help - a hundred problems - prob 1: how to make alias?

matt9b

Registered
i have been trying to get around these problems for a long time now, and its now impinging on my career and potentially destroying my life due to client deadlines etc. so any answers very much highly deeply appreciated. I have searched til the death of me, for a forum thread relevant to OS X but the nearest I could find was this OS X server thread, so I hope its the right one. We humans have to eat/sleep etc we cant stay about tryoing to fix things day in day out for the rest of our lives- or we'll be dead before we get anything done!!!!!

considering the huge number of problems lets try to be concise and attack one by one:

how do i make an alias? I'm a Seasoned OS X user and just bought a new mac pro. and now stumped. i click a folder, the make alias link is not there. I try to drag and apple-alt key but nothing happens. i go to file menu but the make alias option is greyed out.

Any ideas?

I'm desperate against time here.

thanks
 
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You can highlight any file or folder in the Finder and press command-L to make an alias of the file or folder. You can also select "Make Alias" from the "File" menu while a file or folder is highlighted to do the same.

Strange -- when I right-click (or control-click) a file or folder, I have a "Make Alias" option about 5 options down in the contextual menu that appears. Do you not have this?

Also, you say that "Make alias" is greyed out -- where are you trying to create the alias, and what of? Could it be a file or folder located somewhere that you do not have write privileges?
 
I had the same problem. I could make aliases to certain apps/directories/files but not to others. The "Alias" context menu option is grey, disabled.
Trick: look for an alias you already have somewhere; select "Make alias" from the context menu; now you have an alias to a file you do not care about; select "Get Info" and "Select new original". From there select what you want the alias to point to.
This seems to be one of the things about MacOS X that had better be fixed...
 
I found that in Finder I must select application on the left and find the file on the right for the "create alias" to be an option in the file menu. At first I done a search for the file, clicked on it and tried to make an alias, but the words "Make alias" were grayed out in the file menu.

nicc
 
Also, if you're dragging the folder or file, it's holding down command and option (apple & alt key) that does the trick. Just holding down the option key would create a copy.
 
You might have problems if you do not have write permission in the directory you are trying to create the alias in. That might be why the option is not showing...
 
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