Alfred is one of the best productivity tools you can install on your Mac.
If you get Alfred’s Powerpack (which costs around $40), you’ll be able to use workflows in order to save time and get more done with less effort.
You’ll see later that there are websites with dozens (hundreds) of workflows, but here we will see a small recap of the top 7 workflows I use daily.
The 7 Best Alfred Workflows you should use
Workflow 1 – Recently Added (formerly Recent Downloads)
Managing files with your keyword instead of with the mouse is what differentiates pro users from average ones.
And this workflow will help you out doing that.
Recently Added will allow you to:
- See your last added items on your Downloads and/or Desktop Folder (using the command “rda”), very helpful as those are usually the locations where new items are coming (because you download them, or because you save them from an app)
- Tip: you can also list your least added items by using the command “rdz” instead.
- See your last modified items on your Downloads and/or Desktop Folder (using the command “rdn”), this is also very helpful to track changes.
- Tip: you can also list your least modified items by using the command “rdo” instead.
Download Recently Added for free con Github
Pro tip
Once you have the workflow installed, you can open it on Alfred and hit the [X] button at the top.
This will allow you to change (remove/add) more directories, in case you want this workflow to work on other folders, or duplicate the original to track changes in specific locations with different keywords.
Workflow 2 – Shortcuts Workflow
Shortcuts App was a great addition to macOS, and although you can launch your shortcuts from the app itself, the dock, or the menu bar, doing so with Alfred is much faster.
This workflow:
- Lists all your shortcuts when you run “sc”, you can also write an argument to locate your shortcut faster.
- Lists the shortcut on a specific folder when you run “scd” (you can also refine your search by typing more words)
Hitting Enter (↩) will launch the shortcut, and ⌥+↩ will open the shortcut on Shortcuts, so you’ll be able to make changes to it.
Download Shortcuts Workflow for free con Github
Workflow 3 – File Filter
This is not a workflow perse but an idea you’ll have to copy and implement for your needs (don’t worry, it will take you less than a minute).
Alfred allows you to create “file filter workflows”, this is, you’ll be able to search for only specific file extensions.
I use it daily to search only Excel Documents, MindNode files, .PSD (photoshop), PDFs… It’s really useful when you have different file types with similar names.
In order to create your custom File Filter Workflows, just create a new one using the + button on the bottom, and add:
- One Input Action (File Filter)
- One Action (Open File)
And connect them.
Now, make a double click over the File Filter action, and just drag and drop any file with the format you want to “filter” (a .psd file, .xls, .pdf, .word…)
And that’s all!
Your workflow filter is ready!
- Pro tip: on the file filter window, you can also click on the “scope” tab, if you drag and drop folders there, Alfred only will search on that folder (and its subfolders) This is great if you want to create workflows to search for instance only on Work-related folders.
Workflow 4 – Menu bar Search
Did you know that there is a small searcher inside the Help menu item of any Mac App?
Long ago I thought that it was there only to look for helping documentation (something that in fact it also does) but it also allows you to find action items in all other menus! (file, edit, view, window…)
With the following Workflow, you’ll be able to quickly search for any action on that menu, right from Alfred, which is pretty handy, especially on those apps with really big and difficult menus, like Photoshop.
Download Menu Bar Search for free con Github
Workflow 5 – Create new docs
Here’s another kind of workflow/idea you’ll have to create by yourself (this is the last one, I promise)
Nowadays, many apps (the ones for writing, especially), will allow you to create new documents thanks to URLs.
For instance, you can create:
- New Google Docs going to http://docs.google.com/document/create?hl=en
- New Google Spreadsheets going to http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?new&hl=en
- New Google Slides going to http://slides.google.com/create
- New Ulysses sheets going to ulysses://x-callback-url/new-sheet?text={query}&index=2
- New Obsidian files using obsidian://new?vault=my%20vault&name=my%20note
And so on.
The idea is to find the custom URL for your favorite app, and create your workflow for quickly creating new files/documents using just a specific keyword.
You just need to add an “input” keyword, and another action to open the URL you need.
Workflow 6 – Alfred Browser Tabs
Have you ever lost any tab among your browser(s)?
Although Setapp has a nice app called TabFinder to find them efficiently, you can achieve something similar with this workflow.
You just need to use the keyword for the specific browser where you want to search, and all your tabs will be listed on Alfred.
Download Alfred Browser Tabs for free on Github
Workflow 7 – Word Search
Last but not least, the workflow Word Search will give you powerful word searching utilities.
Just use the following commands, and you’ll get help finding synonyms, antonyms, or even rhymes!
- syn + keyword: Broadly searches for words related to a word/phrase.
- dsyn + keyword: Searches for a word’s exact synonyms.
- ant + keyword: Searches for a word’s antonyms.
- rhyme + keyword: Searches a word’s rhymes.
- describing + keyword: Searches for words that describe another word
Download Alfred Word Search on Github
Where find more Top Alfred Workflows
Those above are my favorite Alfred Workflows.
But as I stated at the beginning of the post, luckily, several websites collect new workflows almost daily, so I suggest you follow them to be up to date!
Here are the top 3
- Alfred Forum: there is a ton of Alfred-related stuff here: themes, tips, bugs, suggestions… and of course workflows. Check the “share your workflows” board to find the ones that the community is sharing
- Packal: founded in 2013, this website has over 1.600 Alfred Workflows (plus +200 themes!) They are all well organized, so you can use the searcher to look for categories: productivity, text manipulation, system, Alfred remote…
- AlfredWorkflows Store: don’t be confused by the name, all the workflows you’ll find here are distributed for free. The database is almost identical to the one you’ll find on Packal, but the interface is nicer, and there are other categories to search from (for instance, workflows filtered by job)
I made this list short on purpose because if you want dozens of workflows, you just have to visit the links I shared above.
But if you have any useful workflow you want to share with us, leave a comment below and I’ll add it to a special list on the post 🙂
Best Alfred Workflows by the readers
Be the first to join the list!
- Name of the Workflow – Description (shared by Name)
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