Alfred is a must-have on the Mac, the most powerful productivity tool on the Mac, and it’s not just a quick start and search tool. Its Workflow extension makes it a “tool desk” software with unlimited automation potential, and you can use it to implement all your automation ideas.

You can get a sense of how powerful Alfred is by highlighting all of its features in the official image below.

Access to Alfred

You can download the Alfred installer from the Alfred website and use it once you’ve installed it. However, Alfred breaks down features into free and paid categories:

  • Free users can only use Features (basic search and quick app launch, which are already available to non-heavy users).

  • To use Workflows (that is, a workflow for custom plug-ins), you need to enable the Powerpack feature.

The normal way to activate Powerpack is of course to purchase the serial number, and there are also technical ways to obtain this feature, but it is highly recommended that you purchase and use the legal version.

After Powerpack is enabled, you can see something similar to the following image in the Powerpack subscreen of the Settings screen. This means that you can use all of Alfred’s capabilities, including workflow.

If you don’t already know how to use Alfred’s basic features, it’s recommended that you read “New Version Alfred” and “OS X Efficiency Launcher Alfred” for a primer.

Today, I’d like to highlight some of the most powerful and useful Alfred plugins I’ve used for a long time.

Secure SHell

SSH/SFTP/mosh is a very powerful plugin for quickly opening SSH/SFTP/mosh links on Alfred.

Plugin official address: http://t.cn/R1rSuNZ

If you use SSH to access servers as much as I do, this is probably the best option for you. This plugin also makes up for iTerm2’s inability to manage multiple hosts. The plugin looks like this:

The default startup keyword for this plug-in is: SSH. By default, if you press Enter on the selected SSH link, the SSH server is accessed from the terminal.

More of the following functions can be achieved by pairing selected links with function keys:

⌘+↩ - Open an SFTP link. ⌥+↩ - Use mosh to access the current SSH link. ⇧+↩ - Use the Ping command to test the connectivity of the host. ^+↩ - Clear previously accessed connection information from history.Copy the code

By default, Secure SHell supports reading SSH link configuration information from the following files:

~/.ssh/config ~/.ssh/known_hosts /etc/hosts /etc/ssh/ssh_config History (previously entered user name + host address)Copy the code

Secure SHell is already powerful and convenient by default, but you’ll find it even better when combined with SSH user profiles. If you don’t know how to use SSH user profiles to manage multiple hosts, see “Using SSH User Profiles Config to manage SSH sessions”.

TerminalFinder

A plugin that can quickly switch between Terminal and Finder.

Plugin official address: http://t.cn/RUBVNao

The main purpose of TerminalFinder is to quickly switch between Finder and Terminal to the current directory. TerminalFinder is very simple to use and can be quickly switched by typing the following keywords into Alfred:

Ft: open the directory in the current Finder tf: Open the directory in the current Finder fi: Open the directory in the current Finder in iTerm if: In Finder open the current directory in iTerm pt: in Terminal open the current directory in Path Finder TP: in Path Finder open the current directory in Terminal PI: IP: Opens the directory in the current iTerm in the Path FinderCopy the code

For example, if you want to open the directory in the current Finder in iTerm, type fi into Alfred.

Password Generator

A fast random password generator.

Plugin official address: http://t.cn/R1roUm6

If you need to generate random passwords frequently, Password Generator is a good choice. The plugin looks like this:

By default, the plug-in provides three startup keywords: pwgen, pwlen, and pwconf. By default, pwgen generates a random set of passwords and displays their length information, so simply press Enter on the selected entry to easily copy it.

If you want to customize the Password generation rules, simply type pwconf to enter the Password Generator configuration screen. Password Generator provides a rich set of configuration features that can be customized according to different requirements.

If you want to quickly generate a random password of specified length, you can use pwlen to do this. For example, to generate a random 10-digit password, type pwlen 10:

Pwlen generates a random password of 20 characters by default.

Password Generator is much more powerful than this. Some of its advanced features are detailed in the official documentation, which will not be repeated here.

New Files

A plug-in that allows you to quickly create new documents and folders anywhere.

Plugin official address: http://t.cn/R1roVJB

By default, macOS cannot create a new file by right-clicking the menu. MacOS is designed to encourage users to create the required files through the application, rather than creating files to open the application. If you’ve been a Windows user, you’re probably not used to this. New Files is used to solve this problem. With New Files, you can create New documents in any format you want.

The default startup keyword for this plug-in is: new. By default, you can create three types of files and directories: TXT, MD and custom file type. TXT and MD are also common text formats. The plug-in takes these two types of files as the default file types. That’s very sweet!

The New Files function is very powerful, not only can you create the required document type document anytime and anywhere, but also allows you to choose the location of the New document when creating a New document, whether to put the contents of the clipboard directly into the New document.

Here’s how to quickly create a file in MD format:

Enter the name of the new file:

Select the location to save the file:

And paste the contents of the clipboard into the new file automatically:

Once the file is created, the plug-in also automatically opens the new file with the program associated with the file type default.

After the above simple steps, a specified file format and contains the contents of the clipboard to create a file, is not very convenient?

If you want to customize common file types, you can add them directly in the plugin Settings screen.

If you want to customize the common file storage path is also possible, also in the plug-in Settings screen can be added.

Recent Items

Displays recently accessed files, folders, applications, documents, downloaded content, and so on.

Plugin official address: http://t.cn/RmFG5Zy

The default startup keyword for this plug-in is: rec. You can use the following keywords to quickly access the corresponding types.

Corresponding classification description of each keyword:

Fol: show recently used directories apps: show recently used applications docs: Show recently used documents Dow: Show recently downloaded files FAv: Show recently favorite items C1: Show recently used files Default reserved keywords for user-defined category items C2: Default reserved keywords for user-defined category itemsCopy the code

By default, pressing enter on the selected item opens a file or directory. If you use some function keys on the selected item, you can do more of the following:

Contributes.⌘ +↩ - display a file or folder in the Finder ⌥+↩ - transferring the file/directory path to the Open/Save dialog or Finder window to contribute +↩ - Quickly preview the selected file or directory ^+ ⌥ - Add or remove the selected file or directory from the favoritesCopy the code

For example, if you want to display recently used apps in Alfred, type rec apps into Alfred.

Hidden Files

A plug-in that can quickly toggle hidden files in the Finder.

The default startup keyword for this plug-in is hide. Very simple to use, the effect is shown below:

The hidden file is displayed in the directory that opens in the Finder.

In the show hidden file state, type hide again to not show the hidden file in the Finder.

I usually view hidden files on the terminal, so this plugin is much less common. Plug-in download address is not found for the time being, if you think the plug-in is useful to you, you can leave the contact information to send you separately!

That concludes the recommended Alfred plugins. If you have any suggestions for a new Alfred plugin, feel free to leave a comment!

Today’s idea

Have a long talk with yourself and shake hands with loneliness.

— A zen little Monk

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