Aliases to Applications

That's strange. I just tried it for over 10 different applications and all had the make alias option. Can you give some examples of apps that won't let you make aliases?

If all else fails you can create small shell scripts to start the apps and give them custom icon to match the app.

Example of script to open Mail:

Code:

#!/bin/bash
open /Applications/Mail.app

Edit: Wait a second. Finder doesn't seem to want to launch a shell script like it used to. Maybe the security has been tightened, or maybe I'm doing something differently. I also realised that you might end up with a terminal window for that, too, so, yeah, maybe not convenient. How about Automator... I know it can run shell-scripts.

2nd edit: I just tried Automator with a shell-script that said just "open /Applications/Mail.app" and saved it as a program/application. It works, but you'll see Automator popping up in the dock for a second. You can give the Automator program the same icon as the application. It'll be a lot of work, but maybe it'll give you the bonus of feeling like you've done some hacking.

Try maxrobertson's suggestion first, though.

 

Command+Option drag it to the desktop.

 

Apple+L

 

Do you have write access with your account to your apps folder?

Try this: Open the apps folder up in finder, and drag an icon to the desktop or to this folder you want the aliases in while holding Cmd-Opt. The icon should have an alias black arrow superimposed on it, and you should create an alias in the destination location.

 

I can make aliases for them. Maybe you don't have the proper rights to the application? If you're not running as an admin, perhaps you could try it as admin. If you are running as admin, check your rights for the app (details in get info) and if they're not the same as for other apps that you can make alises to, change the rights.

(My rights for Calculator are Read and Write, owner is system, system and admin can read and write others can only read.)

 

I'm glad you figured out the problem. The cmd-option drag should be easy enough if you open two finder windows, one with the applications and one with the folder where you want your shortcuts.

 

True enough. There should be a way of doing it without having to know the magic dragging trick.

 

I'm glad you got your problem solved. I've been a switcher for a year now but I'm still learning stuff from threads like this

One suggestion though. Instead of messing with aliases and the like, why not look into Quicksilver? Great application launcher. I use it to launch all apps I use but I don't want on my dock.

 

You can also drag applications to the Finder sidebar and open them from there.

 

Makes sense to me.