Filed under: Mac 101
Mac 101: The Open File dialog's media browser
Updated to clarify that the media browser option is in the Open dialog, not in Finder windows. More Mac 101, our series of tips for new and novice Mac OS X users. Here's a tip that I was recently reminded of while choosing photos from a web browser for upload. Mac OS X Leopard
Let's say you're looking for a photo to upload to Flickr or similar service. With your browser open, select Open from the File menu to invoke the Open Dialog Box. On the left hand side, select Media. Now you can browse your iPhoto library and even scrub through Events if you have iLife '09 installed. From there, select the photo you want, click Open and you've got it.
There are also a couple of tricks available that aren't immediately obvious. First, control-click (or right-click on your mouse) any neutral space in the dialog box to bring up a contextual menu with the option to switch between icon view and list view. Once in list view, the contextual menu adds options to open a file in its parent app, reveal its location in the Finder and display information columns (name, size, kind, etc.).
Additionally, hitting the space bar with an item selected highlights it, similar to Quick Look. A photo is brought to the forefront and music and movie previews are played.
It's handy, often overlooked and a great way to ensure that you've got exactly the file you want.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joseph said 2:23PM on 7-27-2009
mac user since the LC II and i never knew about this. New to leopard? hahah 101 stuff. amazing. I am humbled.
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Joseph said 2:39PM on 7-27-2009
just showed my wife. She runs our iphoto library, and has been copying stuff to the desktop and then deleting it, per my advice. You just saved us about 10 steps. and 100 years.
michaeldavidcohen said 2:25PM on 7-27-2009
How do you enable that? I haven't seen the option in my Finder's preferences.
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Pete said 2:33PM on 7-27-2009
The thing I'm most bummed about is the lack of a grouping within this browser for choosing a picture sorted by faces... I use this browser a lot when changing my profile picture for sites and what not.
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martin said 3:00PM on 7-27-2009
Thats NOT THE FINDER !
It's standard file, the standard Open dialogs found in every application.
The FInder is an application.
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franktinsley said 3:22PM on 7-27-2009
Yeah I REALLY wish media library browsing was available in finder.
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franktinsley said 3:23PM on 7-27-2009
Just add the preference RIGHT HERE http://idisk.me.com/franktinsley/Public/Dockdrop/Picture%201.png Apple, plskthxbye
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Think Adrian said 3:32PM on 7-27-2009
where? I see no "photo", "music" or "movies"
Think Adrian said 3:36PM on 7-27-2009
Ah, Finder doesn't have that, but Safari, for instance, does. How come I've missed that one? :)
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benjamin said 4:36PM on 7-27-2009
Is there a way for the dialog to remember, for example, which event it is in once a photo has been chosen?
Say I am Placing images to a Photoshop document, and all the images are in the same event. Every time I place a new image I have to scroll to find the event, then scroll to the picture. Gets very repetitive...
Seem to remember in windows there was a way to tell the dialog box to remember where they were...
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Craig Stanton said 1:34AM on 7-28-2009
That's strange. I only see Photobooth in my media browser but I have iLife '09. Anyone solved that problem?
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cb said 5:39PM on 7-28-2009
this is a very buggy and limited feature. there are no sorting or viewing options and it is slow with large libraries. hopefully this is fixed in 10.6
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