2.5. Aliases: Icons in Two Places at Once

 < Day Day Up > 

Highlighting an icon and then choosing File Make Alias (or pressing -L), generates an alias , a specially branded duplicate of the original icon (see Figure 2-7). It's not a duplicate of the file just of the icon ; therefore it requires negligible storage space. When you double-click the alias, the original file opens. (A Macintosh alias is essentially the same as a Windows shortcut .)

Because you can create as many aliases as you want of a single file, aliases let you, in effect, stash that file in many different folder locations simultaneously . Double-click any one of them, and you open the original icon, wherever it may be on your system.


Tip: You can also create an alias of an icon by Option- -dragging it out of its window. (Aliases you create this way lack the word alias on the file name a distinct delight to those who find the suffix redundant and annoying.) You can also create an alias by Control-clicking a normal icon and choosing Make Alias from the shortcut menu that appears, or by highlighting an icon and then choosing Make Alias from the Action menu.

2.5.1. What's Good about Aliases

An alias takes up almost no disk space, even if the original file is enormous . Aliases are smart, too: even if you rename the alias, rename the original file, move the alias, and move the original around on the disk, double-clicking the alias still opens the original icon.

NOSTALGIA CORNER
Favorites Reborn

Hey! Where the heck are my Favorites ?

In previous versions of Mac OS X, the File Add to Favorites command placed the names of icons youve highlighted into a submenu of the Go Favorites command. The Favorites scheme, in other words, was yet another mechanism of listing your favorite files, folders, programs, disks, and even network-accessible folders for quick access.

Trouble was, Mac OS X already had a number of different methods for stashing favorite icons for convenient access, like the Dock, the Finder toolbar, and the Sidebar. So Apple decided that enough was enough; it hid the Add to Favorites command. It's now in your File menu only if you press the Shift key.

There is, however, still a Favorites folder . It's sitting right there in your Home Library folder.

If you miss this featuremaybe you upgraded from Mac OS X 10.2 and you've got a bunch of stuff already listed in your Favoritesyou'll find the new scheme to be much simpler.

First drag the Favorites folder into your Sidebar (see Section 1.2.1).

From now on, whenever you want to designate an icon as a Favorite, drag it onto the Favorites folder icon in your Sidebar. (Or Option- drag it to create an alias, or use the hidden File Add to Favorites command.)

Thereafter, to view your collection of faves, just click the Favorites icon.

This new system is both simpler and easier to understand than the previous mechanism. In fact, this feature may become one of yourfavorites.


And that's just the beginning of alias intelligence. Suppose you make an alias of a file that's on a removable disc, like a CD. When you double-click the alias on your hard drive, the Mac requests that particular disc by name. And if you double-click the alias of a file on a different machine on the network, your Mac attempts to connect to the appropriate machine, prompting you for a password (see Chapter 13)even if the other machine is thousands of miles away and your Mac must dial the modem to connect.

Here are a few ways you can put aliases to work:

  • You may want to file a document you're working on in several different folders, or place a particular folder in several different locations.

  • You can use the alias feature to save you some of the steps required to access another hard drive on the network. (Details on this trick in Chapter 13.)

  • It's useful to put aliases of your Mac OS 9 programs, if you're still using any, into the Applications folder, so that they appear listed among the Mac OS X programs. Now all your programs are, in effect, in one place.


Tip: Mac OS X makes it easy to find the file to which an alias "points" without actually having to open it. Just highlight the alias and then choose File Show Original (-R), or choose Show Original from the Action menu. Mac OS X immediately displays the actual, original file, sitting patiently in its folder, wherever that may be.

Figure 2-7. Top: You can identify an alias by the tiny arrow badge on the lower-left corner. (Longtime Mac fans should note that the name no longer appears in italics.)
Bottom: If the alias can't find the original file, you're offered the chance to hook it up to a different file.


2.5.2. Broken Aliases

An alias doesn't contain any of the information you've typed or composed in the original. Don't email an alias to the Tokyo office and then depart for the airport, hoping to give the presentation upon your arrival in Japan. When you double-click the alias, now separated from its original, you'll be shown the dialog box at bottom in Figure 2-7.

If you're on a plane 3,000 miles away from the hard drive on which the original file resides, click Delete Alias (to delete the orphan alias you just double-clicked) or OK (to do nothing, leaving the orphaned alias where it is).

In certain circumstances, however, the third buttonFix Aliasis the most useful. Click it to summon the Fix Alias dialog box, which you can use to navigate your entire Mac. When you click a new icon and then click Choose, you associate the orphaned alias with a different original icon.

Such techniques become handy when, for example, you click your book manuscript's alias on the desktop, forgetting that you recently saved it under a new name and deleted the older draft. Instead of simply showing you an error message that says "'Enron Corporate Ethics Handbook' can't be found," the Mac displays the box that contains the Fix Alias button. By clicking it, thus reassociating it with the new document, you can save yourself the trouble of creating a new alias. From now on, double-clicking your manuscript's alias on the desktop opens the new draft.


Tip: You don't have to wait until the original file no longer exists before choosing a new original for an alias. You can perform alias reassignment surgery any time you like. Just highlight the alias icon and then choose File Get Info. In the Get Info dialog box, click Select New Original. In the resulting window, find and double-click the file youd now like to open whenever you double-click the alias.
 < Day Day Up > 


Mac OS X. The Missing Manual
Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual (Missing Manuals)
ISBN: 0596153287
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 506
Authors: David Pogue

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net