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Branden Garrett
← Writing
3 min readPersonal OS

Setting Up Alfred: A Faster Command+Space and Clipboard History

What Alfred is, what it costs, and the three things I set up first on any new Mac. The checklist I send coworkers.

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Contents · 7 sections

Alfred is a launcher for the Mac, made by Running with Crayons. You press a hotkey, a search box appears, and you type to open an app, find a file, or search the web. Spotlight does a version of this. Alfred does more of it, and you can set it up to work the way you do.

The core app is free. Some features, clipboard history included, need the Powerpack, a paid license. It's £34 for Alfred 5, or £59 for a Mega Supporter license with free lifetime upgrades.

A coworker asked how I set it up. This is the checklist.

Why Alfred Over Raycast

Raycast is the other launcher people ask about, and it's good. It has a store with thousands of extensions. Its free plan includes clipboard history. It has built-in AI on the paid Pro plan, and its own Hyper Key setting that turns Caps Lock or another key into a modifier. If I were starting from zero, I'd try both.

For me, it's speed. Alfred feels faster to open and faster to respond, and I open a launcher all day. That feeling is the thing I notice most. So I pay for the Powerpack and stay.

Install Alfred

  1. Download Alfred 5 from alfredapp.com.
  2. Drag it to Applications and open it.
  3. If you bought the Powerpack, open Alfred Preferences → Powerpack and enter the license from your email.

Skip the Mac App Store. The version there is Alfred 1.2, and it is no longer updated. (Alfred docs)

Give Alfred Command+Space

Alfred's default hotkey is Option+Space. I want Command+Space, which macOS gives to Spotlight, so free it up first.

  1. Open System Settings → Keyboard, click Keyboard Shortcuts, then choose Spotlight.
  2. Turn off the Spotlight search shortcut.
  3. Open Alfred Preferences → General.
  4. Click the Alfred Hotkey field and press Command+Space.

If it won't take, check Input Sources in the same Keyboard Shortcuts list. Language switching sometimes claims Command+Space too. (Alfred docs)

Turn On Clipboard History

This one needs the Powerpack. It's off by default for privacy.

  1. Open Alfred Preferences → Features → Clipboard.
  2. Check the types you want kept: text, images, file links.
  3. Pick how long to keep them, from 24 hours to 3 months.
  4. Copy something new. History starts the moment you turn it on.

If nothing shows up, it's permissions.

  1. In Alfred Preferences → General, click Request Permissions.
  2. Enable Alfred under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.
  3. Still nothing? Enable it under Input Monitoring in the same section.
  4. Quit and reopen Alfred.

(Alfred docs, permissions)

Change the Clipboard Shortcut

In the same Clipboard pane, set the viewer hotkey to something you'll remember. I use Option+Command+V because it sits next to paste. Open it, type to filter old copies, press Enter to paste.

Two Free Things Worth Learning

Both work without the Powerpack.

  • Web search. Start with a keyword. maps coffee searches Google Maps. Change keywords in Features → Web Search. (Alfred docs)
  • File search. Type open and a name to open a file, find to reveal it in Finder, in to search inside files. (Alfred docs)

Worth the Five Minutes

Spotlight works fine until you want it to do more than find files. Clipboard history alone pays for the Powerpack. You copy something, copy something else, and the first thing is still there when you need it.

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