Alfred: free alternative to Spotlight that's light, powerful and easy to use
Created by indie developers Andrew and Vero Pepperrell (aka Running With Crayons Ltd) Alfred is a free alternative to Spotlight that's light, powerful and very easy to use. (See also: 10 amazing tips and tricks for using iTunes on Mac.)
At its most basic, Alfred enable to quickly find files and applications by simply typing a shortcut, [option] + [spacebar is selected by default, and then start typing what you what to find or do.
As you type, Alfred quickly runs through the files and apps on your Mac that contain those letters, narrowing down the more that you type. Once you've found what you're looking for, simply hit [Return] to open the appropriate app or file.
Alfred is quick, intuitive and a great timesaver. No wonder Apple is echoing some of its functionality with the revamped Spotlight app in OS X Yosemite. But there's a lot more to Alfred than that.
Buy the optional Powerpack (from £17) and you'll discover a whole new range of productivity tools - from the ability to create clipboards and snippets that you can use again again to complex workflows that enable you achieve complex tasks simply by using a couple of keywords and some keyboard combos.
Better yet: the Powerback also gives you full control over iTunes, enabling you to search for and play music and other content.
Other goodies included in the Powerback include syncing via Dropbox so your Alfred settings are available across all your Macs, 1Password integration and the ability to customise the way Alfred looks by creating your own colours, themes and window sizes and lots, lots more. Definitely worth the modest outlay we reckon.
- Free, optional powerpack: £17 (one user licence) / £27 (family licence) / £32 (single user, lifetime upgrades
- Running With Crayons Ltd
- www.alfredapp.com
