Filed under: Mac 101
Mac 101: Enter directory paths when in open/save dialogs
Last week I told you about easily switching directories (folders) while in an open/save dialog. This was great when you knew where a folder was located in a specific place, and you could drag + drop it on the dialog. But what if you want to type in a directory path (i.e. ~/Desktop)?
While in an open/save dialog, pressing Command + Shift + G will allow you to type in a directory path. For instance, if I wanted to open my Documents directory for my user, I would type ~/Documents. The tilde (~) tells the computer to look in the current user's home directory.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
JaysonL said 10:17AM on 12-30-2008
Thanks, very helpful! Being a newbie, I have a related question. How would you enter the path of an external drive? As an example, in Windows it might be F:\INVOICES
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PistolPeet said 10:33AM on 12-30-2008
All external/network drives get mounted in the folder "Volumes" from the root partition. Each "drive" will be in a subfolder named the same as the volume label.
So, to get to a disk called "iPod" you can browse to /Volumes/iPod, etc.
serenity said 10:32AM on 12-30-2008
And, of course, you can use tab completion: ~/Do [tab] [enter]
JaysonL: /Volumes/Drive/...
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antiorario said 2:20PM on 12-30-2008
Nice, even better!
Simon Arch said 10:51AM on 12-30-2008
Hey, that's neat! I never knew you could do that!
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Ian said 10:54AM on 12-30-2008
Where's the awesome Mario background from? Link?
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Cory Bohon said 4:35PM on 12-30-2008
That particular wallpaper I got from here: http://www.thecreativeone.tv/wallpaper ... I don't think he made it, but that's where I found it. I believe it came from deviantart.com or interfacelift.com.
-Cory @ TUAW
ravidew said 10:56AM on 12-30-2008
An easy way to remember: Cmd-G = Cmd-"Go".
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maxxel said 11:09AM on 12-30-2008
Same keyboard shortcut also works in Finder.
While this could be really great feature, I often get frustrated using it.
Tab completition? half baked at best.
it completes "/Library/A" to "/Library/Application Enhancers/", when I really want "/Library/Application Support/" and it gives me no way to easily change already completed path. I have to manually delete path to the point "/Library/Application S" and then press Tab.
or I could wait one second and it will auto-complete without pressing Tab (this way it doesn't put cursor at end of path). Inconsistent!
I wrote to Apple about this some time ago. Hopefully new Finder will handle it better.
Path Finder got it really good. But I wont abandon default OS file browser just because of goto folder dialog...
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Howie Isaacks said 11:25AM on 12-30-2008
I'm loving that background! I downloaded that one several months ago. This is a very useful tip. It's certainly going to save me a lot of time. I'm all about key commands instead of having to reach over and move the mouse to select folders.
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Danny (from Scotland) said 1:23PM on 12-30-2008
Nice tip. And experimenting further I discover that (on Leopard at least) most of the other Finder keyboard shortcuts work in the open/save dialog box.
So you can go straight you Shift+Command+I for your iDisk or go straight to the Applications folder with Shift+Command+A.
And you can change the dialog view with Command+1 (Icons), Command+2 (List) etc.
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prdbgt said 2:07PM on 12-30-2008
Command+D for the desktop. Nice and simple for a popular location.
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Michael Spencer said 8:07AM on 12-31-2008
People!
Get Default Folder:
http://www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolderX/
Incredible support, great app.
Sheesh.
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Mark Boszko said 4:19PM on 1-01-2009
You don't even need to type that shortcut. Instead if you just type ~ or / inside a file dialog box, it automatically pops up the "Go to the folder:" sheet with that first character already entered in the box.
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Mr Lizard said 1:01PM on 12-30-2008
Superb tip! Didn't know that!