Improve OS 9 Finder workflow with AppleScript
The modern Finder, which was introduced into Mac OS X from NeXTSTEP, is a file manager, much like Microsoft’s Explorer or the countless similar programs on Linux. But the words “file manager” can hardly describe the original Finder, which accompanied the Mac from its inception until the last version of Mac OS 9. It was an interface in a much deeper sense of the word. Interacting with the file system through a file manager is akin to drawing with the mouse. It works, sort of, but there’s a degree of separation between you and the drawing. Using the classic Finder, however, is like drawing directly with your hands. To the classic Macintosh user, there was no separation between the Finder and the file system.
This is why many were unhappy to see Apple abandon the classic Finder – often called the “spatial” Finder – with the release of Mac OS X, and it is why Mac OS 9 is such a joy to use even today, twenty years after its final release.
While great by default, the Finder interface can be improved even further with the use of QuicKeys and AppleScript. QuicKeys lets you define custom shortcut keys, both global and application-specific, to run arbitrary AppleScript code. Below, I share some of my favorite AppleScripts for the Finder.
Two Finder windows arranged using the Cascade script.
Cascade
Resets the position of the frontmost Finder window to 13 pixels to the bottom-right of the second-frontmost Finder window.
tell application "Finder"
set {x1, y1} to position of second window
set d to 13
set position of the front window to {x1 + d, y1 + d}
end tell
Grid
Toggles the “Snap to grid” setting for the current folder or the desktop.
tell application "Finder"
set fld to the insertion location
set opt to spatial view arrangement of fld
if opt is equal to not arranged then
set spatial view arrangement of fld to snap to grid
set has custom view settings of fld to true
else
set spatial view arrangement of fld to not arranged
set has custom view settings of fld to false
end if
end tell
Pop-up
Turns the current Finder window into a pop-up window or, if it is already a pop-up window, into a normal window.
tell application "Finder"
set popup of the front window ¬
to not popup of the front window
end tell
A pop-up window on the bottom of the screen.
Among all of these scripts, my favorite is Cascade. It helps me tame the somewhat chaotic nature of the spatial Finder, especially for folders I haven’t opened before. I personally have it mapped to Ctrl-Cmd-W.
If you know of any other useful AppleScripts for the Finder, feel free to share them in a comment.