Seems counterintuitive to me that moving the crankset inward would help it shift toward the granny ring, but props on getting it to work. Perhaps the cage being a little lower (assuming you didn't change the mounting of the FD), or twisted a little, now helps it to nudge the chain off the middle ring...

Several of my bikes have the crankset farther outboard than necessary, and it's puzzling. When I replace the bottom brackets, I'm planning to use shorter ones as well.