Finder Fu: Force an Application to open your Document

To be more accurate, I would say "hold command-option while dropping onto the app's icon" not while dragging (although that does work too).

This is a great tip! Thanks.

Some keyboard layouts have Option on the key, and some have the symbol. It depends on where you get your laptop from. It seems to be a pretty dumb move by Apple. Why even have Alt on the key at all, unless you're also going to add the Windows logo to the command keys, and write backspace above the delete key (and so on)?

It would make a lot more sense to have the word option AND the symbol on the key, so that people know what it's called, and can match the symbol to the menus. Maybe the command key should get the same treatment, too.

@ Mr. Lizard:

You're wrong.

Go to http://images.google.com/ and search for MacBook & keyboard. Good luck finding a MacBook keyboard without option and alt on the same button. Just like every other Mac keyboard I've ever seen.

Kin: I guess you've not looked at a MacBook keyboard lately?

Go find one and point to the button that says 'Opt'. Or 'Option' for that matter. You'll struggle, because no button on the MacBook keyboard has those words written on them.

Instead, you'll see a button with 'Alt' written on it. And a symbol, which means nothing unless you knew previously that that symbol represented 'option'

I wish apple would standardise on these things. My Pro keyboard has both 'option' and 'alt' written on it.

And as for the command button... why is there an apple logo on it as well as the command symbol? I've never figured out why it is necessary, unless it was used in a previous Mac OS.

Have two symbols/words on a button is fine, but it confuses people, especially those new to the Mac, when apple 'double-up' like this for no apparent reason.

The MacBook has 5 modifier keys. Shift, Function, Control, Alt, and Command.

Shift is easy, we all know what that does.

Function is common on laptops.

Control is fair enough, although apple are coming to terms with the fact that as software has evolved, in many cases it's easier to have two mouse buttons (take the mighty mouse for example). Not long before the need to 'Ctrl+Click' disappears, and we'll have a two button MacBook I hope.

Alt- doesn't help that apple call it 'Option', despite no such word being on the button.

And Command- again, not helpful that the word command isn't there, instead the apple logo is shown.


I hope these things are sorted with the next MacBook rev, as for a newbie to the Mac world, this can be confusing initially.

Thanks Erica. Never knew that!

Dude, Cmd button is cmd button. Opt button is Opt button. How hard is it for someone to remember that?

Ahmad, did I not link that properly in the Read link? (Goes and checks.) Looks to me as if I did it right. Are you having problems with the Read link?

http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/forcing_app.html

In some future 101, could you clear up which is 'command' and which is 'option'. People I know say 'apple', 'alt', 'control' or 'shift'. Only 'shift' seems to have made it into your lexicon here.

Handy, I didn't know about that. Thanks.