Post Tagged with: "Finder"

Take control of your Mac OS X Finder windows

Take control of your Mac OS X Finder windows

Mac OS X FinderThere are numerous ways to customize your Mac’s appearance, and one of the things I love about OS X is the ability to quickly change the views of your Finder windows using easy to remember keyboard shortcuts.

Here’s a list of some of the commonly used keyboard shortcuts that will allow you to customize the way you view files in Mac OS X’s Finder.

  • Command + Option + T hides the toolbar across the top of your window
  • Command + Option + S hides the sidebar on the left edge of your window
  • Command + [ takes you back
  • Command = ] takes you forward
  • Command + Up Arrow opens enclosed folder
  • Command + Control + Up Arrow opens enclosed folder in a new window
  • Command + Down Arrow opens the highlighted item

Here is a more complete collection of keyboard shortcuts, straight from Apple.

04/08/2011 Read More
Three great utilities that should be built-in to Mac OS X

Three great utilities that should be built-in to Mac OS X

Mac OS X FinderWith all the cool features found in Mac OS X, it’s hard to believe that there are a few obvious features still haven’t been added to OS X’s Finder. Finder tabs, window management, Dock enhancements, and a more robust dialog box have been shortcomings of Mac OS X for a long time.

Perhaps someday soon Apple will finally get around to enhancing the Finder with the features mentioned above, but until then you can have them now via three fantastic add-ons; Default Folder X, HyperDock, and TotalFinder.

10/18/2010 Read More
Easily add Spotlight comments to files in Mac OS X Finder

Easily add Spotlight comments to files in Mac OS X Finder

Searching for and finding files with Mac OS X’s Spotlight is fast and easy. Unfortunately, adding keywords and comments to your files and folders isn’t quite as simple. This little OS X Service will change that.

Add Spotlight Comments

AddSpotlightComments Service for Mac OS X

AddSpotlightComments Service is just what the name implies, a Service that makes adding keywords and comments simple. You install the workflow file to your ~/Library/Services folder and restart the Finder. Once installed, you can right-click on a file or folder in the Finder and select Add Spotlight Comments from the bottom of the Contextual menu. A dialog box appears where you can type in your keywords, comments, or whatever other info you wish. It’s that simple.

There are other utilities that offer this capability, but none are so seamless and simple.

06/18/2010 Read More
Hide files and folders in the Mac OS X Finder

Hide files and folders in the Mac OS X Finder

If you share a computer with someone, or your office computer is accessible to prying eyes and you want to hide a file or folder of private documents, it’s quite easy to do without the need to download any software.

Let’s say you want to hide a folder in your Documents folder called “MyStuff.” You can do it simply by launching the Terminal (found in your Utilities folder inside Applications) and typing the following:
chflags hidden ~/Documents/MyStuff

Once your MyStuff folder is hidden, it will not appear in the Finder, but it will still be accessible via the Finder’s Go>Go to Folder (Command + Shift + G) and typing in the path to the folder.

To unhide your MyStuff folder, simply type the following:
chflags nohidden ~/Documents/MyStuff

If using the Terminal isn’t your thing, you can download Hideaway, which does the same thing, only you just click a few buttons instead of typing code into the Terminal.

06/10/2010 Read More
Create symbolic links the easy way

Create symbolic links the easy way

SymbolicLinkerSymbolicLinker is a tiny contextual menu plugin (for Puma through Leopard users) and software service (for Snow Leopard & later users) that, once installed, allows any user to create symbolic links to files inside the Finder. SymbolicLinker does this by adding a contextual menu item to the Finder that generates symbolic links to the selected files.

Dan Frakes recently wrote a review of SymbolicLinker for his MacGems column at Macworld, which explains more about why you would want this handy little add-on for OS X. Needless to say, if you know you have the need for creating symbolic links, this app will save you trips to the Terminal each time you need to do it.

05/13/2010 Read More
Add tabbed windows to Mac OS X’s Finder

Add tabbed windows to Mac OS X’s Finder

TotalFinder iconWhen tabs finally found their way into Web browsers some years ago, people immediately fell in love with them. In fact, most people wonder how someone could live without them. With Apple’s love for a minimalist interface, you have to wonder why we still don’t have them on the desktop. Whatever the reason, we’ve been left to wait for a third-party solution.

Thankfully, a creative and persistent developer has finally figured out a way to add them into Mac OS X’s Finder without completely replacing the look, feel and functionality of the Finder in the process.

Tabs in Mac OS X's Finder windows

Tabs in Mac OS X's Finder windows

TotalFinder, a SIMBL application by BinaryAge adds elegant tabs, borrowed from Google Chrome, to Mac OS X’s Finder windows. The tabs look, feel and act like tabs in your Web browser for the most part. Along with the tabbed windows (seen above in the screenshot), TotalFinder also adds a few other really cool features.

03/08/2010 Read More
Get more info about your files and folders in Mac OS X’s Finder

Get more info about your files and folders in Mac OS X’s Finder

Sometimes a little info goes a long, long way. While you can do a Get Info (Command + i) on a selected file, it would be easier if you could see just a little info without the hassle of a keyboard command – such as how many files are contained in a particular folder, or the dimensions of an image file. Once again, Apple thought of the little things.

OS X Finder Item InfoA quick visit to the Finder’s menubar does the trick! Simply go to View>Show View Options (or hit Command + J). In the View Options window about half-way down, click in the checkbox next to Show Item Info as seen in the screenshot at the right.

OS X Finder Item InfoOnce that option is activated in the Finder, you’ll notice information located just below the desktop icon file name colored in light blue. When you’re in icon view mode in a folder, which you can switch to by hitting Command + 1, you’ll see the info there too. As you can see in the screenshot at the left, you’ll get a quick glimpse of the number of items inside a folder, and the pixel dimensions of image files.

Not all document types display information, but these two in particular I find quite useful.

02/16/2010 Read More
Quick tip: Move files instead of copy them

Quick tip: Move files instead of copy them

If you have multiple hard drives set up on your Mac, you may find yourself wishing to move a file (or files) from one drive to another. This generally requires you to copy the file(s) by dragging it to the destination drive, then going back and deleting the file from its original location so you don’t have duplicate copies on your hard drives. Rather than doing that, try holding down the Command key while dragging it to the new location. Your file will be “moved” instead of copied, releasing you from the need to go back and delete the original.

01/08/2009 Read More
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