Mactalent - Articles

Becoming "Macficient"
OSX Filing Basics -
My Recommendations: Use Column View
... and a trackball

by: Avi Learner, Miami Beach - FL, MAR 3, 2003

UPDATED March 17, 2003

on 3/3/03 12:53 AM, Don Smith wrote about understanding file structure on the MAC.:

I cannot agree with Don more. I have always had a problem following “order” whether it be in computers or life. The original MAC filing system, designed to be user friendly and forgiving, allowed us to put stuff wherever we wanted. Most folks I come across insist on using the desktop, as their main file repository. Personally, I can't stand opening my computer to that clutter. OSX new column “Finder View” does make seeing the “paths” to your files a bit more obvious.

Whenever you use the Open/Save file menu, you are confronted with a single folder with a drop down menu. Clicking on the little triangle on the right, next to the drop down, opens the dialog into a column view allowing you to navigate easily wherever you want in your hard drive, or to another drive you might have connected.

While this is relatively easy to grasp in concept, OSX adds a bit of wrinkle to this type of filing, especially when you are trying to attach a file from YOUR desktop. I highlight your desktop because that is the key (to some confusion as well). OSX is designed on top of a UNIX core as a multi-user OS. Even if you are the only user of your machine, OSX has created a folder especially for YOU inside the USERS folder which is in the ROOT or Main Part of your hard drive.

When attaching a file, using the file manager or Open/Save dialog window - OSX programs most always will open into your Documents folder which is within the first level of your Macintosh HD: >users folder. The Open/Save dialogs have a little triangle on the right side that will take you into the “column view” and then allow you navigate to the folder of your choosing (or back to the root where you can navigate to any other drive you have connected).

You can create as many folders inside the Documents folder as you wish. For quick easy access – I drag the Documents folder from a Finder window into my DOCK. That creates an alias or “Link” of the folder which - with a right click (for those who are using multiple button mice or trackballs) or click and hold, pops up a listing of that folder. You then have direct access to the files/folders within, without having to open the finder window.

When I am training people new to OSX, I have noticed that many of you who are ICON file folder users, have difficulty using listed windows. Often the impulse is to double click the hard drive icon which will display an icon window, which you then navigate opening window over window. In order to break this awkward and time consuming process, I hide the desktop drive ICONS in the Finder Preferences.

"Why would you do a mean thing like that, Avi? The MAC is supposed to let me work the way that I want to! Why do I need lists of files and folders, when I can easily navigate using folder ICONS?"

OSX wants to help keep you organized. Many of you may have never created nested folders that are more than one or two layers deep. Some LIBRARY folders are nested 10 folders deep with OSX. That's a bunch of open windows in ICON view, cluttering up the desktop. You may never have to negotiate a Library folder, but my guess is someday you WILL need to, especially trying to troubleshoot some software re-install that you are having a problem with.

Try forcing yourself to use alphabetized lists and pop-up lists from the dock folders that you can drag/create there from the finder. Your work flow will speed up dramatically, and you will misplace files less frequently.

I have taken to storing everything including CLIENT folders and websites within my DOCUMENTS folder. I use the other folders in my HOME directory for music and pictures. I create alias to other drives within the MOVIES folder, because most of my video work is too large for my main drive, where the user>avi>Documents folder lives.

Dragging the "HOME" icon into the DOCK gives you direct access to these other folders as well as the documents folder with a click and hold over the dock ICON or a right click. A right click or control click pops up the list a bit quicker. Control click calls up contextual menus under OSX Finder and other programs. If you use a two button mouse or trackball, a right click does the same thing (as Control-Click).

These little shortcuts can save you time from moving your mouse all over your physical desktop to find related functions. Try using control click, or better yet go out and buy a USB two button mouse or trackball. FYI - I use a MacAlly QBALL - optical trackball. Using a trackball is a bit daunting for some users used to dragging a mouse around their desktop. But I find it saves my wrist and has abated the oncoming "carpel tunnel syndorme" that I was developing, spending hours a day "mousing around". My 80 year old Mother also likes her trackball. She finds it easier to roll the ball to where she wants, then remove her fingers from the ball to click. With arthritis, she found it difficult to hold the mouse still, while trying to click on something.

Adjusting your work habits to these new features built into OSX will make you a more efficient MAC user. After all, aren't computers supposed to save us time? (Yeah, right Avi. I spend more time at my computer, then I ever spent over an adding machine or calculator. But I do have more FUN working with my MAC, and I am better informed! - DOH!)

You will also notice that there is a folder (in each user’s folder) called “Desktop”. So each user can create his/her own desktop look and files structure. This filing system concept that is a bit daunting at first, but it really does help to make us create a filing structure with some “order”. I don’t misplace files as often as I used to under OS9.

This multi-user approach is most useful in a home where many people use the same computer, and in office environments where an individual’s files, preferences and security are important. Another thing that Apple recommends is to create a “regular user” in addition to the first user that you set up. By this they mean a user with normal access privileges instead of Administrator rights that the first user has.

This helps to reduce the possibility of moving or damaging critical system files or folders.

You will notice that when you do this (create and log in as the second user) you will NOT have access to your original user’s folder. You will have to move your files from the original users documents or desktop folders into the Shared folder temporarily, so that the new user will have access to them. Then “Log Out” and back in with the new user you have created. You will have to remember your password as well, and use it.

You can also use the original user with Administrator rights, to create additional users. You can also set up these users with their own Applications folder to limit their access to programs you might not want them to use. This is a bit of a task, because many programs store their preferences in different places.

Some times these preferences contain a serial number which a certain program needs in order to function. You may have to enter this serial number separately for each user that you set up.

Another way to get around this is to copy the preference from the original user’s folder. This usually can be found in the HD:/users/Library/Preferences folder. Again you will have to copy this file into the common shared folder, then switch into the other users, in order to copy it into their Library/Preferences folder. The same can be done with the Applications themselves making a separate copy into the individual users folder.

If you want to always use this “second user” as your main log in, you can set up this user to log in automatically when the computer starts by going to the System Preferences/Accounts folder.

Select the user that you want and then click the Set Auto Login Button. Make sure that if you do this, you can remember the original user’s password (you can actually use the same password if you choose). If you forget it, you won’t be able to get back into the Administrator user.