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Launch and view favorites from the dock Desktop
I really hate when the Dock is too cluttered with large numbers of Icons. Lots of other people hate this too thus the popularity of many Dock extenders and alternatives to the Dock. I have found a way to quickly launch my favorite applications, files, and documents without having to add additional programs to my system.

If you open a finder window, you will see that there is a "Favorites" icon (heart icon) that you can drag things to, and a shortcut to that item will be automatically created by finder in ~/Library/Favorites. Simply drag the icon for ~/Library/Favorites to the Dock and it'll show up in the right half of the dock where your documents are parked.

To quickly launch a Favorite, just Control-click (or click and hold) on the Favorites icon in the dock and you'll be given a menu list of all your favourites. I even changed the ~/Library/Favorites icon to a ToolBox looking icon. You can change the Icon to taste. Now I can launch frequently used items quickly and easily without having any system bloat (ie better stability).

[Editor's note: Although this is a basic hint, and it's been mentioned here a couple of times in passing, many people may overlook it due to the Favorites folder being somewhat hidden inside the Library folder. If you like this, you may find that a customized shortcut folder works even better. The Apple Favorites folder, for example, won't let you create sub-folders or organize your favorites by type. I created a "QuickLaunch" folder (that's now bound to a custom MaxMenus keystroke as well as living in the dock) that contains folders for types of apps and documents. Within each folder is an alias to a favored application or document. Now I get a small pop-up and can more easily navigate to the favorite item I wanted. The only downside is that you can't just "Add to Favorites" through the menu; you'll need to hand-manage your customized favorites folder, but command-option-drag and spring loaded folders make it pretty easy.]
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Launch and view favorites from the dock | 7 comments | Create New Account
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OnMyCommand helps
Authored by: jecwobble on Dec 18, '02 11:50:45AM
After creating a special folder as Rob suggested, you could use a context menu app like OnMyCommand to create a control-click option to "send" selected files and folders to your new "Dock" folder by creating a symlink there.

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Do the same with thing with /Applications
Authored by: googoo on Dec 18, '02 01:39:43PM

This, too, may seem obvious, but I did the same thing with the /Applications folder. Once it is in the Dock, a <ctrl> click or a click and hold will pop up a menu with all your applications. Although the menu is a bit cumbersome, you can use it to access all of your applications from the Dock (even the ones not explicitly on the Dock).

-Mark



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no Favorites subdirectories?
Authored by: sjk on Dec 18, '02 02:05:02PM

You mention:

The Apple Favorites folder, for example, won't let you create sub-folders or organize your favorites by type.

How can this be true if Favorites is just a normal directory? I have a dozen subdirectories in Favorites on my 10.1.5 system containing aliases to programs. I just use Add to Favorites (<command>-T) to create the alias, then move it into the appropriate subdir.



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no Favorites subdirectories?
Authored by: robg on Dec 18, '02 02:06:53PM

I meant that when you select "Add to Favorites," you can't control where the item will go -- it goes into the top level.

-rob.



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Home folder in dock
Authored by: mclbruce on Dec 18, '02 04:12:23PM

Nice tip about putting the Favorites folder in the Dock, and good followup on the Applications folder. When I set up OS X for a client I always put the Application and Home folders in the Dock. On my own machine I have Applications (OS 9) and Utilities in there as well. I wonder why Apple does not put the Apps folder and home folder in by default?



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add Desktop
Authored by: kholburn on Dec 18, '02 09:56:19PM

I have always had 4 folders in my dock.
/Applications
/Applications/Utilities
~ (Home)
but recently someone suggested to me
~/Desktop
The Desktop folder is very useful especially if you have a lot of open windows and you want to open or eject an open Volume which is under some windows.

I used to have a special icon for Utilities but 10.2 doesn't allow this anymore and I can't figure out why not.



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Favorites in the Dock by Default
Authored by: tomem on Dec 19, '02 09:07:01AM

Since this doesn't seem to be obvious, it would certainly behoove Apple to put the Favorites folder in the Dock by default as they do the user home folder. All the complaints about the lack of a configurable Apple Menu are so easily answered in this trivial way. You can go wild organizing all your aliases in there with total freedom, and what you build will be preserved as you update the OS over months and years (unlike the Apple Menu of OS 9). In addition, the Favorites "menu" is right up there at the top level (on the Dock), instead of being enclosed inside an Apple Menu Items folder.

My set of Dock folders includes Favorites, main hard disk, home, and documents folders. But I confess that I don't remember well what is in the Favorites folder and what isn't, and so tend to go to the hard disk first for apps and utils. Subfolders in the Favorites are even harder to remember, for me.



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