Create short-name invisible aliases for use in the Toolbar

Jun 16, '03 09:40:00AM

Contributed by: cparnot

The toolbar in the Finder is nice, but items can take quite a lot of space when they have long names, which limits their number. One way to avoid that is to only show the icons. But then, all folders look alike and you have to create icons. Another way is to show icons and text (or text alone, that makes the toolbar very flat) and use very short names, like 'docs' or 'imgs.' If you still want to keep the long names, you can make an alias of the folder, put it in your 'Favorites,' rename it with the short name, and drag the alias to the toolbar.

Now you have one last problem: when you click on this icon on the toolbar, you get the contents of the original folder, but not its path. The column view shows the Library and Favorites folder on the left. In icon or list views, clicking on command-up arrow opens the 'Favorites' folder and not the parent of the original item. This is, however, not the case if you open a new window with it, either by using command, or by checking 'Always Open New Window' in Finder preferences.

Here is one way of 'fixing' that 'feature' (no, no, it is not a bug). I make an alias in the same folder as the original and make it invisible to the Finder by adding a '.' in front of the name (there are other ways to make it invisible):

  1. Make an alias in the same folder as the original and rename it 'docs' or whichever short name you like.
  2. Drag that alias to the toolbar. You could stop here, but then you have an ugly alias showing up in your window even when you don't need it. If you have several folders like that, it gets crowdy and confusing.
  3. Open the Terminal application, and type the following instructions:
    
    cd '/somewhere/here/folder where the alias is'
    mv docs .docs
    
The alias in the toolbar temporarily shows a question mark, but if you click on it, it goes back to its original icon and opens the right folder with the right path. In column view, the invisible file still shows up, but only when using it, and only the one you are using is showing. So this is not perfect. Better ideas?

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