THE JOY OF SPRING-LOADED FOLDERS

THE JOY OF SPRING-LOADED FOLDERS

There was a Mac OS 9 feature called spring-loaded folders that longtime Mac users liked pretty well. That is until Apple left it out of the original version of Mac OS X, and then it was as if spring-loaded folders were the most critical single feature ever. Luckily, it made its triumphant return in Jaguar, and it works better than ever. It’s designed to let you quickly navigate through a number of folders without having to waste time opening them one by one. Here’s how to use it: Just drag an icon over a folder, hold it there for a moment, and the folder automatically pops open to reveal its contents. If there’s another folder inside that folder, hold it over that one and it too pops open. If you change your mind, just move your icon out of the window, and all the folders automatically close themselves in a hurry. You can control the amount of time that it takes for a folder to “spring open” by going under the Finder menu and choosing Preferences. If you’re not sure how much delay you should choose, try Medium. If you want a particular folder to spring open quicker, just press the Spacebar while your icon is hovering over the folder, and it opens immediately.

HIDING THE ICONS IN COLUMN VIEW

When you’re viewing a Finder window in Column view, you might find it looks cleaner (and less intimidating) if you turn off the tiny little icons that appear before each file’s name. To do that, make sure you’re viewing a window in Column view, then press Command-J to bring up the View Options. In the View Options dialog, turn off the check box for Show Icons, and the little rascals are hidden from view, leaving you with a cleaner, less cluttered Column view. The downside? With the icons turned off, it’s not easy to tell a folder, from a hard drive, from a file but it sure is a fun diversion on a boring day.

HOW TO TELL IF SNAP TO GRID IS TURNED ON

If you’re wondering whether you have Snap to Grid turned on for a particular window, just look in the bottom left-hand corner of the window. If Snap to Grid is turned on for that particular window, you’ll see a tiny grid icon. If keep Arranged By Name is turned on, instead you’ll see four tiny evenly spaced folder icons.

HOW TO SEE IF YOU CAN WRITE A FOLDER

Mac OS X has a level of security called “Permissions” and if a network administrator set up your Mac, chances are there are certain folders you’re not allowed to save your files into. How do you know if you have permission to write to a particular folder? In Icon or List view, where the icons are pretty large, it’s easy-if you can’t write to it, the icon has a red circle with a dash inside of it. However, when you’re looking in Column view, since the icons are so small, it’s not as obvious, but if you just click on the folder and then look in the bottom left-hand corner of the Finder window, you’ll know. If you see a Pencil icon with an “oh no you don’t” line through it, you don’t have permission to write to that folder. This is why so many network administrators one day wind up having an “accident.”