Alias files don't have thumbnails

[Jynto]

This has been bugging me for two years. When I make an alias of an image there is no thumbnail. Similarly when I make an alias of a video or sound file there is no play button. It just shows the default icon for that type of file. That means I can't make a collection folder with aliases of my favourite images because they'll all just show blank icons.

I have googled it as a problem, and didn't find anything (except this thread that says it's to do with view options, which is simply not true). This may be a design decision on Apple's part, but if it is I hate it.

Is there any way to fix this or otherwise make it so that aliases have thumbnails? I mean c'mon, even Windows shortcuts can have thumbnails.

I am using Mac OS 10.6.8

 

[GGJstudios]

This has been bugging me for two years. When I make an alias of an image there is no thumbnail. Similarly when I make an alias of a video or sound file there is no play button.

That's because an alias isn't an image or video or music file; it's only a shortcut pointing to one. The thumbnail of an alias only shows the type of file it's pointing to, not its contents. This is all by design.

 

[benwiggy]

QuickLook previews will still work for an alias. Press <Space> or use the Preview column.

 

[Jynto]

QuickLook previews will still work for an alias. Press <Space> or use the Preview column.

That's what annoys me. If they could get QuickLook right, and the preview column, then why not thumbnails? It's not as if they can't store a compressed thumbnail inside the alias file. Aliases are already huge compared to Windows shortcuts and they do less.

Man, **** aliases. I'll just use duplicates of the original files instead.

 

[porg]

@Jynto: Still the same in macOS 10.12 Sierra. You could make hardlinks to achieve your goal. A hardlink requires almost no additional storage capacity and to the OS it is like a normal file, therefore the icon feature works normally with it.

I made a Service, so with this you can just right click a file in Finder and create a hardlink of your selected file(s), which you then move to your desired location. The solution is described here or you just download my file "Hardlink.zip", decompress it and put it into ~/Library/Services/. From then on it's available in the Finder's service menu. As described in the article, you can even assign a keyboard command to it, i.e. cmd-shift-alt-L (as in "link"), so then you just have to have the file selected in Finder and hit your shortcut key.