Alfred, an incredible productivity tool for Mac OS X that was voted the best Mac application of 2011 by Cult of Mac readers, has just received a “huge” update that introduces two new color themes and large type support, plus a whole host of improvements.
Alfred version 1.2 is available to download from the Mac App Store now. In addition to “Dark” and “Smooth & Pistachio” themes, the update brings large type support; the ability to drag Alfred search results — such as files and images — into other applications; and a new advanced option that allows you to add any file type to the default search results.
Furthermore, the update brings a huge list of improvements, including:
* Overhaul to file searching algorithm allowing, now non-continuous word based matching
* Improvements to the ‘in’ keyword allowing for disjoint keyword matching
* More exact matching for ‘text files’ in the default results, no longer matches .ics files
* Improved decimal point configuration in the Calculator, now allowing forced decimal separator output for comma based locales
* Alfred.app no longer shows in results and typing ‘alfred’ now opens the preferences
* Add Xcode’s new Applications location to the default search scope
* More flexibility on the Spell/Define keywords, allow matching on items not in the dictionary
* Less aggressive scientific notation rounding for the calculator for better 0 approximation errors
* More intelligent ‘eject’ keyword to prevent false errors when a drive is successfully ejected
* Code and performance improvements
* Fixed / improved text and help throughout the preferences
* Make MAS version startup / welcome sheet non resizable and close using Esc key
* Allow ⌘^Q and ⌘^W as hotkeys, previously blocked by over-protective code
* Update the core window renderer to fix a quirk behind the preference cog with transparent themes
* Remove deprecated code and make Alfred more future proofed for OS X
If you haven’t already installed Alfred on your Mac, then you should. It’s completely free so there’s no reason not to give this awesome tool a try.
