Finder Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Extract App Resource Icons with AppleScript

by Ben Waldie (Apr 22nd, 2013)

Whether I'm preparing for a demo or writing an article, blog post, book, or technical documentation, I often find myself performing the same set of repetitive steps. I need to navigate into an app's packaged resources folder, find one or more icon files, occasionally convert them to PNG and scale ...

Popup Window for OS X

by Erica Sadun (Apr 17th, 2013)

Popup Window (US$5.99) provides an organizer utility for your desktop, enabling you to stick folders onto the edges of your screen and fold them in and out on demand. I loved the idea of this app although I ran into several problems when actually using it. The app is meant for anyone who ...

Desktop Groups: Add floating file pallettes to your desktop

by Erica Sadun (Mar 11th, 2013)

Desktop Groups (US$7.99) offers a nice utility for anyone looking for a fresh take on desktop organization. It creates little floating window palettes for arranging your workspace. Each group can be shown open or closed. The windows live essentially at the same level as the desktop. That means ...

Mac 101: Use Finder's item arrangement to sort your files

by Megan Lavey-Heaton (Jan 25th, 2013)

One of the really neat things about OS X is that it's easy to sort your files in Finder. If you're downloading a lot of files, there are several ways to corral them by using the item arrangement (the button that looks like it has a lot of tiny boxes in it). Here's how to use it.: Name: ...

AppleScript Desktop Icon Race

by Ben Waldie (Dec 24th, 2012)

Scripty Claus' gift to you this Holiday Season is a fun little AppleScript that lines up your Desktop icons and races them across the screen until one of them reaches the finish line. Here's how to set it up... Note: You can download the complete script here. 1. Launch AppleScript Editor ...

Unclutter offers digital pockets for your OS X miscellany

by Erica Sadun (Dec 17th, 2012)

I have really mixed feelings about Unclutter for OS X (US$2.99). On the one hand, it's a pretty cool idea. The app offers a pull-out "drawer" on your desktop that lets you store files, make notes, and view your clipboard. On the other, parts of the app are unintuitive to use and could stand some ...

Cascade Finder windows with AppleScript

by Ben Waldie (Nov 27th, 2012)

You're busy. You've got tons of things going on at any given time. Your Mac's screen is constantly cluttered with a bazillion Finder windows, and you keep shuffling them around to find the one you need. Sure, Mission Control in Mountain Lion lets you view all of your Finder windows at once in a ...

Put colorful Finder icons back in Mountain Lion

by Dave Caolo (Aug 10th, 2012)

OS X Lion introduced greyscale Finder icons in the side bar of Finder windows. They look nice, but many think their colorful counterparts were nicer. SideEffects lets you replace them. This simple Mac utility installs components that enable color Finder sidebar icons in both Lion and Mountain ...

Mountain Lion 101: Finder encryption via contextual menu (updated)

by Mike Schramm (Jul 27th, 2012)

[Post updated, see below.] Whole-drive encryption isn't one of the sexiest features in OS X, but it's nice to know it's there. FileVault 2 (introduced in Lion; the original FileVault began in 10.3 Panther) can be very useful, especially for Mac users with sensitive information on their hard ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me fix my file associations

by Erica Sadun (Jun 29th, 2012)

Dear Aunt TUAW, Good lord, why does Spotify want to open .m4v files? And how do I make it stop that? Your loving nephew, Nehi Dear Nehi, Eh? What was that? Auntie was just giving the kids some Werthers in exchange for them agreeing to play quietly outside the house. Spotify? Good ...

Daily Mac App: DragonDrop provides a Finder caddy for your drag-and-drop files

by Erica Sadun (Mar 28th, 2012)

Sometimes there are problems you didn't even know you had -- and solutions that make your life so much better. DragonDrop is one of those solutions. You know when you have to drag items between folders and you end up juggling multiple Finder windows? It's such a pain getting both windows ...

Hidden secret apps of CoreServices

by Erica Sadun (Jan 13th, 2012)

Nestled within the bosom of your Mac's system folder lie many powerful and curious applications. Not intended for direct access, the denizens of the CoreServices directory work as clients for other OS apps such as System Preferences or Safari. There are several CoreServices apps we use often at ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me find Spotlight items in the Finder

by Erica Sadun (Oct 30th, 2011)

Dear Aunt TUAW, There's plenty I like about Lion - but lots of pointless change for the worse. Top of my hate list is that Spotlight no longer gives me the location of the items I'm searching for. Sure, the preview on cursor hover is nifty, but why oh why can't Spotlight give me (for example) the ...

Emulate Lion's Versions in Microsoft Word

by TJ Luoma (Sep 25th, 2011)

Microsoft Word does not support Lion's "Versions" feature yet, but there's no reason to panic. There are a few options that you can use to cobble together a work- around until the Mac BU team updates the Office suite. Also worth mentioning: although I am focusing on Microsoft Word, the same ...

Daily Mac App: Go2Shell

by Samuel Gibbs (Sep 13th, 2011)

Here on the Daily Mac App we love apps that do one thing really well. Today's app is no exception. Go2Shell is a tiny little 0.3MB app available for free from the Mac App Store that has the potential to speed up your work-flow if it involves Terminal. Go2Shell simply launches a Terminal ...