This post discusses how I use Alfred to increase my efficiency/productivity on my MacBook. If you spend some time in front of a computer (even if itβs sadly not a mac), you might find the principle vaguely interesting.
The Problem
Time is our most valuable non-renewable resource.
I spend a huge amount of time in front of a computer/laptop. Iβd like to think that most of that time is reasonably productive, i.e.: Iβm getting stuff done (as opposed to simply browsing Facebook/Reddit/Youtube etc).
I feel itβs really important, therefore, for me to attempt to maximise the efficiency of the process. I donβt mean in the sense of βensure that I donβt waste time on Facebookβ, but more the sense of βI know what small action I want to accomplish at this moment, and Iβd like for my computer to obey me as fast as possibleβ.
This may sound a tad abstract, so letβs use a concrete example. Letβs say we want to open a file. The βordinaryβ (read: normal) personβs way of opening the file on a Mac would be to use Finder to locate the file and double-click it. However, if we look a bit closer at this seemingly simple process, it takes quite a few steps (using my third year research project PDF as an example)
- Move the mouse to the bottom of the screen to the Mac dock
- Click on Finder
- Click on Google Drive in the sidebar (because everything importantβs backed up in the cloud, obviously)
- Click on βThird Year’
- Click on βProject’
- Click on βPDFs’
- Double-click on βAli Abdaal Part II Project.pdf’
This whole process of opening the file takes 10-15 seconds. In other words, thereβs a 10-15 second lag between us thinking βI want to open this fileβ, and the file being open on the computer in front of us. That may not sound like a big deal, but when we consider the ridiculous amount of time itβs possible to spend on a computer, and the huge number of βsmall actionsβ we take during this time, the seconds add up to minutes, hours, days, and ultimately, weβve wasted years of our lives doing mundane intermediate tasks to achieve our ultimate goal (in this example, simply opening a particular file).
How would we optimise the process? Well, as I mentioned at earlier, the ultimate goal is to minimise the time between thinking of a command, and the computer executing that command.
The ultimate goal is to minimise the time delay between the user thinking of a command, and the computer executing that command
Thus, having introduced the objective of this post (in a somewhat wordy fashion), Iβll now go over some of the tools and techniques I personally use to optimise my time in front of the computer. Of course, these may not be the absolute best methods out there, but theyβre the ones Iβve found quite useful, and Iβm always open to more.
The Solution – Alfred
Alfred is a wonderful Mac app, and is the single, most useful tool in my βproductivity arsenalβ. Essentially, itβs the Mac Spotlight on steroids – you bring it up with a quick keyboard shortcut (I use CMD + Spacebar) and then type whatever you want to launch.
Hereβs what their website says:
Alfred is an award-winning app for Mac OS X which boosts your efficiency with hotkeys and keywords. Search your Mac and the web effortlessly, and control your Mac using customised actions with the Powerpack.
Use Case 1 – Opening Files
The problem I mentioned initially was opening a file deep within an organised tree of folders. With Alfred, the process of opening it couldnβt be simpler – I simply bring up Alfred and type a few characters of the filename (preceded by a space, as thatβs the Alfred shortcut for searching for files). And bam – within around 2-3 seconds (depending on typing speed), weβve got the file we wanted open. Hereβs a GIF explaining the process.
Use Case 2 – Opening Apps
For opening files, we typed in a space before the filename. To open apps, we just type the name of app (or the first few characters of the name), and weβre sorted. This feature is so useful that Iβve set the Mac dock as hidden – whatβs the point of moving the mouse to click on the Spotify icon when you can just launch Alfred (with CMD + Spacebar), type S and hitΒ , a process that takes less than a second compared to the multiple seconds moving the mouse would take.
Use Case 3 – Searching Google
While the above two things can be done in Spotlight, the Google search feature of Alfred is incredibly useful and (as far as I know) canβt be done in Spotlight. To search Google for anything, simply open up Alfred and type whatever you want. Alfred recognises that what youβre typing isnβt an app and therefore it searches Google for the term.
Use Case 4 – Searching Amazon
You know that feeling when you remember youβre running out of toothpaste, and need to order some via Amazon. The normal way of doing this would be to open up Chrome, put in the Amazon URL (which would, in fairness, be autocompleted), click on the search box and then type in βtoothpasteβ. The Alfred way of doing it is to launch Alfred, type βAMAΒ Toothpasteβ, hit theΒ key and be happy with the 5 seconds of your life youβve saved.
Alfred Workflows
One of the nice things about Alfred is that you can create custom βworkflowsβ to automate tedious tasks. Even better, you can download existing workflows online which link to apps you use in other parts of your life.
Fantastical + Alfred
One of my favourite Alfred workflows combines Alfred with Fantastical (a really nice mac and iOS calendar app). I use this workflow to add events to my calendar using natural language.
For example, letβs say I get an email saying that thereβs a lecture tomorrow from 9-10am at the Clifford Abbott Lecture Theatre. To add this to my Google calendar (via Fantastical), I launch Alfred and type βcal tomorrow 9am lecture at CALTβ, hitΒ and everything gets added to the calendar in the right boxes.
Alternatively, if I get a WhatsApp message saying that Katherineβs birthday party is next Friday from 7-10pm at Nandoβs, Iβd immediately launch Alfred, and type βcal next friday 7-10pm kat birthday party at nandosβ, which would insert everything I need to know into my calendar. Pretty cool right?
Other Custom Workflows
Hereβs a list of the workflows Iβve got active these days, most of which save just a small amount of time, but those small amounts add up to make me (hopefully) a lot more efficient when using my computer.
For example, letβs say I see an email in Front from someone asking for an Interview Crash Course bursary. Previously, Iβd have to open up the admin panel of the interview crash course website, find WooCommerce in the sidebar, click on Coupons and then click on Add New (which would take around 15 seconds of active work). Now, to get to the same page, I simply launch Alfred and type βint couβ – Alfred autofills the rest, and takes me straight to the page where I can create the coupon code.
Or for those times when Iβm buying some random piece of software online, and itβs asking for the 6med VAT number to apply the VAT 20% discount. Back in the day, Iβd have to open one of our websites, copy the number from the footer and paste it into the box. Now, I just use the Alfred workflow – by launching Alfred and typing β6med VAβ and hittingΒ , the VAT number is automatically inserted into the appropriate input box. An even better way of doing this would be to create a snippet that replaces the phrase β6medVATβ with our VAT number, for example.
Closing Remarks
So yeah, thatβs how I use Alfred to improve my efficiency when using my Mac. The aim (as with most productivity tools) is to minimise the time between thinking of an action and getting the computer to perform the action.
If you havenβt tried using Alfred, Iβd suggest downloading it (itβs free!) and giving it a go. Heck, even the Mac built-in spotlight works quite well these days, and in fact, quite a few people prefer it to Alfred. Either way, using the keyboard to navigate a computer tends to be much quicker than using the mouse/trackpad, so youβll save a lot of time in the long run π
So useful! Would certainly love an updated version to this in 2023! Downloaded that fantastical workflow immediately. I appreciate you writing this!