When an instance of the target App is already running, bring it to front

[ravanscafi]

When I type something like Google Chrome at Albert and hit for the first time, Chrome is open.
If I type it again (without closing Chrome) would call for a new instance (specifically in Chrome, it will open a new window, but other programs will "duplicate").

It should bring to front when already open.

[keevitaja]

So by launching Google twice will result in 2 windows? If yes, then Ubuntu Dash has the same feature... So IMHO it is expected behavior!

[ravanscafi]

It could act like the Alt + Tab behavior, would make it easier to navigate without remembering/hunting down where the App is on Alt Tab.

[keevitaja]

It has nothing to do with Albert. Please see the launcher in /usr/share/applications

[ravanscafi]

It's the default behavior of Alfred, a well accepted one.
It could be at least possible with a modifier key, the intention of Albert is to improve a person's workflow, right? So when I say "Sublime Text", just bring it to me, if it's open, that's the one I want, if it is not, just open it.

[ManuelSchneid3r]

Well I think this feature would be cool, but there is no chance for albert doing this without introducing a lot of hackish and especially DE dependant code. Responsible for this desktop feature is the desktop environment and its subprograms. OS X handles applications different than Linux. The mentioned behavior is general to the OSX applications, not only when started through alfred. (Check the dock) In Linuxland apps are started with dekstop entries and, as keevitaja mentioned, the commands are specified in the desktop entries in /usr/share/applications. It is up to an application how they handle several executions of the same process, e.g. Thunderbird will have your desired behaviour, xterm will not and chromium will let you specify it with a commandline switch.

Maybe in the far future, when the pluginsystem is more mature there will be a plugin that implements this feature and maybe if you are interested and patient you could write it 👍 😄

[ravanscafi]

Sure, I'll look into it once it's done.
I didn't know that this was the default behavior on OS X, it makes things really easier (but perhaps brings other problems? 😉).
I just thought that we could use something as simple as wmctrl -a "APPNAME" or save the proccess PID when launched and use it somehow.