Download links from external sources in Safari

Nov 05, '08 07:30:00AM

Contributed by: kyngchaos

It should be well-known that you can option-click a link in Safari to force it to download. This is very helpful for image, PDF, and text file links which would otherwise display in Safari. What about when you get a link in an email or other document? Option-click in Mail doesn't download it; it just loads it in your default browser as if normally clicked.

Try this instead. Select the link in Mail and copy it. In Mail, just Control-click and select Copy Link from the menu. In a text-based apps, you'll have to select the whole link and copy it, unless it provides a similar link discovery feature. Open a new window in Safari and paste the link into the address box, then oress Option-Return instead of a plain Return. Safari will behave like you Option-clicked the URL. I'm sure this could be automated somehow, but I'm too lazy to figure that stuff out!

[robg adds: As noted in this earlier hint, another (possibly simpler) option is to paste the link directly into Safari's Downloads window.]

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