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Feature from WinXP that I'd LOVE to see in OS X
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Nov 2003
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I had to use Windows XP today and I wanted to move some files into a folder. I had this crazy idea that I'd minimize the window into the task bar and just drag my icons onto that.... and to my surprise... it opened right up and I was able to drag my files into it. I wish OS X had a spring loaded Dock. That would ROCK. I usually hate Windows XP... but, I like this one feature.
On a side note... one small thing I hate about Windows XP is that there is no documented keyboard command to create a New Folder... you either have to right click and find it. Or you have to deselect any folder you may have selected and choose "New Folder" from that side bar thing. Does anyone know a key command for creating new Folders in XP? I find it odd because delete couldn't be easier... just hit delete... but, to make a 0k Folder... you gotta work for it... ugh.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Trafalmadore
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Originally Posted by TheSpaz
Does anyone know a key command for creating new Folders in XP? I find it odd..
I find it odd that this is posted in a Mac forum.
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Nov 2003
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Originally Posted by SMacTech
I find it odd that this is posted in a Mac forum.
My actual post was about OS X implementing a feature that Windows XP had... then as a side note I was wondering if anyone actually knew a command to make a new Folder... not everyone uses ONLY Macs... some people have to use PCs at work but, use a Mac at home.
Back to topic... I hope Leopard has spring loaded folders in the Dock.
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Banned
Join Date: Jun 2003
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Originally Posted by TheSpaz
My actual post was about OS X implementing a feature that Windows XP had... then as a side note I was wondering if anyone actually knew a command to make a new Folder... not everyone uses ONLY Macs... some people have to use PCs at work but, use a Mac at home.
But this is a Mac forum...you'd have an easier time finding answers to your XP questions in a Windows XP forum.
Originally Posted by TheSpaz
Back to topic... I hope Leopard has spring loaded folders in the Dock.
People have been hoping for this one since 10.0.
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Sydney, Australia
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Originally Posted by Horsepoo!!!
But this is a Mac forum...you'd have an easier time finding answers to your XP questions in a Windows XP forum.
But surely there are some Mac users that use Win XP?
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In vino veritas.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 1999
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There's no command I know of.
The closest to a key-command would be (and only if you have it) that Context Menu key on the keyboard, then W, then F.
If you're in Windows Explorer, Alt, F, W, F.
Spring loaded Dock folders I think was a pretty big request. We'll see when Liger, I mean Leopard comes out. (I STILL THINK IT SHOULDA BEEN LIGER!)
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"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Everything on a mac is spring loaded, except the dock.
You can drag something on the hard drive and keep dragging into folder after folder until you arrive to your location.
the dock is for launching apps, primarily.
This is a learning curve thing and something I doubt Apple will take from Windows.
It seems to add another step in the process, Apple likes the least path of resistance.
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
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Yeah, that's a kicker alright. The one really "Mac-like" function I might name is the ability to drag a document or files to a minimized app's button on the task bar and have the right thing happen-and there is NO MacOS equivalent. My head is sore from scratching.
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Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Badfort
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Originally Posted by ghporter
Yeah, that's a kicker alright. The one really "Mac-like" function I might name is the ability to drag a document or files to a minimized app's button on the task bar and have the right thing happen-and there is NO MacOS equivalent. My head is sore from scratching.
Could you give a better example? I can certainly drag files onto Dock icons and have them open; holding down Apple-alt while doing so forces the app to try and read the file, even if it's not associated with that filetype. Dragging a file onto Mail will open a new compose window with that file as an attachment. What does XP do beyond these examples?
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You see, my friends, pirates are the key. - thalo
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Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Mar 2000
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Brings the app/window to front.
Frankly, I still think the Dock sucks. I always did. I probably always will. Phew, nice to get that off my chest. Again.
:>
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Nov 2003
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Originally Posted by Jellytussle
Could you give a better example? I can certainly drag files onto Dock icons and have them open; holding down Apple-alt while doing so forces the app to try and read the file, even if it's not associated with that filetype. Dragging a file onto Mail will open a new compose window with that file as an attachment. What does XP do beyond these examples?
I'm talking about minimizing a window to the Dock... and dragging a file onto that minimized window or Folder even... then have the window un-minimize and pop to the front so you can drop your files onto it.
Also... having Apps pop to the front when dragging a file to it would be helpful... it works this way in App switcher... why not the Dock too? If I wanna send a file to someone in iChat... I wish I could just drag the file to the iChat icon in the Dock, have iChat come to the front, and drop the file on the appropriate name or chat window.
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Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
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I agree that folders and minimized windows should be spring loaded. I really get frustrated when I use a Windows XP machine and can't use spring loaded folders. I find it funny that the one place that Windows has spring loaded stuff is the one place OS X doesn't have them.
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12" 1.33 GHz SD Powerbook - 768 MB RAM
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Mac Elite
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Up north
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Originally Posted by Jellytussle
Could you give a better example? I can certainly drag files onto Dock icons and have them open; holding down Apple-alt while doing so forces the app to try and read the file, even if it's not associated with that filetype. Dragging a file onto Mail will open a new compose window with that file as an attachment. What does XP do beyond these examples?
Thank you!! I never knew about Apple-alt.. I have wanted something like this for like.. forever!
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Moderator
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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Originally Posted by Jellytussle
Could you give a better example? I can certainly drag files onto Dock icons and have them open; holding down Apple-alt while doing so forces the app to try and read the file, even if it's not associated with that filetype. Dragging a file onto Mail will open a new compose window with that file as an attachment. What does XP do beyond these examples?
You can't drag files onto a minimized window in the Dock and have it open. This is sad, because it's a fairly obvious feature to add. The workaround is to never minimize it. With all windows open, find the one that includes the files, start dragging them and hit Exposé's all windows button. You can then find the window you want to drop it on and holding for a sec over it will bring the window forward (IIRC). You can then drop the files onto it. There are also other ways, like cmd-tabbing and then cycling windows, to find an open window to drop them on, but in general you cannot bring out a minimized window once you've started dragging.
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Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Mar 2000
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Minimizing, hiding, closing, relocating is a mess althogether. User's don't know which to use when. Hell I don't know which to use when...
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Nov 2002
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this doesn't answer your question but is a way of doing something similar. ish.
If you've got a work folder you can drag that to the dock, left of the bin, where it will sit as an alias and you can drag stuff to that icon and drop it into the folder. The stuff will then be moved to that folder. Ermm, I'm not sure if i'm telling gran how to suck eggs, but you can then quickly see the contents of the folder by control clicking the icon.
no spring loading though.
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
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Maybe I should explain what hasn't worked for me. Safari should let me drag an HTML file to it and open it, right? I haven't gotten that to work yet, though I can open these files from Safari. And I have similar issues with both Text Edit and Word doing similar things -- or rather similarly not doing what I expect with appropriate files. I haven't tried with other apps because of these problems on our iBook. Maybe I just don't have enough experience on it, or maybe it's not configured right or something, but this is something I really expected to see OS X do, and I haven't gotten it working yet.
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Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
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Senior User
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: aurora
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If you use TextEdit than you need to change the document to plain text. After you have written your code, uncheck the "include .txt extension" box and save as an html file. Than drag your file(s) from their new location and onto the Safari icon.
The personal assistants like the searching dog that sniffs around and the paper clip that gives you advice about your documents. That would be one killer feature!
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
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Ape, thanks. That's indeed the kind of Safari issue I was messing with, and it's something I had just completely failed to consider. Thanks!
As for the search puppie and Clippie, well they're annoying more than they're helpful. The puppie uses up resources and you often have to wait for him to stop his animation before you can move forward. Clippie is, well, irritating. He comes up with WRONG advice more often than not-much like MS's grammar checker (you'd think they'd make it understand tense and number agreement, like any 5th grader, but NOOOO). My wife uses the kitty with Word on her iBook, so these assistants are there in Office, but I don't even install them on my Windows machines.
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Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
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Senior User
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: aurora
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Searching for 'Windows' in Mac OS X is more helpful than searching for 'Mac' in Windows XP. Seriously, the help system in Windows XP is not helpful
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Senior User
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: aurora
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Oh yeah, I just saved money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.
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Senior User
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Fremont, CA, USA
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The feature that I like in Windows is if you copy something from one application and paste it into say word or powerpoint, that the object can be opened from the orignal program. This is great if you need to edit the object - it is not necessary to to go back to the orignial file, edit, copy and paste again.
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If I had a signature, it would look something like this
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Senior User
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: USA
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Yeah, I remember dragging folders to the bottom of the screen and having them turn into tabs, ready to spring into action. That was either OS 9 or 8.x (8.5.1?). Maybe there's still hope, they did implement Labels...
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Trafalmadore
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Originally Posted by ghporter
Safari should let me drag an HTML file to it and open it, right? I haven't gotten that to work yet, though I can open these files from Safari.
I do this ALL the time. Well I drag then to the Safari dock icon and the html files are from several source programs.
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Banned
Join Date: Jun 2003
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Originally Posted by NeilCharter
The feature that I like in Windows is if you copy something from one application and paste it into say word or powerpoint, that the object can be opened from the orignal program. This is great if you need to edit the object - it is not necessary to to go back to the orignial file, edit, copy and paste again.
As a counterpoint, I feel like flinging the PC across the room when I want to copy or rename a file within Explorer or send it via MSN (or whatever IM) but I can't because the file is open. Can you believe that ****? It's like I'm using an OS from the stoneages. System 6 allowed one to move files around the HD even if they were already open...why the heck can't XP do it?
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
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Originally Posted by Horsepoo!!!
As a counterpoint, I feel like flinging the PC across the room when I want to copy or rename a file within Explorer or send it via MSN (or whatever IM) but I can't because the file is open. Can you believe that ****? It's like I'm using an OS from the stoneages. System 6 allowed one to move files around the HD even if they were already open...why the heck can't XP do it?
The thing here is that the OS doesn't know which version to send-the original, the edited version? So it won't let you send a file that's open in another application because it really can't tell what to send. Can you do that in OS X? (I've never tried, frankly.)
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Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
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Banned
Join Date: Jun 2003
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Originally Posted by ghporter
The thing here is that the OS doesn't know which version to send-the original, the edited version? So it won't let you send a file that's open in another application because it really can't tell what to send. Can you do that in OS X? (I've never tried, frankly.)
Huh? It should send whatever was saved last. That's how OS X does it. It's not magic. Why can't XP do it? They're afraid people will send something without saving first and then wonder why their unsaved changes weren't sent?
edit: Ok, OS X sucks too. I just wrote something in TextEdit, saved it, moved the file elsewhere, wrote a bit more in the TextEdit document, saved it, and it created a new copy of the file where it was first saved. Bad, OS X, bad.
Still...you can send a file even though it's opened within a program. That's already a big plus for OS X.
I don't understand why the two most modern OSs can't even keep track of files and versioning.
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
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Sure, send the saved version. Except that, to keep other processes from messing with your document, Windows usually locks the file so only the app that's currently editing the file can access it. This is typically found with Word and other Office apps; they will cooperate with each other, but they don't want something else wandering in and goofing up what they're doing.
I ain't sayin' it's "good," only that's how it works and why...
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Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
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