EzDevInfo.com

Open folder for a given path in Mac OS X

Let's say I have a path to a folder in a text document or in the clipboard, for example:

/Users/Joe/Documents/workspace/test

How can I quickly open this folder in Mac OS X? In Windows I could open the Run-dialog, paste the path into the input box and the folder would open.

Is there a similar way in Mac OS X?

How do I enable snap-to-grid by default on Mac OS X?

I'm setting up a new Mac, and when I drag icons on my desktop (or in Windows, if I switch them to icon view), the icons don't snap into place unless I hold the command key down.

I can't recall how to make that "snap-to-grid" the default. And I can't find it in the Finder's View Options or Preferences.

Create a symbolic link in the Mac OS X Finder

Is there a way to get the same functionality as the unix command ln -s in the Mac OS X Finder (OS 10.5)? I want to be able to create symbolic links while working in Finder windows without opening the Terminal.

Note that the Make Alias command in Finder is not what I want because those aliases cannot be navigated in the Terminal (but links created with ln -s can be navigated by both the Terminal and Finder).

Trying to unzip file

When trying to unzip a file, I ghet the following error:

Archive:  file.zip
skipping: file.bla            need PK compat. v4.5 (can do v2.1)

Can any one help?

Make OS X's Quick Look work for custom file extensions

I find Finder's Quick Look feature (launched with Space) very useful, but it works only for a limited number of file extensions. In work I often get .properties, .conf, .ddl and other files which are essentially text, yet in Quick Look their content is never displayed:

Is there any way I can tell my Mac to treat those files as text?

Thanks!

How to cut files on Finder on Mac OSX 10.9 Mavericks? [duplicate]

I can't cut files on Mac OSX 10.9 Mavericks after upgrade. I can only copy and delete them. Why? How can I fix this?

OS X Lion new Finder view that doesn't allow sorting

In OS X, from Lion onwards, when I click on some of my folders in Finder and the title row of the files contains the usual stuff like "Date Modified" and "Size". However unlike the old Finder view I can't click on them to sort. Why is that and how do I make it never show up ever again?

How do you duplicate current open Finder view?

I often have a window where i want to drag and drop to a parent folder, and i need another finder window, so i open a new one and need to browse back to where the other window is ...

How to auto-arrange/clean-up files for ALL folders in OSX Mountain Lion

I have figured out how to make folders auto arrange their contents. This is achieved in Finder->View->Show View Options (or cmd+J).

From the newly opened window, setting the arrange by dropdown will set the folders behavior from then on. But it is only for the folder this menu was opened in. How do I set this as a Finder rule for all directories?

EDIT
I am using Mountain Lion - 10.8.2
I don't have a 'Use as Defaults' button in my view panes - here's a screen grab:

How to merge (and not replace) folders when copying on the Mac?

There's a similar question about windows. This is the same, but for mac. By the way, it's odd there's no question on this yet, since it seems like it's the most hated thing on Mac OS X.

If I try to copy or move a folder to somewhere it already exists, it asks to replace it. That would result in deleting the target. Rather I want to merge.

There's already a aquataskforce request about this, and it's a discussion going for a long time if it's even something that should exist on Mac, due to its whole philosophy. Discussions at Apple are outdated and didn't help much as well.

As usual, there are professional solutions for doing this, such as Changes and Araxis. And there is the rsync or command line alternatives. But I want a free and simple solution, something like how it is done in Windows or Linux. I won't be doing it much anyway. By the way, PathFinder don't have such option as well and FolderMerge doesn't work on Snow Leopard as far as my 1 test went.

Suggestions to whom may come up with a solution:

I think a good idea would be to move everything non-exact-duplicate to the same folder, and leave every duplicate behind. No confirmation is needed in this case, and I can easily check the duplicates later. If it's copying merge, then the target folder will contain everything, and the source will be rather untouched. Duplicate-check is just on the file name. Leave any more complicated thing to third parties.

"Show In Finder" won't open a new finder window

The "Show In Finder" action isn't working on Mac OS X Mountain Lion. The problem has just started to occur all the time, before it was a bit sporadic, but now it happens all the time.

Things that don't work:

• In the chrome Downloads page clicking any of the "Show in Finder" links.
• Right clicking a file in XCode and choosing "Show in Finder"

Things that work:

• open . in terminal
• command-n after command tabbing to Finder.

Things I've tried to fix the issue:

• Opt - Right Click finder in the dock and relauching
• Restarting my computer

Anybody ever experienced this issue?

Copying and pasting the path within Finder

I've recently moved to the Mac from Windows as my primary machine. One feature I'm really missing is the ability to quickly navigate between folders. I used to do this under Windows by copying the path from one Explorer window and pasting it into a file open/save dialog or another Explorer window.

I can't work out anyway of doing this with the Finder and am getting frustrated by the reduced efficiency of navigating the interface. The best I've been able to do is make Finder show the path on a window, but that still doesn't let me copy and paste it into a dialog.

I did try the app Path Finder but that doesn't seem to do it either and also doesn't seem to integrate with the file open/save dialogs.

Does anyone know if this is a possibility or another way I can more easily navigate around?

Permanently deleting files on Mac OS

A while back, as relatively new Mac OS X user, I was surprised to learn that you cannot easily delete files. Directly, that is, without moving them to the trash first. On Windows and Linux this can obviously be done with ease, but not so on the Mac.

I noticed this when trying clear up files from a USB memory stick — removing the files ("move to trash") does not free up space; that happens only after emptying the whole system-wide Trash. Not particularly convenient! (It seems stupid to have to empty the whole trashcan just to make some space on the USB stick. There might be gigabytes of stuff in there, and this sort of defeats its purpose - what if you'd actually need to restore something from the trash some day.)

So, what's your way of getting around this? Have you bought a 3rd party application like RAW Trash for $16.95 just to delete files, or do you diligently empty the trashcan whenever needed? Or did I miss something? Also, can you convince me that this is actually the way it should be — that users shouldn't be able to fiddle with the filesystem easily? :)

Adding Folder to Finder Sidebar with Custom Name

I'd like to add a a shortcut to Finder's Places Sidebar. The folder's name happens to be Applications, so I want to give it a different name since there's already the standard Applications folder there.

Renaming the folder on the sidebar renames the actual folder, which is undesirable because I think it might break the program which uses it.

I've tried making an alias, and then dragging the alias to the Sidebar, but the real name gets used.

Do you know how I can create this shortcut on the sidebar with a different name?

Dropbox context menu missing in OS X

Problem

My Dropbox context menu is missing in OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.8). While the Dropbox service runs normally, Finder doesn't show the icons and also doesn't give me the ability to browse files on the website or copy the public link.

What I've tried

• Removed ~/.dropbox and ~/Dropbox/.dropbox.cache
• Reinstalled Dropbox.app (both 1.4.7 stable and 1.5.0 experimental), went through the setup again
• Restarted Finder
• Logged out and back in
• Removed /Library/DropboxHelperTools entirely, upon which the installer required me to enter the password and recreated the folder

• Manually run /Library/DropboxHelperTools/DropboxHelperInstaller, results in this console output (also with sudo):

  <pid>28642</pid>
  usage
  <failure> 22
  

• I know now that Dropbox hacks the Finder to insert these icons and context menu items, based on the FinderLoadBundle architecture (similar to this), but manually running the executables inside FinderLoadBundle.tgz under Dropbox.app » Contents » Resources doesn't do anything either.

All of these I've done over and over again, in random permutations.

I've made sure that

• Dropbox appears in the Login Items under my Account (and I've never touched that)
• Folder Actions Setup is enabled under Keyboard Shortcuts » Services.
• Everything works fine on a newly created user account.

In any case, I can't get the icons or the menu to appear.