An Alfred Workflow for the Johnny.Decimal filing system
This workflow provides tools for working with the brilliant Johnny.Decimal filing system created by John Noble. It enables you to search (default keyword: jd) your Johnny.Decimal tree with Alfred at any level (Area, Category or ID), showing you all the folders at that level.
You can also create new ID folders using the workflow (default keyword: jdn): choose the Category folder in which you want to add a new folder, and enter a folder name, and the workflow will prepend the next available AC.ID number to your folder name and create the folder for you.
The search workflow provides different ways of acting on the results, such as opening in Finder, Terminal or browsing in Alfred.
NOTE: This is currently alpha software. It works and I have tried to anticipate edge cases, but use with caution and make sure you have a backup!
The workflow requires macOS, the Alfred Powerpack, and Alfred 4.0 or higher. Currently, the workflow only handles Johnny.Decimal systems using the standard AC.ID structure, not PRO.AC.ID (see this explanation of multiple project systems). I hope to enable working with either structure in future updates.
- Download the workflow from GitHub releases, and double click it to install in Alfred.
- If you are using macOS Catalina or Big Sur, you will probably get a warning about 'unsigned binaries'. See the instructions here to fix the permissions and allow Alfred to run the Go binary. You should only have to do this once.
NOTE: Before you try running the workflow for the first time, check whether you have the option 'Show latest query if within 5 minutes' in Alfred's Preferences > Advanced window checked. If so, uncheck it before trying to run the workflow for the first time. If you don't, the warning message about permissions will block you from running any other command in Alfred until you have fixed the permissions. You can safely re-enable the option again after fixing permissions.
The final step in setting things up is to select this workflow in the sidebar of Alfred's preferences (under 'Workflows'), and then click the '[X]' button in the top right of the window to open the 'Configure workflow and variables' window. Follow the instructions here to enter the path to your Johnny.Decimal root folder for the 'JD_DIR' variable, so that the workflow knows where to start looking for your Johnny.Decimal filing system.
As of v0.3.0, the workflow should check for updates and be able to update itself to the latest release. If the version of the workflow is older than the newest release available here, it will show a message. Hitting return on that message should update the workflow.
If you find a bug or have ideas for feature requests, please submit an issue.
Huge thanks to John Noble for creating such an elegant method of filing!
Thanks also to Dean Jackson, whose awgo package makes developing Go-based Alfred workflows a delight, and to Nikita Voloboev, whose tutorial on using awgo and workflows were really useful in getting started.