Double-click the Service icon from Automator’s start menu.

This is going to be so simple anyone can do it. If you’ve never used Automator before, that’s not a problem.

Launch Automator from your Mac’s Applications folder.

Copy the path to OS X’s clipboard so it can be pasted in any application.

Set up a keyboard shortcut for quick & easy access.

Integrate with Finder so this feels like a real, native solution.

Require no third party software or plugins to accomplish our goal.Support the selection of multiple files and folders at a time.Let’s take that a few steps further and say we want to: Obviously we want to copy a file path or folder path from Finder and paste it somewhere else for reference. So what do we do? We take matters into our own hands, of course! Let’s come up with our own solution – and let’s make it awesome.īefore we get started, we should establish some goals. Even MacYourself’s clever workaround from 2009 doesn’t work anymore in OS X 10.7 Lion. There are a bunch of third party utilities and convoluted workarounds to get this functionality, but let’s be honest – they’re all pretty terrible. Mac users have long complained that there’s no easy way to copy the location of a file or folder on their computer and paste it in a document, email, internet browser, etc. After just a few steps you will be able to select items in Finder, press a quick keyboard shortcut, and paste the path(s) anywhere you want. Just like when you enabled the first Terminal command, all of your Finder windows will briefly quit and then Finder will relaunch, this time displaying only the active directory in the title bar.Learn how to create your own OS X service that lets you copy & paste the paths of files and folders in Finder. If you want to turn it off and revert to showing just the active directory in the Finder title bar, head back to Terminal and use this command instead: defaults write _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool false killall Finder

It’s only when you see the full path in the Finder title bar that you realize that you’ll need to specify the “Volumes” directory first.ĭespite its usefulness, having the full path displayed in the Finder title bar can be a bit cluttered, especially for longer and more complicated paths. This can come in handy when navigating unfamiliar directories or systems, or if you’re new to Unix-based operating systems.įor example, if you wanted to build or modify a Terminal command based on the path in our first example above, you might logically enter /Data/Dropbox/TekRevue/Articles, because that’s what is shown in the Finder path bar.

More importantly, however, this method displays the full Unix path, including root directories like Volumes that are not displayed in the standard Finder path bar.

Mac long path tool