Your source for indispensable Apple and Macintosh news, reviews, tips, and commentary since 1990.

 

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).

Visit Take Control of Customizing Leopard

Written by Matt Neuburg

 

 

Recent TidBITS Talk Discussions
 
 

Grey Lines Mar MacBook Air Displays

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Mike Bombich of Bombich Software has announced that he is retiring the popular NetRestore deployment tool, instead recommending the freeware Deploy Studio for restoring public Macs to a predetermined state. His Carbon Copy Cloner disk duplication and backup tool remains in active development.Follow link

Macworld reports that Netflix has emailed its Mac customers informing them that anyone with an Intel Mac can now stream movies that are available for instant watching. Netflix opened a beta on 2008-11-03 to apparently a random selection of Mac customers.Follow link

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Microsoft's MacBU: Supporting Mac users with Office 2008.
Is your Office up-to-date? Make sure you're running the latest
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