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The Ultimate Guide for switching from a PC to a Mac
(Part 2 - coming soon)

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

The shortcuts called alias with no renaming!

What is commonly known as shortcuts in the Windows world is called an alias in OS X. I think alias are less and less useful with the newer versions of the OS. The dock and now the upcoming stacks really reduce the need of aliases. They are still useful though, but I always thought that the process of creating them is a pain. When you use the "Make alias" feature, it creates the alias in the same folder and adds "alias" to the name. You then have to move it around and rename it. There is a very useful feature that lets you create an alias while dragging it to another folder. You simply have to hold down "Command-Option" while dragging it. An arrow will appear showing you that you are indeed creating an alias and you are not moving the original file! This is faster, but not only because you don't have to move it, also because you don't have to rename it! I never realized this but because it is not created in the same folder as the original file, there is no name conflict and it doesn't add "alias" to the name. This way of doing it really makes much more sense!

8 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Great tip :D I have also been wondering from time to time why i couldn't find this feature!

Thumbs up!

September 12, 2007 at 3:06 AM  
Blogger paul said...

Thanks a lot. I've been looking for 'shortcut' for weeks. Whoever thought of 'alias'?

September 12, 2007 at 4:07 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Hmmm ... wasn't really a tipp ... to usual

But here is what you can do with it:

1. Create a new Folder
2. Drag all APPs from the APP-Folder at once into the new Folder with "CMD+ALT" Pushed
3. Now you can sort your APPs in subfolders
4. Drag the new Folder in the Dock left site to the basket

Cool thing:
- The Folder opens a lot quicker than the APP Folder used direct
- You can Rename and Sort your Apps

---
Gheers

September 12, 2007 at 9:30 AM  
Blogger dfolse56 said...

I found creating an alias useful as an easy file transfer between the Mac OSX desktop and Windows desktop when using bootcamp for a windows partition.

I just created a new folder on the windows desktop through the disc image in the Mac OS, then created an alias to it on the Mac desktop. Now I thats an easy and useful file transfer between partitions!

September 12, 2007 at 11:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey that's neat

September 17, 2007 at 12:26 PM  
Blogger A Cynical Romantic said...

The problem with transferring files between the Mac and Windows partition is that the windows partition has to be formatted a certain way. I can't read or write from either side, the drive is formatted as NTFS. Any clues?

September 23, 2008 at 11:02 AM  
Blogger jessiehimechan said...

IDIOTS

Macintosh has used the name of an alias sense the 1980's.

Learn the language we speak ENGLISH.

"alias - technical definition

(2) In the Mac, an alias is an icon that points to a program or data file. Aliases can be placed on the desktop or stored in other folders, and double clicking the alias is the same as double clicking the original file's icon. However, deleting an alias does not remove the original file. In Windows, an alias is called a "shortcut.""

quote from http://computer.yourdictionary.com/alias

February 28, 2013 at 11:04 PM  
Blogger B said...

finally found a solution to this! such a hassle. Thank you so much for sharing!!!

February 14, 2020 at 12:44 AM  

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