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Why has Lion made aliases useless?

Here's what happens: I highlight an application (or a file). I make an alias from it and the alias appears right next to its "mother".


I then drag the alias to the other place, from which I want to be able to access the "mother".


And guess what happens? I get a *second alias* in the new place, and the first alias I made stays right where it is. So I have to go back and delete the first alias.


Is this another of Lion's new features? Will some of you fanboys in here tell me how great this is?

Posted on Sep 19, 2011 1:41 AM

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Posted on Sep 19, 2011 1:46 AM

Oh and BTW I cannot edit my own original post (the one above this). Another feature?


I can also bask in a self-congratulatory glow by clicking on "helpful" for my own posts.

13 replies

Sep 19, 2011 2:26 AM in response to Tom in London

Hi Tom,


I think what Dave was asking was whether when you drag your alias to its new location, do you get a green circle with a white + at the bottom right of the icon.


If so, this would indicate that the place you are dragging the alias to is either on a different volume (partition or drive) to the original or possibly that you don't have write privileges in the location of the original.


Since I learned about the alt (or opt) cmd drag method many years ago, I've never used the 'create alias' method because it always appends the word 'alias' which I find untidy and I have to edit.


I'm actually having my own issues with aliases since Lion which are forever giving me 'cannot be found' errors.

Sep 19, 2011 4:49 AM in response to Tom in London

Is this another of Lion's new features? Will some of you fanboys in here tell me how great this is?

It could be. Lion prevents you from moving things out of the Applications folder. However, it will automatically create an alias of anything you try to move out of it. You'll know what it is going to do by the curly alias badge that is appended to the drag icon. If you want to make a copy, you can just hold down the command or option key. Then, you'll see the green plus copy badge.

Oct 1, 2011 6:15 PM in response to Dave Hutch

I'm having the same problem of my aliases not working. I have some files with aliases in a file I call "frequent docs". Most of these are NeoOffice spreadsheets. when I click on one of these files, I am switched to NeoOffice in front but the file does not open. this just started in Lion. I've tried deleting and replacing the alias and the alias still doesn't work. Nor does it work when I click on the alias with 'frequent docs" open in Finder.


I tried the CMD+OPT and drag the file over to frequent docs and still doesn't work.


Worked fine before Lion.

Why has Lion made aliases useless?

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