5 ms·

How about showing the actual filesystem? Instead of some restricted fictional view? For example, how the hell do you get to /tmp from the Finder? What's with t

How about showing the actual filesystem? Instead of some restricted fictional view? For example, how the hell do you get to /tmp from the Finder? What's with the stupid column per directory level? This is an extremely bad use of display space. Haven't used Windows in a long time, and the equivalent in Linux is useless. (Or, more precisely, I don't use it.) But there are a number of irritations that have been there for a long, long time.

dan1234 12y ago
Cmd+Shift+G then type /tmp
- vlunkr 12y ago
  How did I not know this? I've always run the open command in the terminal for hidden folders.
  - michaelcampbell 12y ago
    > How did I not know this? Because it isn't obvious, or even really very easy to find.
    - hmcdona1 12y ago
      To be fair the average user doesn't ever need to see hidden folders. Who cares what the defaults are, set your Mac up however you want, I'm sure everyone here is plenty capable. Also, people will spend days customizing their Linux systems, but think OS X needs to be exactly the way they want it out of the box. Why is that? I agree the software quality has declined over the past few years, but many people here seem to be nitpicking.
    - coliveira 12y ago
      If you search "shortcuts for Finder" in your preferred search engine, this is one of the first that will be listed.
    - coliveira 12y ago
      If you search "shortcuts for Finder" in your preferred search engine, this is one of the first that will be listed.
    - Domenic_S 12y ago
      Dude, it's even in the Finder's menu. Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G)
      - michaelcampbell 12y ago
        "dude", yes, I know. Once found, nothing is hard to find. But it's shitty UX. You can navigate to folders, except this arbitrary list of them that you can't control, in which case you go somewhere else to navigate to them. And the 3 or 4 ways to view the folders, in (at least) one of them you can't create a new folder, but others you can. Brilliant.
  - aet 12y ago
    You can also do: cd /tmp; open .
    - wingerlang 12y ago
      Never knew about the dot. I always use open $(pwd)...
      - Domenic_S 12y ago
        . = current directory .. = parent directory
    - Spiritus 12y ago
      Or just `open /tmp`
  - Stratoscope 12y ago
    I'm asking myself the same question! Here's the funny thing: Click the Go menu in Finder, and look down at the bottom where it says Go to Folder... See the shortcut? Yup, it's Command-Shift-G. I have no idea why I never paid attention to that before.
- ayuvar 12y ago
  In Open and Save dialogue boxes, you can also start typing with a / to open up a "go to path" dialogue box that lets you enter the unix path (with tab completion).
notsony 12y ago
~/Library/Application Support Keeps getting hidden and you have to set a preference option via the command line to show it... only for it get hidden on the next OS update. Very frustrating!
- Audiophilip 12y ago
  chflags nohidden [path]
- themaen 12y ago
  I use a little shell script saved as an app created with automator for toggling hidden files: showfiles=`defaults read com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles` if [ "$showfiles" = "TRUE" ]; then defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE else defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE fi In combination with the spotlight search it's really fast ;) Edit: Formatting isn't that nice in the comments, here's a little gist which is pretty much the same. https://gist.github.com/rprieto/7349079 https://gist.github.com/rprieto/7349079
- Tehnix 12y ago
  Right click in your home folder -> Show View Options -> Show Library Folder. That said, I preferred that they never removed it, but for the common user, they wont ever need it. To get to it, you can also hold down Option when pressing the Go menu item.
nikcub 12y ago
> How about showing the actual filesystem? $ defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles yes I only realized recently after switching to a new Mac just how much the default Finder sucks. If you switch that option on, switch off almost everything in the left hand pane except common folders and ~ / then it becomes bearable. Other options are here, I wish I remembered all those I had changed because I still haven't gotten by Finder back to how I had it: http://secrets.blacktree.com/?showapp=com.apple.finder http://secrets.blacktree.com/?showapp=com.apple.finder
- geophile 12y ago
  How do you switch off almost eveything in the left hand pane?
  - nikcub 12y ago
    Finder > Preferences or Option + , You can then drag + drop other folders into the side pane. Also worth learning the finder keyboard shortcuts.
Xixi 12y ago
I usually just use the Terminal, but when I need to open the current directory in the Finder I just type `open .`, one of the most useful (and unknown) shortcut of OSX.
- jhasse 12y ago
  Btw: It's `xdg-open .` on Linux and `explorer .` on Windows. Very useful indeed :)
Joky 12y ago
cmd+shift+G
geophile 12y ago
Well that was truly educational and helpful. Really. Why are such useful things so incredibly obscure?
- iSnow 12y ago
  >Why are such useful things so incredibly obscure? Go to... has a menu entry and a shortcut in the finder...
  - geophile 12y ago
    Hiding in plain sight. There is so much crud, in so many menus, you tend to not read them after a while. I still have no fucking clue what Services are for, yet it's in the first menu of every application, and has been for years. (Probably something useful.)
    - iSnow 12y ago
      >I still have no fucking clue what Services are for I have been using Macs since 1989 and I have no idea. I believe it is similar to the equally useless "send to"-context item from Windows.

dan1234 12y ago

Cmd+Shift+G then type /tmp

vlunkr 12y ago
How did I not know this? I've always run the open command in the terminal for hidden folders.
- michaelcampbell 12y ago
  > How did I not know this? Because it isn't obvious, or even really very easy to find.
  - hmcdona1 12y ago
    To be fair the average user doesn't ever need to see hidden folders. Who cares what the defaults are, set your Mac up however you want, I'm sure everyone here is plenty capable. Also, people will spend days customizing their Linux systems, but think OS X needs to be exactly the way they want it out of the box. Why is that? I agree the software quality has declined over the past few years, but many people here seem to be nitpicking.
  - coliveira 12y ago
    If you search "shortcuts for Finder" in your preferred search engine, this is one of the first that will be listed.
  - coliveira 12y ago
    If you search "shortcuts for Finder" in your preferred search engine, this is one of the first that will be listed.
  - Domenic_S 12y ago
    Dude, it's even in the Finder's menu. Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G)
    - michaelcampbell 12y ago
      "dude", yes, I know. Once found, nothing is hard to find. But it's shitty UX. You can navigate to folders, except this arbitrary list of them that you can't control, in which case you go somewhere else to navigate to them. And the 3 or 4 ways to view the folders, in (at least) one of them you can't create a new folder, but others you can. Brilliant.
- aet 12y ago
  You can also do: cd /tmp; open .
  - wingerlang 12y ago
    Never knew about the dot. I always use open $(pwd)...
    - Domenic_S 12y ago
      . = current directory .. = parent directory
  - Spiritus 12y ago
    Or just `open /tmp`
- Stratoscope 12y ago
  I'm asking myself the same question! Here's the funny thing: Click the Go menu in Finder, and look down at the bottom where it says Go to Folder... See the shortcut? Yup, it's Command-Shift-G. I have no idea why I never paid attention to that before.
ayuvar 12y ago
In Open and Save dialogue boxes, you can also start typing with a / to open up a "go to path" dialogue box that lets you enter the unix path (with tab completion).

notsony 12y ago

~/Library/Application Support Keeps getting hidden and you have to set a preference option via the command line to show it... only for it get hidden on the next OS update. Very frustrating!

Audiophilip 12y ago
chflags nohidden [path]
themaen 12y ago
I use a little shell script saved as an app created with automator for toggling hidden files: showfiles=`defaults read com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles` if [ "$showfiles" = "TRUE" ]; then defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE else defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE fi In combination with the spotlight search it's really fast ;) Edit: Formatting isn't that nice in the comments, here's a little gist which is pretty much the same. https://gist.github.com/rprieto/7349079 https://gist.github.com/rprieto/7349079
Tehnix 12y ago
Right click in your home folder -> Show View Options -> Show Library Folder. That said, I preferred that they never removed it, but for the common user, they wont ever need it. To get to it, you can also hold down Option when pressing the Go menu item.

nikcub 12y ago

> How about showing the actual filesystem? $ defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles yes I only realized recently after switching to a new Mac just how much the default Finder sucks. If you switch that option on, switch off almost everything in the left hand pane except common folders and ~ / then it becomes bearable. Other options are here, I wish I remembered all those I had changed because I still haven't gotten by Finder back to how I had it: http://secrets.blacktree.com/?showapp=com.apple.finder http://secrets.blacktree.com/?showapp=com.apple.finder

geophile 12y ago
How do you switch off almost eveything in the left hand pane?
- nikcub 12y ago
  Finder > Preferences or Option + , You can then drag + drop other folders into the side pane. Also worth learning the finder keyboard shortcuts.

Xixi 12y ago

I usually just use the Terminal, but when I need to open the current directory in the Finder I just type `open .`, one of the most useful (and unknown) shortcut of OSX.

jhasse 12y ago
Btw: It's `xdg-open .` on Linux and `explorer .` on Windows. Very useful indeed :)

Joky 12y ago

cmd+shift+G

geophile 12y ago

Well that was truly educational and helpful. Really. Why are such useful things so incredibly obscure?

iSnow 12y ago
>Why are such useful things so incredibly obscure? Go to... has a menu entry and a shortcut in the finder...
- geophile 12y ago
  Hiding in plain sight. There is so much crud, in so many menus, you tend to not read them after a while. I still have no fucking clue what Services are for, yet it's in the first menu of every application, and has been for years. (Probably something useful.)
  - iSnow 12y ago
    >I still have no fucking clue what Services are for I have been using Macs since 1989 and I have no idea. I believe it is similar to the equally useless "send to"-context item from Windows.