Open Files with Finder's App Switcher
Say you're in the Finder looking at a file and you want to open it with an application that's already running but which doesn't own that particular document. How? Switch to that app and choose File > Open? Too many steps. Choose Open With from the file's contextual menu? Takes too long, and the app might not be listed. Drag the file to the Dock and drop it onto the app's icon? The icon might be hard to find; worse, you might miss.
In Leopard there's a new solution: use the Command-Tab switcher. Yes, the Command-Tab switcher accepts drag-and-drop! The gesture required is a bit tricky. Start dragging the file in the Finder: move the file, but don't let up on the mouse button. With your other hand, press Command-Tab to summon the switcher, and don't let up on the Command key. Drag the file onto the application's icon in the switcher and let go of the mouse. (Now you can let go of the Command key too.) Extra tip: If you switch to the app beforehand, its icon in the Command-Tab switcher will be easy to find; it will be first (or second).
Written by
Matt Neuburg
Recent TidBITS Talk Discussions
- Alternatives to MobileMe for syncing calendars between iPad/Mac (1 message)
- Free anti-virus for the Mac (20 messages)
- iTunes 10 syncing iPod Touch 4.1 (2 messages)
- Thoughts about Ping (16 messages)
Published in TidBITS 869.
Subscribe to our weekly email edition.
- ExtraBITS Transitions to TidBITS Publishing System
- QuickTime 7.1.5 Patches Panther, Tiger, XP, Vista Exploits
- Parallels Desktop 2.0 Ships
- New Interviews with Adam and Joe
- 22 Million Mac OS X Users
- DealBITS Winners: Panergy's docXConverter Premium
- Security Hacker Returned to Life
- Lessons on Internet Surveys
- iConcertCal: Your Gig-Going Pal
- Picnik Duplicates iPhoto on the Web
- Mac OS X's Mouse Acceleration Problem
- Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/05-Mar-07
Macworld Expo Sessions Available for Download
At Macworld Expo in January, I delivered a session called "Graduate from iMovie to Final Cut Pro" as part of the Users Conference track. I thought it went pretty well, especially since public speaking doesn't come naturally to me (but I'm working on it).
As I was leaving, one man asked if the presentation would be made available online (and I'm sorry I didn't get your name, so I hope you're reading this). My plan was to take my Keynote file, export it as a movie, dump it into GarageBand, and re-do the session as a voiceover that could be downloaded. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to do that, but now I don't have to.
The folks at IDG have started a new service called Macworld Encore, where you can download individual sessions as iPod-compatible QuickTime video or audio files. The sessions aren't free, but they're pretty reasonable: the Users Conference sessions (mine included) each cost $5; the all-day Power Tools Conferences cost $30; Mac IT tracks cost $7 apiece; Market Symposiums cost $15; and the Hands-on Mac Labs cost $10. (A DVD-ROM containing everything is also available for $300.)
My session includes the audio (and it seems as if they tempered the initial audio feedback we dealt with right at the beginning) plus everything that was shown onscreen.
If you attended one of the paid conferences and weren't able to sit in on a session you wanted to catch, this is an inexpensive way of getting it; and if you weren't able to make it to Macworld Expo at all, a few individual downloads are much cheaper than a trip to San Francisco would have been.
Sync or back up your Mac to internal or external hard drives, other
Macs, PCs, or remote network volumes you can mount on your Mac.
Learn more at <http://www.econtechnologies.com/tb.html>!