selected objects, both horizontally and vertically centred or referenced around clicked object
- New Inbound Configuration option to modify the incoming argument before it's used
  - Updated indicator on workflow object input in editor when argument is being modified
- The workflow list is now resizable
- Hotkey Trigger highlight colour now differentiates when sharing combo with disabled workflows
  - Related hotkeys on canvas popup menu also show when the related hotkey is within a disabled workflow
- Contextual help for workflow objects can now be found in more places
- It is now possible to edit a Workflow object note by double clicking it
- The "About Workflow" now supports a subset of Markdown
  - Add pretty introductions and help to your workflows, including images from the workflow's folder
  - Currently supported: Headers, italic, bold, unordered lists, inline code, separator, local image, links
New Workflow debugger
- Debugger is now available at the top level of the Workflow preferences, without the need to select a workflow
Created new Automations object category
- Moved Music and System Commands into Automations
Snippet Triggers can now optionally be shown in the Clipboard History / Snippets Viewer
- This is a global option available within the Snippet Trigger object configuration
External Trigger updated to optionally enable running of triggers via URL Scheme
- Example shown in object configuration
Updated Conditional Utility object
- Added cases for evaluating boolean true and false
- Added option to hide the "Else" fallback condition
Script Filter
- Added new skipknowledge boolean field to the top level JSON
  - Allows for fixed order result sets while maintaining result UIDs (for item re-selection on reload)
Rename File utility to File Conditional to better represent its purpose
Rename Split Arg to Vars to Split Arg and add option to output as a list of arguments instead of variables
- Added convenient popup button for default delimiters e.g. comma, tab, new line
Add new Run Shortcut automation object
- Run macOS 12+ specified shortcuts from within your workflow
- Specify input as string or file(s)
- Choose to ignore Shortcut output and continue, or wait for Shortcut and use its output
Add new Join Arg utility object
- Converts multiple input arguments into a single output argument with specified join character
- Useful with supporting some Automation Tasks
Add new Running Apps workflow input filter object
- Select output from Bundle ID, Path, or Process ID
- Add optional result title prefix as a hint to the action
Add new Dialog Conditional utility object
- Present a macOS System dialog to the user
- Configure title, description and up to 3 available buttons
- Multiple outputs, allowing different path based on button pressed
Add new Speak output object
- Speaks configured or passed-in text
Stripped back run script environment to ensure external variables don't pollute Alfred's script environment
- Update default run script environment path to /opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
Python 3 has now been added to the default script selection
- Note that if Python 3 hasn't already been installed via e.g. Homebrew, this may trigger the Xcode command line tools install
Update the default selected script type for Run Script and Script Filter to zsh instead of bash
New word matching framework
- Improves boundary matching beyond whitespace
- New "Word based - sequential" matching option available in Script Filter when selecting "Alfred filters results"
- List Filter now shares the same matching options available in the Script Filter
/usr/bin/swift has now been added to the selectable language types in Run Script and Script Filter
Prevent clicking through on an unpopulated website in the workflow importer and exporter
Improvements to the placeholder system throughout Workflows
- The {query} placeholder will now process placeholder modifiers, e.g. {query.lowercase.trim}
  - Allows for faster workflow development with fewer utility objects
- Access constants, previously only available to Run Script and Script Filter, using {const:constname}, e.g. {const:alfred_workflow_version}
  - Use {constants} in the Debug Utility to view all constants for a workflow within the workflow debugger
  - Improve script runtime handler to prevent user-overridden Alfred constants
- Debug Utility now uses {variables} to dump all variables, however {allvars} will still be recognised for backwards compatibility.
When duplicating a symlinked workflow, fully resolve the symlinked path so the workflow is correctly duplicated

General

Alfred now uses the Modern and Modern Dark as the default themes
Roll out enhanced URL handler throughout Alfred allowing for more flexible URL recognition and handling
- Remove deprecated UTF-8 option from custom web searches, make all searches UTF-8
Improve Alfred text view undo algorithm to break coalescing on non-alphanumeric breaks instead of timing
Add custom Alfred accent colour to Preferences UI, for improved experience on Big Sur+
Improved icon rendering across the board
Larger hit zones for buttons at the bottom of the Workflows, Themes and Remote Pages lists
Improved macOS Colour palette behaviour in theme editor when changing colour options
Improvements to Ubiquitous Internal Preferences Search, ? keyword within Alfred
- Add new blank workflows using ?add workflow

Snippets

New option to allow resetting of colour, size and font in rich text
- Useful for creating formatted snippets which are dark mode compatible
- Option also added to Copy to Clipboard Workflow object
Separate icons for Snippets and Snippet Collections for UI clarity
Enable drag and drop of snippets between collections in the preferences
Fix disabled collection colour in preferences dark mode

Universal Actions

Reveal in Finder Universal Action now works with multiple file selections

Accessibility

Alfred 5 brings a big overhaul in Accessibility, and marks the start of an ongoing process to refine and improve every aspect of Alfred 5
When searching in Alfred using the ? keyword, or using the Alfred Preferences search, workflows are now correctly focused when searched for and actioned

Changes made during the Alfred 5 Early Access

Alfred 5.0 GM1

Build 2057, Wednesday 13th July 2022

A few further tweaks to URL processing
Preparation for General Release, removing Early Access banner from prefs

Alfred 5.0 EA11

Build 2053, Tuesday 12th July 2022

Fix Early Access regression in URL query argument handling throughout Alfred
Open URL workflow object
- Improve flexibility of URL placeholder handling by offering two new options to Encode {query} and Encode {var:}
  - These are checked by default, and are best left checked under normal use of this object
  - When unchecked, options are passed to the URL processor unchanged, giving developer control over encoding
- Overhaul Accessibility for the Open URL object, with correct tab focus ordering, and better VoiceOver descriptions

Alfred 5.0 RC1

Build 2050, Monday 11th July 2022

Run Shortcut Workflow Automation Action
- Update underlying shortcut execution from using 'shortcuts' command line tool to calling AppleScript 'Shortcut Events' instead
  - Fixes issue where passed file paths were copied to macOS temporary folder so couldn't be operated on
- Update shortcuts logic to fall back to No Input when overriding JSON with an out of range value input mode value
Fix layout on resizing Workflow configuration sheet environment variables tab
Workflow Debugger log messages output from the Debug workflow object now show as system yellow in the debugger to better stand out
Update iTunes to Music in Mini Player volume commands
Update default "Search in Finder" fallback to show correct Finder subtext in Alfred's results
General Release preparations
- Remove EA from bundle version number (Preferences are still in Early Access mode)
- Improve Alfred Preferences Powerpack tab and activation process
- Remove Powerpack requirement from using Early Access build
- Tweaks to the Onboarding / Welcome process

Alfred 5.0 EA10

Accessibility
- Add + and - buttons to Launch Apps / Files Workflow Object configuration sheet to make more accessible
Improve memory efficiency of Automation Tasks when running internal scripts
Run Shortcut Workflow Automation Action
- Add (default) input option to ignore passed argument
  - This prevents certain Shortcut app scripts from failing due to an unexpected input being passed
- Improve task caching to better respect overridden options
- Stop workflow when the Shortcut action errors, shown in the Workflow debugger

Alfred 5.0 EA9

Accessibility
- Improve the Alfred Preference's Music Feature VoiceOver descriptions
More label changes in Preferences from iTunes to Music
Update Automation Task workflow object to respect Task UID configuration override (e.g. using the JSON Config utility object)
Workflow Shortcuts Automation action
- Stop workflow stream if no Shortcut selected, or there is a Shortcut error
- Enable Workflow object configuration overrides
Add System Bold to the available standard fonts in Alfred's theme editor

Alfred 5.0 EA8

Accessibility
- Improve VoiceOver of selected workflow object in canvas
  - Now reads additional visual information on the object such as the defined keyword for a Keyword Input
  - Reads the attached canvas note for the object
  - Reads defined hotkey value
- Remove macOS Bug workaround which verbally changed modifier keys to text in Hotkey View accessibility
  - Fix prevents double reading of mod keys, please let me know if you don't hear the mod keys anymore
Update Automation Task workflow object to respect config overrides (e.g. using the JSON Config utility object)
Automation Task Updater improvements
- Configured Automation Tasks with a missing underlying Task now show as red in canvas
- Tasks will automatically reconfigure themselves once updated tasks are installed, and canvas update
Improve robustness of workflow array stream processing to ensure non-strings are correctly processed by objects
Workflow Configuration Sheet (the sheet under the [x] button)
- Update the help button link location to a more suitable page
- Make the user config preview sheet width better match the live sheet to aid text decisions
Update the default Mini Player keyword to "music", because apparently leaving it as "itunes" wasn't being retro-funny ;)

Alfred 5.0 EA7

Workflow Canvas and Accessibility
- Update Speech Workflow output object with option to automatically use VoiceOver for output
  - Enabled by default for newly added objects, falls back to using macOS Speech Synthesiser
- Added ⌥arrows to automatically connect while navigating in the canvas
  - The "next selected object" for connection uses the same logic as using ⌘arrows
- Added ⌥⌫ to remove connections to and from the selected object(s)
- Added ⌘↩︎ to show the popup menu for the selected object(s)
Automation Tasks
- Add the initial Automation Task update mechanism, currently available from within the Workflow Automation Task object
  - Downloads and installs (or reinstalls) the Automation Tasks from our official repository
  - Additional changes are coming here before General Release
- Update the task argument validation to discard irrelevant arguments being passed in, and then check the Task expected input count on the remaining items
  - Allows for much more flexibility when adding Automation Task objects throughout a workflow
  - Add additional debugging output in the Workflow debugger to show which arguments are being used, and which have been discarded
Fixed the help button link location in the Workflow configuration (the sheet under the [x] button)
Loosen the URL validation within the Open URL Workflow Object configuration, now allowing for e.g. {query}/xyz or {var:xyz}
Prevent non-configured Workflow Snippet Triggers from showing in the Snippet Viewer
Pass .icloud files to Finder for opening, which will instigate a download and open of these files
Prevent Workflow and Automation Task auto-generated configuration text fields from incorrectly wrapping with long text
Added + and - buttons to the Clipboard History App Ignore list in Alfred's Preferences to improve accessibility
Added links to follow-along counterpart webpages for the Workflow getting started guides

Alfred 5.0 EA6

Open URL workflow object
- Updated to now recognise multiple input arguments, and process defined URL for each argument
- Improves flexibility when used in combination with new and updated workflow objects, including the Automation Task object
Workflow User Configuration Backend
- Add new option to Copy an entire item (on item's popup menu), and paste it as new (from + button)
- Make Workflow user configuration backend subtext descriptions non-selectable
Workflow readme markdown improvements
- Improve link detection, and remove Open URL confirmation check
- Fix markdown syntax, now using asterisks for bold, italic, and bold italic
Fix accessibility label in Features > General prefs for Remove Scope Folder button
Fix logic in Running Apps filter to prevent over-caching
- Fixes issue with Quit keyword showing irrelevant items

Alfred 5.0 EA5

Add ⌘K as shortcut to clear the Workflow Editor debugger
Update Workflow preferences Workflow filter to be aware of non-strings when filtering
macOS Ventura compatibility improvements

Alfred 5.0 EA4

Tweak canvas overlay
- Move down on the canvas, and make slightly smaller
- Swap Apple mouse emoji for the word "Click"
- Add a close button to the top right
Put focus back into palette search field when clicking a search result
Improve the Powerpack tab layout (this will change before general release)
Update various text throughout Alfred's preferences
Improve the Learn More Prefab which is part of the 5th Workflow Getting Started guide

Alfred 5.0 EA3

Fix the palette guide height calculations when macOS Scrollbars are set to "Always"
Spell check the change log and fix speeling mistakes ;)
Add hyperlinks to workflow readme markdown (shows URL when clicking to confirm opening)
Add a message within the Automation Tasks workflow configuration linking to early access workflow (currently not online)
Add new canvas overlay to help discover some of the new keyboard shortcuts
- Can be hidden from canvas popup menu, under the options submenu
Tweak canvas background opacity by a fraction to work around odd Monterey flicker

Alfred 5.0 EA2

Fix spelling in onboarding from Actiavted to Activated
Fix {query} replacement in Dialog Conditional
Tweak font attributes in Workflow guides
Prevent crash when using the Dialog Conditional and editing workflow while dialog visible
When duplicating a symlinked workflow, correctly duplicate workflow instead of doing nothing
Remove a couple of erroneous NSLogs which were in for development
Remove the Skip Onboarding preference value when showing "Beta Requires Powerpack" to prevent loop
Update "Buy or Upgrade" and "Upgrade" button links to point to early access store (currently not online)
Fix missing Join Arguments icon in palette when in compact mode
Always show the Dialog Conditional in front of Alfred's window
Add workflow debug output if Dialog Conditional doesn't show due to missing configuration
Add border around Dialog Conditional in canvas to differentiate from standard Conditional
Fiddle with the palette re-layout when using macOS Scrollbars are set to "Always"