In case you’ve used a Mac, obviously know all about Spotlight. The built-in search utility in macOS is quite possibly the best method to discover your method around a Mac. It comes packed with a number of features, and hints. However, when it comes to high level productivity, not anything can beat Alfred. Alfred is a Spotlight replacement for Mac, in an effort to let you enjoy a lot more customizability, along with added capability. but, what makes Alfred method higher than Spotlight, is a neat little feature called “Alfred Workflows”, that is only available with the Powerpack purchase.
Alfred Workflows are essentially a combination of keywords, actions, and triggers that may automate a lot of stuff on your Mac. You can quickly convert text to QR codes, set timers, and do lots extra.
Note:
For people unaware, install workflows on Alfred is very easy. We can simply download the workflows from the links and simply click on them to install them. We have tested these Workflows on a MacBook Air running macOS Sierra 10.12.4 Developer Beta. The experience must be similar for other versions of macOS, as well.
1. Get a Temporary Inbox that Lasts for 1 Hour
Make sure there have been a lot of conditions where we needed an email account to receive a couple of emails from someone we never want to get from again. In such cases, a temporary email ID can come in handy. Fortunately, Alfred has a neat workflow that can let you create a temporary email ID in no time, with the service “Teleosaurs“.
- Once you have added the workflow to Alfred, you can simply release Alfred, and type “tmpmail” followed by the email ID you want.
- Alfred will automatically create the inboxfor you, open it in a new tab in Chrome, and copy the email to your clipboard, so you can easily share it.
Note: The workflow only works if your browser is in the foreground when you run the workflow.
[ad type=”banner”]2. Quickly Toggle WiFi on Your Mac
Another useful workflow that we can use in Alfred, is the WiFi toggle workflow. This workflow will let quickly toggle your Mac’s WiFi radio, simply by typing “WiFi” in Alfred.
- You can simply launch Alfred, and type “WiFi”.This will automatically toggle the status of your WiFi radio between on/off.
Get the Workflow
3. Search Through Your Chrome Bookmarks
If you have a huge list of bookmarks in Chrome, and reading through them to find the one you’re looking for can be quite a challenge. With the “Chrome Bookmarks” work process, we can easily use Alfred to look through your entire list of Chrome Bookmarks, in much the same way as we would search for files.
- You can simply launch Alfred, type in “,b” , and start typing the name of the bookmarkyou’re looking for.
- Alfred updates the list in real time, and you can simply select the one you want to go to.
4. Tweet Directly from Alfred
We can also use Alfred to tweet directly from within Alfred, without having to launch the Twitter app or website. The workflow will also let you follow new people, block people, search for mentions, and do a lot more.
- Once you have the workflow, simply launch Alfred, and type “alfredtweet”to authenticate Alfred with your Twitter account. This is just a one time set up.
- Afterwards, you can use “tweet” followed by your tweetto send a tweet to your Twitter timeline directly from Alfred. The Alfred window shows a handy character count, as well. so, you don’t exceed the 140-character limit that Twitter imposes on every tweet.
5. Prevent Mac from Sleeping Directly from Alfred
You may be aware that Macs come with a handy Terminal utility called “caffeine”, which basically lets you set a time that your Mac won’t sleep for.
In Alfred, just type “caff“, and you’ll be shown the current state of “Caffeinate”, along with options to configure, or enable it.
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6.Browse Reddit from Alfred
Alfred workflows can also quickly search through Reddits, without having to launch your browser just to look for a couple of things. The Reddit workflow in Alfred, can easily look up threads in subreddits, which comes in quite easily.
- Simply launch Alfred, and type “r/“, which will make Alfred ready to search through Reddit for you.
- You can type the name of a subredditin Alfred, and Alfred will then start displaying the hottest threads in the subreddit.
7. Search Questions from Stack Overflow Directly
If you’re a programmer, visit Stack Overflow more than once a day, looking for solutions to some problem that you’re facing. Alfred makes this very easy. With a workflow called “StackOverflow Search”, you can easily search for questions on Stack Overflow.
- Simply launch Alfred, and type “.so”to start Alfred searching for questions on Stack Overflow.
- You can then start searching for the questionon Stack Overflow. Alfred updates the results in real time, and you can simply select the question most relevant to your query, to open it in your default browser.
10 Best Alfred Workflows to Boost Your Productivity on Mac
8. Convert Color Codes Between RGB, HEX, and More
If you’re a graphic designer, a website designer, or basically a designer of any sort, you’d know the pain of constantly having to convert color codes to a different format. Alfred can help you. You can simply use the “Colors” workflow to convert colors to multiple formats.
- Simply launch Alfred, andtype one of the keywords to convert the color code. If you want to convert codes from HEX values, use “#”. Some other keywords that you can use are “rgb”, “hsl”, “c”.
- Type the color code(or values), and Alfred will update the results in real time to show you the converted values in the results itself.
9. Start a QuickTime Audio Recording
Another beneficial workflow that we can use, is the “Record Sound” workflow, which directly starts a new QuickTime audio recording. This workflow saves a couple of clicks, and the trouble of having to launch QuickTime.
- Simply launch Alfred, and type “record audio” – This is the keyword for the workflow.
- When you press enter, Alfred will start an audio recording directly. You don’t even have to click on the record button.
Edit the Workflow to Record Screen instead of Audio
If you find yourself recording your Mac’s screen more often than recording audio, you can easily tweak this Workflow to start a screen recording, instead.
- Open Alfred Preferences, and go to Here, select “Audio Recording” from the column on the left. Double click on “Run NSAppleScript“.
- Here, edit the line that reads “set new_recording to new audio recording“, to “set new_recording to new screen recording“, and click on “Save”.
- You can also double click on the “record audio”in the workflow, and change the keyword to “record screen“
Now, whenever you release Alfred, and type “record screen”, it will automatically start recording your Mac’s screen.
[ad type=”banner”]10. Adjust Display Brightness
Using a workflow called “Display Brightness”, we can set the brightness value of your display to a particular percentage value.
- Simply launch Alfred, and type the keyword “brightness”.Alfred will display some common values that you may want to set, as well as the current brightness percentage.
- You can also clearly mention the value of brightness you want, for example, you can type “brightness 39“. This will set your brightness to 39% of its maximum value.
