folder

Size matters

With Windows, it can be hard to see the trees for the forest; it does a pretty good job with the "big picture," but you've got to do some clicking to see the details, which actually makes it harder to get an accurate overview of your system. JAM's TreeSize Free is a nifty bit of freeware that displays the size of every folder and file, including every subfolder, in a series of expandable Explorer-like tree views. You can use TreeSize Free as a standalone app activated from the desktop or start menu, but you can also … Read more

'Untitled DVD' folders remaining in Finder sidebar

When a blank CD or DVD is handled by the Finder, a special burn folder is created for that disc which appears on the Desktop or in the Finder sidebar. Burn folders in OS X usually are static folders that remain until you remove them, but the ones representing optical discs should be created when the disc is inserted, and then destroyed when the disc is either ejected or burned. Despite this, some people may find that after managing a number of blank CDs or DVDs, the Finder will retain a few burn folders in the sidebar that are labeled &… Read more

File information options in OS X

Getting information for items on disk, including details like creation and modification dates, labels, file sizes, and file type, can be useful when managing your files. The Finder contains a number of ways to view this information about files, which can be seen in different ways depending on the view options you are using in the Finder. In addition, the Finder information windows and some third-party options can be used to view and alter file attributes.

Finder views

The file information that is available in the Finder will depend on the view being used.

In "List" and "… Read more

Tips for printing folder contents in OS X

There are times when you might want to print or save the contents of a folder, but unfortunately while the Finder will list folder contents, it does not have any options for saving or printing them. Nevertheless, there are some possible routes for saving window contents or printing them, either as screenshots or as text lists of the items.

ScreenshotsScreenshots can be captured several ways using combinations of the Shift, Command, and "3" or "4" buttons to take screenshots of entire screens, selections, or even individual windows if you invoke a selection screenshot (Shift-Command-4) and then … Read more

Share files with other computers

Dropbox is the iOS companion app to the free Dropbox Web service and desktop software. If you have Dropbox set up on your Mac, this app lets you sync, share, and download files and folders from your computer using your iPhone or iPad.

The Dropbox mobile app basically gives you another interface for accessing your Dropbox folder, a local folder that you set up on your Mac. Anything you put in that folder, you can see on your iPhone or iPad. The interface gives you tools to view the file (surprisingly quickly, and without losing quality even with MP3s and … Read more

Apple releasing iOS 4.2 today

Apple is launching iOS 4.2 today.

The company announced that its latest operating system update for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad users will be available today, though the software was not yet available for download at 7:00 a.m. PT on Apple's site or directly through iTunes. MacStories and MacWorld are reporting that iOS 4.2 will debut by 10:00 a.m. PT.

The eagerly awaited update will bring to the iPad new features that already hit the iPhone and iPod Touch through last summer's iOS 4.0 release.

iPad users will now be able … Read more

Better visualize your projects and ideas

PersonalBrain is a full-featured mind-mapping program, designed to create a "digital home for your mind" that can help you visually organize almost any sort of process or project as a dynamic, interconnected system of Thoughts (called a Brain). PersonalBrain gives you a fairly intuitive interface for collecting, organizing, viewing, and navigating ideas, tasks, Web sites, related documents, and more.

Whether you're building a complex Web site or conducting academic research, this app can help you build searchable networks of information with tools for taking notes, creating shortcuts (pins), zooming out to get a higher-level view of your … Read more

Tools and techniques for printing folder contents

There aren't many of us left who remember using PCs before Windows arrived. While I don't pine for the good old days of DOS, I was comfortable operating those old machines from the command line.

Back then, I frequently had to print a list of the files in a folder. Doing so was as easy as copying the list to a text file that I opened in my text editor and printed from there. This trick still works via the command prompt built into Windows.

Instructions for using commands to print the contents of a folder--including various command … Read more

Disk cataloging tool

WinCatalog Light is a free disk cataloging tool that scans and catalogs your system's disks or files. You can use the listings it creates to quickly find specific files in your disk collection without having to insert a bunch of removable disks and search them one by one. It also extracts file descriptions and automatically fetches MP3 song names online. It can scan any storage device that Windows can access.

WinCatalog Light's interface is a slightly smaller version of the familiar Windows app style: File menu, icon-based toolbar, left-hand navigation panel, and main window. With a pretty good … Read more