I have always hated the magic springloaded downloads folder. I have to scroll down to "show in Finder" every time and that can be a pain when there are a lot of items in there. I know a few OSs ago I was able to make it into a regular Finder folder, but I can't figure out how to do this in Snow Leopard.
You can also just right-click and select "Open Downloads."
If you just want something in the Dock that opens the Downloads folder when you click, make an alias of the Downloads folder and drag it to the Dock.
If you're referring to the "fan" display, you can right click (cntl-click) on the dock icon and change it to "view content as" Grid or list. That's probably closer to what you are looking for.
Regards,
Captfred
Thank you all for your suggestions so far. I think I'll just have to create a new downloads folder and manually point everything at it. I was hoping there would be a way to just have this one save my "open in Finder" preference, since it seems to be the default for every program and it's nice to have it just magically go to the same place.
I have it set to view as a list, but it's still in that annoying folder that doesn't let you do anything with the contents until you get to the bottom to view it in the Finder. I don't know why more people aren't bothered by it, really!
AHA! That's it exactly! I tend to want to move files out of that folder before I open them, so right-clicking on them isn't really the whole answer. But making an alias of it and putting that in the dock does exactly what I want it to do.
Thank you very much, Barney-15E and everyone else who helped.
Argh, sorry to the people in the beginning with helpful answers. I didn't know I would run out of stars to give away. Especially Michael Wasley, who actually answered the question, though I was too thick to realize it at the time.
Thanks again.
...it's still in that annoying folder that doesn't let you do anything with the contents until you get to the bottom to view it in the Finder.
I just keep the default Downloads item in the Dock set to Stack mode. When I click it, it opens in a vertical curved spray-type thingie and stays there. Then I click on the item I want and drag it out onto the desktop, and the spray goes away. Voila - the item appears on the desktop without opening, and at the same time it is removed from the Downloads item in the Dock.
Hm, maybe my dissatisfaction is just because I always had it in List mode.
Honestly, though, I think I'm just too old-school. I've never been comfortable with the spring-loaded folders, or with the Dock icons magnifying and moving around--maybe it's my lack of grace or my cracked Magic Trackpad, but I don't trust things that pop up and move around like that. I always find myself missing the target when it moves.
Thanks for replying, though. I imagine it'll help someone in the future.
Hi, binki -
...think I'm just too old-school.
Hah. I just became an OSX user 3 or 4 weeks ago. I had been sticking with OS 9, happy with it and its apps (all of which still do what they always did, which is exactly the way I wanted it) - but as time was going by more and more stuff on the internet became inaccessible to me. Things like the BBC website, for example.
So I finally bit the bullet and got a new iMac running OSX 10.6 - first OSX machine I've used. Figuring out where things are (prefs and controls settings, mainly) has been interesting. Getting used to the differences in the interfaces has been easier than I thought - e.g., when I switch from the OS 9 Mac to the OSX iMac, I automatically switch from using Command-N to Command-Shift-N to make a new folder; learned habits seem to be contextual.
I've never been comfortable with the spring-loaded folders,...
Nor I - so I set the delay for that feature to the max.
...or with the Dock icons magnifying and moving around....
You can turn the magnification off. There's a setting for that in the Apple menu, via the submenu for the item "Dock". I keep it turned off. The only time the Dock's icons move is a small bounce when I start an app, and a shift on the right to make room for the icon of an app that's not resident on the Dock when I start it up. I can live with that.
Oh, of course I turn the Dock magnification off. I also keep it full of all the apps I tend to use, so it covers the whole bottom of my screen and never moves. I think I have some utility that pins the trash can in the right corner, too, but that was so many OSs ago I can't even remember what that one is.
Bah, all this newfangled stuff. Why, I remember when MultiFinder came out, I couldn't imagine why you'd need to run more than one application at a time.
...and now this thread is thoroughly and utterly derailed. 🙂
Right click, control click, on Downloads>Make Alias. Then just drag the alias to the Dock below to the left of or below the divider. This will copy the original alias as a folder to the Dock, leaving the original alias in place, which must be left there.
There may be a cleverer way but I overcame this issue with Applications folder by dragging it from the Dock and replacing it with an alias of Applications which opens in Finder.
Check the program in questions (Safari?) preferences. In the "General" tab is an option "Saved downloaded folder to:" with a drop down menu where you can select a specific folder.
Also if you option-command click on those folders, it opens directly to Finder. So you get the best of both worlds.
How do you make an alias folder of the downloads folder so I can put it into the dock?
Is there a way to make the Downloads folder into an ordinary Finder folder?
