This is Part 4 of how I use Alfred.

The default way to open files or folders on the Mac is with Finder. Using Alfred I’m able to launch files and folders with fewer mouse clicks. I do this with Alfred’/s Quick File Search. I activate Alfred tap the space bar and start typing the name of the file or folder I’m looking for. I also use Alfred to navigate through my Mac’s file system. To start, I type: / (slash) to go to the root folder on my Mac, or ~ (tilde) to go to my user directory. This is a great way to quickly make my way through folders without using the Finder and my mouse.

For my most often used folders I’ve created a workflow that lets me open them with keyboard shortcuts. For example ⌃⌘ right arrow will open my Dropbox folder.

I find that using Alfred to search and launch files and folders to be much more productive than using the Finder.

This is Part 3 of how I use Alfred.

There are a number of text expansion apps available for the Mac the most popular being TextExpander. I considered it but the monthly subscription was a deal breaker for me. I also didn’t need anything that powerful. All I needed was basic text expansion and sync across both my Macs. After exploring several alternatives I settled on using the text expansion feature that was already a part of the Alfred app.

Alfred’s text expansion feature allows me to quickly type out frequently used snippets of text, my email addresses, my name, my phone number, my address, markdown syntax, special keyboard symbols (⌘, ⌥, ⇧), the date and time, and more with a short keyword. For example, I can type ,ddate and get the current date or I can type ,rwr and get “Run, walk, run miles @MAF” which is a text snippet I use for logging my runs in Garmin Connect. Text expansion is all about saving time and increasing productivity.

To learn more check out these Alfred articles:

• Snippets and Text Expansion
• Setting Up Text Auto-Expansion for Snippets
• Creating and Editing Snippets

This is Part 2 of how I use Alfred on my Mac.

There are times when I need to go back to something that I copied to the clipboard and use it again. The macOS clipboard only holds my most recently copied item. So in order to go back to something I need to have a clipboard manager that holds my history.

On my Mac, I use Alfred’s built-in Clipboard Manager. It’s really handy and easy to use. My viewer hotkey set to ⌥⌘C. So all I have to do is type my hotkey and the viewer pops up with my history ready for me to select what I need. If my list is fairly long I can either scroll the list or do a search for what I’m looking for.

One of the things I like about Alfred is the ability to clear items from the history. I have mine set to clear an item after it has been in history for 24 hours. That helps keep my history cleaned up. If I want to clear the history before the 24 hours I can clear my clipboard history by typing “clear” in Alfred’s main search box and choosing whether I want to erase the last 5 minutes, 15 minutes or all of Alfred’s history. By default, Alfred ignores popular password applications like the macOS Keychain Access and 1Password, so that you don’t inadvertently copy a password to your clipboard.

I also have Copied which is a more advanced clipboard manager. Since Alfred is Mac only I use it to copy items between my Mac, iPhone, and iPad. I could use Copied in place of Alfred on my Mac but I prefer the quick access and simplicity of Alfred.

To learn more you can check out these Alfred articles:

• Clipboard History
• 4 Tips to Make The Most of Clipboard History

This is Part 1 of how I use Alfred. This is not a review of all Alfred’s features. It’s how I use Alfred. If you’re looking for a review of Alfred’s features you can find it here.

Last year I wrote three articles about some of the ways I use Alfred. To get started, I’m going to refer back to those for those of you who may have missed them.

How I use keyboard shortcuts to launch apps

How I use keyboard shortcuts to trigger system commands

How I use Alfred to launch Safari bookmarks

Update: February 12, 2018

Below are links to all the articles in my “All the ways I’m using Alfred Series”:

How I’m using Alfred on my Mac – Part 1
How I’m using Alfred as a clipboard manager on my Mac
How I use Alfred for text expansion on my Mac
How I use Alfred to launch files and folders on my Mac

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If you been following my blog you know I’m a big fan of Alfred. It does an amazing array of things on my Mac. It’s without a doubt my most used app.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be writing a series of articles about the ways I’m using Alfred. As a heads up, some of them require the Powerpak.

If you’re new to Alfred the basic app is free. The Powerpack is $26 US, which I highly recommend. If you would like to follow along go ahead and download the free version now. That way you’ll be ready to follow along when the first article in the series is published.

To make sure you don’t miss an article click on the Follow My Blog via Email button in the left column of my blog and enter your email address.