I have been receiving lots of positive comments regarding my recent tutorials from my fellow Mac users, thanking me for sharing some Mac tips for scrappers I’m going to continue that trend today!

When I’m scrapping or working, I need to be able to access the same folders today as I did yesterday and tomorrow. Sure, I can navigate there, but shortcuts are so much easier! There are 2 places you can put your shortcuts – I use the first for more permanent shortcuts (main folders I work with all the time) and the second for temporary shortcuts (like a kit I’m working on or scrapping with). But, you can use these tricks however works best for you!

Option 1: Sidebar Shortcuts 

You’ll need to make sure your sidebar is turned on for this trick. To do this, Open any finder window, go to the top and select View, Show Sidebar (this is also where you go to turn it off, the option will change to Hide Sidebar).

Open a new Finder window (or, just open any folder). Navigate yourself to whatever folder it is you want a shortcut to. I’m using my “kits in progress” folder – one I access a LOT! It’s named aKits for you to follow along (Tip: I often add a lowercase a or z to the front of file names so they appear either at the top or bottom of the list of files).

Click on the folder you’ve chosen and drag it to the sidebar under the Places header. The gray line will show you where it’s going to go. Drop it there. That’s it.  It will now appear in the sidebar of any finder window you have open!

One click and you’re there! You can do this with folders and with files as well. Notice, in the screenshot above I have a text file NS_HTML Links here – it’s a file I need to use a lot! No more digging and navigating to it. Using the shortcuts helps keep my desktop a lot cleaner!

To remove a shortcut, right click your folder in the sidebar, and select Remove from Sidebar.

Option 2: Finder Window Shortcuts 

I use the sidebar shortcuts for things I access all the time, permanent shortcuts. But, when I am scrapping, or working on a kit – I like to have easy access to my files, but I don’t want my sidebar all crowded with shortcuts (that would defeat the purpose). So, I like to temporarily place what I’m actively working on at the top of my Finder window.

You do not need your sidebar visible for this, so if you prefer to keep this turned off (see first shot above), this is the way for you!

To do this, navigate to a folder you want easy access too, click and drag it to the top of the window in the grey area, a green plus should appear next to your mouse arrow (can’t see that in a screen shot, but you can see the words Finished LOs in light grey). Drop it wherever you want it. The folder (or file) will now be a shortcut – easily accessible anytime from any Finder window!

To remove a folder or file from here, right click and select Remove Item

And that’s all! Two ways to create shortcuts on your Mac! {I’m sure there are ways to create shortcuts for PC users, feel free to leave your tricks in the comments}!

If you left questions/comments about my previous posts, I think I replied to them all via a comment reply, so you can find your answers there! If there is anything you’d like to learn about on your Mac, let me know here! Or, in PSE 🙂 I’m always open to your suggestions!

Thanks for reading! Find more Nibbles Skribbles:

​

 PS: I have a full kit freebie available right now, head over to my blog to learn how to grab it! {Expires August 1, 2013}