Skip to content

Alfred

app · in 11 sources (2018–2020)

Sources by year: 2018: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2020: 6

Often together

What comes up in the same parts of the videos; the number is how many parts.

keyboard navigation (8) · Microsoft Windows (5) · Safari (3) · MacBook (5) · Google Drive (2) · Ali Abdaal's grandmother (2) · iPad (3) · iPad Pro (3) · Notion (2)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2020

  • 2020-04-17 · Answering your Questions — recommendation: Ali's biggest micro-efficiency is avoiding the mouse and navigating with keyboard shortcuts; on a Mac the app Alfred makes it easy, there are Windows alternatives, and the seconds saved add up to hours. — 00:09:20
    • Ali says he cannot live without Alfred, which has saved him so much time; watching people click with the mouse now frustrates him as so slow. (overstated) — 00:09:47
  • 2020-04-29 · Productivity, Books and Careers Advice - Ali Abdaal x Noah Kagan // Deep Dive — Ali's productivity rests on optimising every interaction with a computer: a fast typing speed, keyboard shortcuts and tools like Alfred. — 01:11:40
  • 2020-05-05 · My Favourite Mac Apps · What's on my MacBook Pro? — recommendation: Ali: Asked what Alfred offers over Spotlight, Ali says it is more customisable, has add-ons and, most importantly for him, lets you search Google. — creator comment
    • Alfred, a replacement for the Mac's Spotlight search, is by far Ali's most important Mac app, the one he cannot live without. — 00:00:29
    • Ali does not waste time moving the mouse and clicking, which he calls a total waste of time: he uses Alfred to find files, open apps and search Google. — 00:00:58
    • Since getting his MacBook on 21 August 2018, Ali has used Alfred 20,830 times, 33.5 times a day on average; on one busy day two weeks earlier, 201 times. — 00:02:01
    • A big part of productivity on a computer, Ali says, is minimising the time between thinking you want to do something and it being done. — 00:02:30
    • Ali calls Alfred the key "lubricating jelly" that makes using his Mac infinitely smoother; it is always the first thing he installs on a new computer. — 00:02:30
  • 2020-07-21 (said on 2020-07-20, implied) · How I Organise My Life — Ali has recently started using a daily notes template in Roam Research, inserted by an Alfred snippet when he types "Roam Daily". — 00:09:14
  • 2020-08-18 · How I Type REALLY Fast (156 Words per Minute) — Ali does not even show his Mac's dock: he opens every app with Alfred, pressing Command and Space and typing the app's name. — 00:08:07
    • Ali likes that Alfred, unlike Spotlight, automatically searches Google for anything typed that is not an app or a file. — 00:08:57
  • …and 1 statement more in 2020 — all statements of 2020

Also named in: HEAD TO HEAD - iPad Pro vs MacBook Air (2020)

2019

  • 2019-07-26 · How I Manage my Time as a Doctor + YouTuber - 9 Time Management Tips — recommendation: Ali's most important time-management tool is Alfred, a Mac app that lets you do anything with the keyboard: Command-Space and "saf" opens Safari instead of a three-second trip to the dock. — 00:07:36
    • With Alfred's file search Ali types a file name and it opens at once, instead of spending 10 to 20 seconds clicking through folders in Finder or Google Drive. — 00:08:13
    • Ali calls shaving about ten seconds off almost every interaction with the computer, as Alfred does, absolutely game changing. — 00:08:54
    • Navigating your computer with the mouse wastes a lot of time, Ali says: use Alfred, Spotlight Search or the Windows key and type, since keyboard shortcuts are much quicker. — 00:08:54
  • 2019-09-13 · My Productivity Desk Setup — Ali: On the ultrawide's side windows Ali juggles other apps: an email opens in Superhuman, launched with Alfred, in one window, a Slack message in another. — 00:02:07
  • 2019-10-14 · Do students need an iPad or a MacBook? — Ali: An iPad is inherently less efficient than a laptop at the same tasks: Mac and Windows have system-wide search utilities such as Alfred or the Windows logo key, which are harder to match on an iPad. — 00:01:07
    • Ali uses keyboard shortcuts for everything, Alfred, automations, workflows and text expanders to save seconds on each interaction, so he cannot really replace his laptop with an iPad. — 00:02:05

2018

  • 2018-03-07 · Monthly Favourites #2 - Ali Abdaal — recommendation: Ali uses the Mac launcher Alfred, or Spotlight, with equivalents on Windows, and has written about it on his blog aliabdaal.com. — 00:05:38
    • Ali's rule is to use the mouse or trackpad as little and the keyboard as much as possible: Command-Space and a typed name open an app, a search or a file. — 00:06:07
    • Opening a poster file deep in his Google Drive by clicking took Ali 10 to 15 seconds; with Alfred it takes about two, and he says such savings add up. — 00:06:36
  • 2018-10-10 · iPad vs Macbook for Students - Can a tablet replace your laptop? — Ali: Opening a web address on an iPad takes a swipe up to the dock, a tap on Safari, a tap on the address bar and typing; on a MacBook used with Spotlight, Alfred and keyboard navigation, Ali says, almost anything is a little faster. — 00:03:16
    • Ali wants an action done as soon as he thinks of it, which a fast typing speed with Alfred or Spotlight allows, while on an iPad the software and the touch interface hold him back. — 00:03:45