Aliases

An alias (Figure 26) is a pointer to an item. You can make an alias of an item and place it anywhere on your computer. Then, when you need to open the item, just open its alias.

Figure 26. •The icon for an alias looks like the original item's icon but includes a tiny arrow.

Tips

• It's important to remember that an alias is not a copy of the itemit's a pointer. If you delete the original item, the alias will not open.

• You can use the Select New Original dialog (Figure 46) to reassign an original to an alias, as explained later in this chapter.

  Figure 46. Use the Select New Original dialog to locate and choose a new original for an alias.

  
  
  

• By putting aliases of frequently used items together where you can quickly access themsuch as on your desktopyou make the items more accessible without actually moving them.

• The Favorites and Recent Items features work with aliases. These features are discussed a little later in this chapter.

• You can name an alias anything you like, as long as you follow the file naming guidelines discussed in Chapter 3. An alias's name does not need to include the word alias.

• The icon for an alias looks very much like the icon for the original item but includes a tiny arrow in the bottom-left corner (Figure 26).

• You can move, copy, rename, open, and delete an alias just like any other file.

To create an alias

1.	Select the item you want to make an alias for (Figure 27). Figure 27. To create an alias, begin by selecting the item for which you want to make an alias.
2.	Choose File > Make Alias (Figure 28), or press . Figure 28. Choose Make Alias from the File menu. The alias appears right beneath the original item (Figure 29). Figure 29. The alias appears with the original.

Or

Hold down and drag the item for which you want to make an alias to a new location. The alias appears in the destination location.

Tip

• An alias's name is selected right after it is created (Figure 29). If desired, you can immediately type a new name to replace the default name.

To find an alias's original file

1.	Select the alias's icon.
2.	Choose File > Show Original (Figure 30), or press . Figure 30. •Choose Show Original from the File menu. A window for the folder in which the original resides opens with the original item selected (Figure 31). Figure 31. The original item appears selected in its window.