Noobie questions about minor annoyances

Hi everybody!

I'm new to Macs... gone mine about a month ago and I have a few questions/annoyances I'd like to solve. I was on Windows for a while before that.

My first question is, lets say I open a folder filled with pictures and I double-click the first picture to see it (Preview opens), is there a way to go to the next picture (ex: using the arrows) instead of closing Preview and double-clicking the next one in the Finder? (similar to how it works on XP)

Second question... I -really- miss an address (path) bar in the Finder, like XP has. Let's say I navigate somewhere, is there a way to copy the current path to clipboard? I know how to paste a path and go there automatically, but I'd like to be able to get the current address somehow. Is there a 3rd party tool that adds an address bar to the Finder?

That's it for now. Thanks!

1. Highlight all of the picture, hit Command(the apple button)+O. This will open all of the images in Preview and you'll be able to scroll through them like you want. An even better option, though, is to enable Column View (click "View" in Finder). This allows you to preview images without opening Preview.

2. Shift+Command+G opens a window with the current path in it, you can also type paths into this window and it will open the directory.

Sound good?

Sounds good indeed! I never noticed the path showed up there before... I knew I could paste it, but didn't know I could get it from there.

Is there a way to -always- see the path on screen, like Windows Explorer's address bar? Maybe a 3rd party tool for that?

I don't think so, I like Column view about 1 million times better than the Windows path bar, though.

Depending on where you have switched from, if you are comfortable with Linux and Open Source Software, install Apple's X11 and then DarwinPorts. I have just done this myself over the last two days.

Then use DarwinPorts to install a program called gtksee. It is an image browser and viewer. The cool part about it is that you can double click on any image in the folder. It brings it up at full size (not a reduced preview) and you can now advance backward and forward through the entire folder using your arrow keys. VERY nice!

The scary part is that after using Linux for years, I had never heard of this program until I came to Mac and set about installing some of my old Linux favorites. I wish I had found gtksee years ago!

surfwax95 said:

2. Shift+Command+G opens a window with the current path in it, you can also type paths into this window and it will open the directory.

Click to expand...

I just double-checked this, and the path that shows up in Shift+Command+G is NOT the current path, but the last one I pasted there (I think). Is there a way to change that?

cmer said:

I just double-checked this, and the path that shows up in Shift+Command+G is NOT the current path, but the last one I pasted there (I think). Is there a way to change that?

Click to expand...

I don't know how to change this, but if you want the path there are a few ways. Firstly, if you look at a typical finder window, at the top-centre of the window it will display a little folder icon and the name of the folder, you can actually drag this (make sure you drag the icon, not the text) and drop it into (some) textfields it will paste it. However, sometimes it will paste an alias (shortcut) instead, like if you drag and drop into text edit it will do this, but with terminal it will paste the path.

Secondly, if you just want to look at the path, remember the icon you just dragged? hold down command and click it, this shows the path in a drop down list (and you can click on an item to go there). Also, you can add a special button for this to the toolbar in the finder, just right click on some empty space in the toobar and select "customtise..." and you will see a path button you can drg onto the toolbar. Its a *real* shame that this button doesn't display the path on its own (without being clicked on).

Finally, and what might be the best solution (but it costs money) is to have a look at the 3rd party app called path finder (don't let the name fool you, it doesn't "find paths", it's actually meant as a replacement for the Finder altogether, you could call it a Finder on steriods). They updated it to version 4 recently and it has a lot of features. Some of which you can strip out if you find it too bloated (I am yet myself unsure if I want to start using it fully, I'm still on the free trial). But anyway, it displays the path by default, and you can even jump to any folder instantly by click on the approriate place.

zeta101 said:

Finally, and what might be the best solution (but it costs money) is to have a look at the 3rd party app called path finder (don't let the name fool you, it doesn't "find paths", it's actually meant as a replacement for the Finder altogether, you could call it a Finder on steriods). They updated it to version 4 recently and it has a lot of features. Some of which you can strip out if you find it too bloated (I am yet myself unsure if I want to start using it fully, I'm still on the free trial). But anyway, it displays the path by default, and you can even jump to any folder instantly by click on the approriate place.

Click to expand...

This is some -awesome- information! I really appreciate that. I'll try Path Finder. Their website sure looks pretty decent!

Thanks again!

I concur. PathFinder is nearly essential software for your Mac. It does so many things better than Finder does.

Other "critical" pieces of software you NEED to get:

- iClock - get the time, the day and the date all together on your menu bar plus TONS of other goodies, including a selectable list of currently running apps

- MenuMeters - put your CPU usage, internet bandwidth usage, disk usage and other great status indicators onto your menu bar, where it is always visible

- Classic Menu - a basic program launcher - you can't put EVERYTHING into the dock, and it is just plain annoying to have to launch Finder just to launch an app, and then have to close that unecessary Finder window afterwards. Classic Menu gives you an easy to configure equivalent of the Windows Start Menu - the name comes from the fact that you used to be able to do the same thing in the same way in the pre OS X family of Mac OS'. AND it turns that simple blue Apple icon in the upper left to any of a number of new color schemes, including the classic multi colored apple. Almost worth the $10.00 shareware fee by itself!