Secrets of the proxy icon in a program's title bar
Mar 16, '10 07:30:00AM
Contributed by: nathanator11
You can perform many useful tasks using the icon in the title bar of many OS X applications (known as the proxy icon), in both Apple-bundled (TextEdit, Preview, etc.) and third party (BBEdit, Path Finder, and numerous others) applications.
For this to work, you need to be using a file that has had its latest changes saved (otherwise, the icon will be grayed out). Normally, when you click-and-drag on the title bar of a window, you just drag the window around. However, if you click-and-hold directly on the proxy icon, and optionally add a modifier key, you can access other useful functions. Here's what happens in most applications, including TextEdit and Preview:
- Drag icon: If you drag the proxy icon to a Finder window or your Desktop, an alias to the open file will be created at the location where you drop the icon.
- Option-drag icon: Hold down the Option (Alt) key prior to dragging, and you'll create a copy instead of an alias.
- Command or Control: Displays a pop-up menu of the folders that contain the open file. Select one of the entries to open that folder in the Finder. (You can use this one on either the proxy icon or the window title immediately next to the icon.)
[robg adds: These features have been in OS X for many many years. We've covered copy (relative to Preview, at least) and path in the past, but not the straight drag of the icon, at least that I could find. Given the information was scattered in a couple hints about specific apps, I thought I'd use this chance to create a new consolidated summary version.
Note that third party apps may behave differently. In my limited testing, Path Finder behaved like TextEdit, but BBEdit does a move of the file if you just drag the icon; you need to Command-Option drag the proxy icon to create an alias. Please add comments for other non-normal behaviors in apps that I didn't test.]
Comments (18)
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=2010031117415674