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QuickAccessCM - Contextual menu file manager Pick of the Week
QuickAccessCM imageThe macosxhints Rating:
9 of 10
[Score: 9 out of 10]
Do you get the most out of the Finder's easily customized contextual menu (the one that appears when you control-click on a file or folder)? This menu is one of the best places to store often-used commands for files and folders, and there are tons of third-party contextual menu items out there that do just that. My personal favorite is the QuickAcessCM, which gives you four new contextual menu options, highlighted in red at left. When you control-click on a file or folder, you can select the Quick Access item (more on that later), or any of move, copy or alias operations. All menus are easily customizable, either from the menus themselves, or via a separate preferences application that you can run.

Each menu option is relatively self-explanatory; you can store often-used folders in the Move, Copy, and Make Alias menu items for easy control-click filing. For instance, in this screenshot, I'm using the Move To option to move a recent download from my desktop into the Downloads folder. The Quick Access menu is a launcher, of sorts -- unlike the other options, you can store folders and files in the Quick Access option. Select a file from the pop-up, and the program launches; select a document, and it opens in its creating application; select a folder, and the folder opens in the Finder. While it won't replace Butler for me, it does the job and keeps very often used objects a mouse click away.

The only reason I marked QuickAccessCM down from a 10 is that the "move" item only works correctly for folders on the same drive. If you move an item from one drive to another, it actually copies. But this is a minor inconvenience at worst...

QuickAccessCM is free, easy to install, and easy to use. I've been using it for quite a while, and just have always overlooked it, as it feels like it's part of the OS. There are some additional (free and non-free) contextual menu plug-ins on the Contextual Menu Workshop site; check them out if you'd like your contextual menu to become even more powerful (The Grim Ripper is another favorite of mine, for quickly killing resource forks). And yea, it's Thursday and I'm just getting this online ... sorry!
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  You rated: 2 / 5 (9 votes cast)
 
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QuickAccessCM - Contextual menu file manager
Authored by: seedy on May 13, '04 09:26:51AM

It's copying between discs because that's what the Finder does.

I tried QuickAccess and now prefer Ittec, since it is the most like Finderpop, and in many ways goes beyond it. Even if you didn't use anything else, you could use it to give you a Control-Free CM popup. (Having to use the control key is one of the most sadistic of the Apple Interface Guidlines, given that they supply only one button on their mice and laptop trackpads. It's the reason I don't, for example, use Camino or Safari.)

The QA developer was kind and responsive during my trial period.

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Nothing is Disposable



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QuickAccessCM - Contextual menu file manager
Authored by: rb3 on May 13, '04 04:43:19PM

Or, you could use a two-button mouse.

I love Quick Access, and think it's a great pick, Rob.

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512Ke, SE/30, 7500, PMG4/DualGig



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QuickAccessCM - Contextual menu file manager
Authored by: osxpounder on May 17, '04 10:44:24AM

"It's copying between discs because that's what the Finder does" is understandable, but it would be better if the program alerted overtly that a copy is being made instead of a move. After all, this *isn't* the Finder, it's something else, and in general, apps should do what they claim. If it says "move", it should move, not copy.

I wish I could figure out how the heck to get its Preferences panel back .... I am looking over the readmes that came with it, but so far, no luck.

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osxpounder



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QuickAccessCM - Contextual menu file manager
Authored by: Areh on May 19, '04 05:01:06AM

I didn't get this: Why don't you use Safari or Camino? Because of ctrl-clicking ?



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QuickAccessCM - Contextual menu file manager
Authored by: kirkmc on May 13, '04 12:15:28PM

Great one Rob! Thanks!



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