Is there a way to sort universal actions list?

[AndreProducer]

Hi,

 

Is there a way to sort universal actions list? I don't like using the option "sort actions by last used per type".

 

Cheers,

Andre

[Chris Messina]

Does it help that you can type-to-find? 

 

Also, can you elaborate on how sorting your UA list would be useful?

[AndreProducer]

2 hours ago, Chris Messina said:

Does it help that you can type-to-find? 

 

Also, can you elaborate on how sorting your UA list would be useful?

 

If I could sort UA list then I would be able to execute desired functions based on muscle memory.

[Chris Messina]

On 10/9/2021 at 6:36 PM, AndreProducer said:

If I could sort UA list then I would be able to execute desired functions based on muscle memory.

 

Got it. I can't speak on behalf of @Andrew, but given the dynamic "learning" aspect of Alfred, it seems like manual sorting (unless you're using some kind of List Filter), isn't the preferred default behavior.

 

Because Workflows can register new UAs, it's unclear what might happen to your sort order when they are added.

[AndreProducer]

On 10/21/2021 at 5:12 PM, Chris Messina said:

 

Got it. I can't speak on behalf of @Andrew, but given the dynamic "learning" aspect of Alfred, it seems like manual sorting (unless you're using some kind of List Filter), isn't the preferred default behavior.

 

Because Workflows can register new UAs, it's unclear what might happen to your sort order when they are added.

 

Let me just say this - I absolutely love Alfred app, but the fact that I cannot sort the universal actions is really surprising to me, considering how otherwise smart and well thought out the app is. I'm not saying that implementing this functionality would be the easiest but it's definitely doable. To be honest, I wouldn't even cry if this manual sorting wasn't here but the problem is that the current implementation of sorting based on usage is not smart at all. Let me give you a simple example:

The 2 most often Universal Actions that I use on words are 1."Google that" 2."Translate that". 9 times out of 10 I use "Google that" so it sits on the top of the list, but if after those 9 times I use "Translate that" just one time it takes the first place instantly. It nullifies the muscle memory and it's a perfectionist hell. 

[deanishe]

1 hour ago, AndreProducer said:

but if after those 9 times I use "Translate that" just one time it takes the first place instantly.

 

Yeah, this keeps biting me, too, and it's rather irritating. The Universal Action list just doesn't behave like Alfred is supposed to (in my mind).

 

I'm not sure there's a lot of value in manual ordering. Re-ordering results based on your usage is kinda Alfred's thing, and it makes a manually-ordered list somewhat pointless. To my mind, the issue is rather that the algorithm Alfred currently uses to sort Actions is different to the way normal search works.

 

We all train ourselves to consistently use the same search terms for the same items, and in return Alfred consistently ensures that the same item is always the top result for a given query. But the Actions list deviates from that behaviour, making it inherently somewhat tricky to use.

Edited October 23, 2021 by deanishe

[AndreProducer]

Is there a way to move this topic to feature requests or bugs? Whichever you think would be suitable? 

[Chris Messina]

On 10/24/2021 at 10:20 AM, AndreProducer said:

Is there a way to move this topic to feature requests or bugs? Whichever you think would be suitable? 

 

@Andrew can do that — and probably should also see the UA sorting algorithm feedback in this thread.

 

[Andrew]

Alfred's Universal Action sorting is basic compared to Alfred's default results, but rest assured that 4.5 is just the beginning for Universal Actions and I have so much more in the works

[AndreProducer]

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

Alfred's Universal Action sorting is basic compared to Alfred's default results, but rest assured that 4.5 is just the beginning for Universal Actions and I have so much more in the works

 

Thanks Andrew, I'm huge fan of the Alfred. Keep it going  (⌐ ͡■ ͜ʖ ͡■)

[deanishe]

On 10/23/2021 at 2:25 AM, deanishe said:

The Universal Action list just doesn't behave like Alfred is supposed to (in my mind).

 

To add to this, the matching algo is different to Alfred’s main search, too, so I can’t use the same keywords. I’ve trained Alfred to associate Affinity Designer and Photo with affd and affp respectively in its main search. But neither of these queries match the applications inside the Open With action.

 

I think it's very important to have consistent matching behaviour across Alfred's core because keyword–application associations should and do become deeply ingrained.

[AndreProducer]

@Andrew sorry to ping you so shamelessly but do you have any plan in mind for this topic or its something for the far away future?

 

Edited November 21, 2021 by AndreProducer

[ReefCo]

for the future i guess

[AndreProducer]

Still nothing?

[Andrew]

11 hours ago, AndreProducer said:

Still nothing?

 

Universal Actions was a significant mid-cycle 4.5 update. Alfred 5 primary focus was on Workflows, and has taken over 6 months of hard work.

 

Don't worry, Universal Actions will get some attention again in the future.

[setupisanoun]

On 7/14/2022 at 3:12 AM, Andrew said:

 

Universal Actions was a significant mid-cycle 4.5 update. Alfred 5 primary focus was on Workflows, and has taken over 6 months of hard work.

 

Don't worry, Universal Actions will get some attention again in the future.

 

Looking forward to that very much.

 

In addition to the great 5.0 workflow functionality I find the bits of added documentation and some additional workflows, both in the app and the couple of blog posts so far, immensely helpful. Thank you for that, too. But also, more please

[SoCuul]

On 7/14/2022 at 3:12 AM, Andrew said:

 

Universal Actions was a significant mid-cycle 4.5 update. Alfred 5 primary focus was on Workflows, and has taken over 6 months of hard work.

 

Don't worry, Universal Actions will get some attention again in the future.

 

@Andrew Thank you for your hard work on alfred! It's been a joy to use. I'm wondering if this is planned for an upcoming version?

[Andrew]

@SoCuul Would you mind outlining the specific use case you're looking for?

 

The Universal Actions panel is broad and can cover multiple different types of scenario. Applying a default sort order may work for one type of data, but not another. There are also Universal Actions dynamically provided by workflows which aren't in the default list so can't be "sorted". Right now, Alfred uses an internal algorithm to present the most relevant actions to you.

 

Cheers,

Andrew

[SoCuul]

@Andrew Sorry for the late reply!

 

My main gripe right now is custom actions appearing under the default alfred built-in options. I don't make much use of "copy to" or "move to", and it would be nice for them to display lower in the list so I can use my custom actions with the command + # shortcut.

[FireFingers21]

@Andrew I second this. Rarely do I find myself wanting to "Browse Folder in Alfred" compared to how frequently I use the "Open With..." Universal Action instead. That doesn't mean though that I want to outright turn it off, as I do use both. It would just be nice to use the "Open With..." action with a single tap of the return key rather than arrow down or use multiple keystrokes of ⌘+2.

 

The option to manually drag more frequently used Default Actions higher in the list makes them more quickly accessible, as Alfred has never been able to present the most relevant actions to me on his own.

[zeitlings]

@FireFingers21 As a side note: For this particular scenario, I configured a hotkey specifically for Finder: ⇧⌘↓. Check if the selection is a file or folder, and on success, route the file path into the "Action in Alfred" object that jumps to "Open with...". It's such a simple but effective little quality-of-life improvement.