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How to change the icon for multiple items in OS X

The generic icons that Apple and third-party developers provide for files and folders are usually enough to help you identify file types in OS X, but there are times when you might want to use a different representation. One option that Apple offers is the ability to show file previews as icons, but this is only available for some file types and not for others.

An alternative option is to add custom icons to files and folders, which can be a fun and useful way to give your system a unique look. To do this, simply select an item and … Read more

Q&A: MacFixIt Answers

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which I answer Mac-related questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week, readers asked about using drives attached to a Time Capsule as separate shared backup destinations for Time Machine, how to deal with managing photos both in the Finder and in iPhoto, and managing a completely black MacBook screen.

I welcome contributions from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!

Question: Using multiple shares on a Time Capsule for Time Machine backups MacFixIt reader Gregg asks:

I was wondering if I … Read more

Review: XtraFinder adds features to your Mac's Finder window

With Finder options typically located in several different menus, XtraFinder for Mac combines them all together for easier access. This free program could use some design help but would be beneficial for those who have to constantly switch between menus and programs in the Finder window.

After installing into the applications folder, XtraFinder for Mac automatically restarts the Finder window to apply any changes. Double clicking the program icon brings up its main menu, which lacks any graphics and has a cluttered look. The first menu contains options for tabs, windows, and shortcut keys. Users can also change the tab … Read more

Quickly add items to the OS X Finder sidebar and Dock

The OS X Finder sidebar and Dock are convenient locations for favorite folders, documents, applications, and locations, and in addition the Dock offers a convenient place for minimized windows, as well as the Trash. For new user accounts Apple puts a default set of items in the Dock and Finder sidebar, but these can be customized.

The standard and perhaps intuitive method of adding items to these locations is to drag them there; however, it's not foolproof. If you inadvertently release your mouse before the cursor has reached the Dock or sidebar, then you chance copying or moving the … Read more

Prevent automatic scrolling in the OS X Finder

The OS X Finder offers a number of different views for organizing folder contents; however, in some of these views you may notice periodically that contents will shift around. This usually is not an issue, but sometimes it may result in the window view switching to a different position, resulting in you losing your place. This can be especially frustrating when you are managing a long list of items in a folder and the view keeps returning to a specific locaiton in the list.

This generally happens because you have the Finder view listed by date modified or a similar … Read more

Use OS X Finder shortcuts in Open and Save dialog boxes

The OS X Finder has a number of shortcuts and features for previewing items, navigating through folders, and selecting items to open. These can be quite convenient when browsing through your documents. If that's the case, you might be interested in knowing several of these are available when browsing through documents in the system's Open and Save dialog boxes as well.

Even though you may be in a program like Pages, TextEdit, or Microsoft Word, the Open and Save dialog boxes in these programs essentially open up a window to the OS X Finder so you can browse … Read more

How to use optional list-sorting methods in the OS X Finder

When you view a Finder folder in both standard lists and the Cover Flow view in OS X, you have the option to sort the list by any of the view's columns.

By default, these are the item's Name, Date Modified, Size, and Kind (for example folder, picture, PDF) which you can click to sort in either an ascending or descending list. However, there are some additional ways to locate the files you need.

Add more columns In addition to the default column categories, OS X includes a number of others that can be enabled on a per-folder … Read more

Find practically any file in OS X

The Spotlight feature in OS X is a convenient tool for locating your files, contacts, e-mails, and other information by searching through an index of file content and metadata in addition to file names. While this feature's primary use is for locating user data and resources you may use, such as Applications and system preferences, it can also be used to find practically any file on the system.

Spotlight's index of your hard drive includes information on practically every file on the drive, but since it is geared toward relevant search results, by default Spotlight does not include … Read more

How to copy a file path in OS X

Sometimes you may wish to get the full path of an item in the Finder, and while there are several ways to access file paths, not all will allow you to extract them as text to paste into documents you may be composing.

For example, if you select a file in the Finder and press Command-C to copy it, the behavior when pasting it will be different, depending on the program being used. In some cases the program will only paste the file name, but in others it may try to embed the file's contents or its icon where … Read more

List an OS X folder hierarchy with TextWrangler

The OS X Finder is a great tool to use for organizing your documents and projects into folder hierarchies; however, it is a bit limited. If you would like to save this hierarchy as a list in a file then the Finder and OS X does not provide these options. While the Finder does support printing a folder's listings by dragging a folder to a print queue, this is about the limit of the options for listing folder items.

One alternative to this is to use screenshots; however, these are static images in which items cannot be selected and … Read more