On of my developers recently switched to a Mac, and was wondering how to move the insertion point to the beginning and end of a line on the Mac (OSX doesn’t support home/end keys in the same way as Windows). I thought with so many developers switching to Apple hardware, it would be useful to post a quick run-down on the awesome text shortcuts in OSX. This is hardly an exhaustive list, but these are the ones I use regularly (brackets describe behaviour for multiple presses):

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There have been a few occasions when I envied Windows users’ ability to create a new empty file within explorer by simply right clicking. Why can’t we do this in the Finder on Mac OSX?

Browsing the forums on MacNN, I encountered this post on the issue, which spurred me to apply my limited AppleScript knowledge (mainly gained while trying to create my flCompile workflow) to create a solution. The result is the “QuickFiles” Automator workflow (aka context menu extension), which takes it one step better than Windows by letting you define template files.

To use QuickFiles, simply open the folder that you wish to copy a template into. Right click in the finder window (or on a file in the window), and select “QuickFiles” from the “Automator” menu. Select the template you wish to copy using the mouse or keyboard (arrow keys, or type the first few letters of its name), and click ok (or press enter). The template will be copied into the folder and selected. Hit enter to rename the file, or cmd-O to open it.

The list of file templates is controlled by placing template files in a “QuickFiles Templates” folder in your Library. Read the Read Me for full information.

Disclaimer

I take absolutely no responsibility for any problems you experience or damages (direct or indirect, including but not limited to loss of data) caused by using these workflows. I have tried my best to make sure they are totally safe, but I am not an AppleScript expert or a command line guru. Use at your own risk.

IMPORTANT NOTE

This version of QuickFiles does not work with OSX 10.6. I have released a vastly improved version of QuickFiles which you can read about and download here.

You can download this handy extension by clicking here. Be sure to read the supplied Read Me for installation and usage instructions.