Is there a way to lock items in the Sidebar? (I keep accidentally pulling them off)

[oatbean]

Is there a way to lock items in the Sidebar (and also in the dock)? (I keep accidentally pulling them off).... Poof!!! [... I wonder which icon I snagged this time].

I tried locking the Sidebar preference file but that didn't work. I also tried changing the preference file to "read only" but still no luck. Anyone? Thanks - Rob


also, as a side note/question: Is there a way to do a multiword search of this forum i.e. (Sidebar + Lock) not (Sidebar or Lock)? thanks again.

 

[Vinnie_vw]

For the 1st one, not that I know, but I don't see how you can accidentally do that unless you have some kind of reflex, in which case you should maybe change it. You can also try launching stuff from spotlight or, even quicker, set key-triggers in quicksilver for your favourite apps.

Isn't multiword joined by "AND"?

 

[mkrishnan]

I don't know that there's a way to lock the dock, but I think it would be nice... I find myself accidentally mucking it up every once in a while....

 

[oatbean]

... an explanation of why this keeps happening to me

Hmmm, I kinda figured my little problem was a bit unique. However, I bet I'm not alone in this situation. You see, I'm a professional film/video editor and due to a repetitive strain injury (from decades of mouse clicking) I now use a Wacom pen tablet instead of a mouse. The pain is now gone and I really love this gadget (even if I wasn't injured, I wouldn't go back).

However, sometimes when I am getting situated to do some work, my hand comes down and the pen tip makes inadvertent contact with the pad (sliding a bit as it happens)... well, this counts as a mouse click (with drag).... Most of the time nothing happens. But, sometimes it unfortunately happens over an open folder's Sidebar... then POOF!!! Gone. If I could only lock the Sidebar (and Dock) I could always expect to find the shortcuts there when I look for them. -Rob

 

[dylan]

Rob,

Your solution works for me to some extent. After locking I can still drag things off but it won't be saved. So once I log back in it's back to the way it was before. To get better results I think you'd have to hack the Finder which could get messy. Maybe ask the folks at unsanity.

 

[SublimeProgie]

i dont know about this site, but on most, nigh all, forums i have participated in they use BASIC for the search so AND and OR commands will help your search resectively

 

[MoparShaha]

If you downgrade your account from Administrator (which I'm assuming it is currently) to a "Managed" account, you can restrict adding/deleting icons from the Dock. The downside is while this setting is active, you can't add things to the Dock either.

 

[oatbean]

Rob,

Your solution works for me to some extent. After locking I can still drag things off but it won't be saved. So once I log back in it's back to the way it was before. To get better results I think you'd have to hack the Finder which could get messy. Maybe ask the folks at unsanity.

Thanks dylan (and others), I didn't try logging back off then on. I'll have to look into that. Perhaps, I can figure out an applescript that will toggle this on and off. Thanks again, Rob

 

[motulist]

If you downgrade your account from Administrator (which I'm assuming it is currently) to a "Managed" account, you can restrict adding/deleting icons from the Dock. The downside is while this setting is active, you can't add things to the Dock either.

Ooo! Where is the option for that permission setting?

 

[mkrishnan]

Ooo! Where is the option for that permission setting?

In Tiger:

Go to System Preferences -> Accounts -> select the account in question -> Parental Controls -> Click the checkbox for Finder -> Click Configure -> under "Some Limit," select the ones you want to be able to do.

Your user will become a "Managed" user.

In Panther this was slightly different.

May have to log out and back in.

 

[motulist]

In Panther this was slightly different.

DOH! I'm still on panther. Before I go out of my way to do this, tell me one thing. After making a managed account, when you drag something to the file and folder area does it make it so the current dock icons stay stationary and don't slide apart to accommodate the drag and drop? Because that's what I want to eliminate because I mainly use that area to hold folders that I constantly drag files into directly by dropping them onto their dock icons, but I always have to fight for it because the folder icons try to slide away from the mouse.

 

[mkrishnan]

First of all, I'm IM'ing someone on my iMac, so I can't log out to check. But I'm curious too, cuz I think I want this on my iBook, so I'm going to try it on there now. Okay, here we go...it's very much like locking the quicklaunch bar in Windows. When you do it, you can drag and drop, and things don't slide out of the way when you try this. You have no ability to "grab" icons on the Dock. On my older iBook, one strange bonus: it makes bringing up the menus for dock items faster (e.g. if you have a folder on the right side of the dock, and you hold the mouse button down to see a pull-up menu of the contents -- on my iBook, before I did this, this was slooooow. It's faster now! ).

I think that answers your question? I think you should be happy with it. I seem to be so far.

Second, I think that in Panther, what you do is select the account type as a "limited account" or a "managed account" or something like that. This old thread at Slashdot might help....

The big nuisance to this is going to be that you will need to change this preference if you want to change the dock....

 

[motulist]

OMG, that totally worked!!! You just solved my 2 biggest pet peeves with the dock that were a huge and constant annoyance! mkrishnan, where were you 2 and a half years ago when I started using OS X? And I basically never want to change the arrangement of my dock, so this doesn't cause me any problems at all.

 

[mkrishnan]

OMG, that totally worked!!! You just solved my 2 biggest pet peeves with the dock that were a huge and constant annoyance! mkrishnan, where were you 2 and a half years ago when I started using OS X? And I basically never want to change the arrangement of my dock, so this doesn't cause me any problems at all.

Hehehehe, I switched over Christmas-New Years (present to myself!) in 2003-2004. So I was probably clicking on stuff, saying to myself, "What the hell does this do?"

Glad it helped!