Mac Look For Program Files

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  1. Mac Look For Program Files Equivalent
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  4. Find Program Files On Mac
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  6. Mac Program Files Location

I have a text file opened up in TextEdit, and I can't seem to figure out the full path of the file.

Also, if I search for the file in spotlight, it doesn't seem to tell me the full path of the file either.

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I'm clearly missing something here. How to tell the full path?

Jens Erat
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user27449user27449
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5 Answers

You can Command-Click the icon and file name in a window's title bar to reveal the full path as a menu:

You almost never need this path: Due to the lack of an address bar in Finder, where would you paste it? You can just drag the file proxy (the icon) from a window's title bar into an Open… file dialog to select it e.g. in a different application.

If you really want the full path to a file in a copyable form, you can drag and drop the file or its proxy icon onto a Terminal window. From there, you can then copy and paste it.

Simple text editing fields (like text areas on web sites), or Text Edit's plain text view behave in a similar way: Just drag & drop the file onto them.

You can also use Automator to create a Service that copies a selected file or folder's path to the clipboard. Launch Automator, select Service, and that it receives selected files and folders in any application. Save, and name it e.g. Copy File or Folder path.

Just select a file or folder in Finder or any other program that works in a similar way and invoke your new service from the Application Menu » Services » Copy File or Folder path (it will only show up if you actually have files or folders selected). You can assign a keyboard shortcut in System Preferences » Keyboard » Keyboard Shortcuts » Services

A file's path is also displayed in its details dialog in the General category, from where it can be selected and copied:

Mac Look For Program Files Equivalent

A selected file's path is also displayed in the Finder's path bar, which you can enable from View » Show Path Bar. It's enabled by default for Spotlight results windows AFAIK.

From the Spotlightmenu, you can press Command-I to open the file's Get Info dialog, drag it to Terminal, drag it to a TextEdit plain text view or a similarly simple view, or drag it to an Open… file dialog.

From the Spotlight results window, you can open the Get Info dialog, drag the file to Terminal, to TextEdit, an Open… file dialog, or invoke the service. The full path is also displayed in the Path Bar.

Daniel Beck

Mac File Type

Daniel Beck
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You can show full paths in the Spotlight menu by holding command and option. Or in Alfred ⌘C copies the absolute paths of files.

I have assigned this script to ⌃⌘C:

The first method didn't work with Preview, TextMate 2, Sublime Text, or iChm, and the second method didn't work with Acorn.

LriLri
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In most programs you can command+click (or apple+click, depending on your keyboard) on the file's name in the title bar of its window and you'll get its path arranged vertically in a dropdown list.

Or in Finder, for instance after a search, you can select the file and do command+I to bring up the file information window, which should have the full path somewhere.

Andrew TurnerAndrew Turner

If you use Preview, the full path of the current opened file can be revealed by right click the file name on the title bar.

wang.chancewang.chance

If you have the file opened in the Preview app or in TextEdit, you can right-click the file name in the title bar. This will reveal the full file path.

If you want to open that path, just select the folder you want to open.

agtoever
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mangoteemangotee

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged macosfile-management or ask your own question.

Mac Look For Program Files Folder

Sometimes you may wish to get the full path of an item in the Finder, and while there are several ways to access file paths, not all will allow you to extract them as text to paste into documents you may be composing.

For example, if you select a file in the Finder and press Command-C to copy it, the behavior when pasting it will be different, depending on the program being used. In some cases the program will only paste the file name, but in others it may try to embed the file's contents or its icon where you have pasted. The same goes for dragging and dropping files from the Finder; they similarly may be handled either as file names or as icon or content objects.

Find Program Files On Mac

If you would like to instead just get the file path of the selected document, you can use the Finder's 'Show Path Bar' option in the View menu, open the document in a program and use the path menu, or by searching for the item in Spotlight followed by holding the Option and Command keys while hovering your mouse over a search result to reveal its path in the preview window. However, these approaches do not give you the option to copy the file path as text.

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Open Mac File

To copy the file path of a file or folder as a text string that you can paste into another document, there are several approaches you can take:

  1. Info windows
    The first option is to use the information window for the item, which will show you the full path to it up to its parent folder. Select the item and press Command-I to open the information window for it, and then locate the path in the General section next to the keyword 'Where.'

    While generally intended to be a quick view of file information, the text content in the information window can be selected by clicking and dragging or by double- and triple-clicking, so you can use these approaches to select the file path and copy it from this window.

  2. Terminal
    The OS X Terminal is one program that can handle file paths via drag-and-drop as text, instead of trying to manage their contents. Being a text-based tool itself, Terminal will quickly output the specified file path as text, which can be selected and copied.

    To do this, simply launch Terminal and then drag a file to its window, and Terminal will output its file path at the command prompt, which you can then copy. You do not need to know any Terminal commands to do this, and can close the Terminal window when you are done copying.

  3. The Go to Folder feature
    The Finder has its Go to Folder feature, which can be used for accessing hidden directories, but similar to the Terminal, you can drag a file or folder here to reveal its full path.

    To do this, open a new Finder window by pressing Command-N, and then press Shift-Command-G to reveal the Go to Folder panel for the new window. Then drag a target file from another window to the Go to Folder text field, where it will be converted to a full text path that you can select and copy. Unfortunately you cannot drag a file from the same window once the Go to Folder panel is open, but you can drag from the desktop or another Finder window.

  4. Create a path-copying service
    If you regularly need to copy a file path as text, an easier option would be to create a service in Automator that will do this for you. First launch Automator and create a new service workflow. Then make sure the inputs for it are 'Files or Folders' in the Finder (done with the menus at the top of the workflow). Then drag the 'Copy to Clipboard' action to the workflow area and save the service with a name like 'Copy Path as Text.'

    While it seems like a replacement for pressing Command-C in the Finder, this approach will ensure that the file paths are copied in full as text instead of only as references that will either be truncated to file names, or be otherwise altered.

    With this service created, you can now select any number of items in the Finder, right-click them, and then choose 'Copy Path as Text' from the Services contextual menu and be able to paste the path (or paths) in the location of your choice. You can also use the keyboard system preferences to assign a custom hot key such as Option-Command-C to the service, so you can invoke it directly.

    Keep in mind that this approach will not copy a file reference, so you cannot use it to move or copy files from one location to another in the Finder, but it will help when managing lengthy and sometimes complex file paths, or the paths of more than one selected item.

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Mac Program Files Location

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    Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion