How to set up quick-access folders in OS X

Often when saving and managing files you may need to quickly access certain folders. In OS X, in general, user folders are located within your home directory, and the standard way of accessing them is to open a new Finder window and navigate to the desired location. However, there are some perhaps quicker alternatives. Not only does the Finder offer some shortcuts for getting to favorite folders, but there are some additional ways in OS X such as accessing recent items and using hot keys coupled with custom services to quickly open directories.

Finder default location In prior versions of OS X, opening a new Finder window revealed your home directory, but since the folders in this directory are in the Finder sidebar by default, the new All My Files option is the default Finder view in Mountain Lion. However, as with prior versions of OS X this default view can be changed, so if you have a specific folder that you would like to always use as your start location, you can set it as the default. To do this, go to the General section of the Finder preferences and choose a folder in the drop-down menu under "New Finder windows show." I recommend people try setting this to either their home folder, the Documents folder, or Macintosh HD as easy starting points in the filesystem.

Finder sidebar Another way to quickly access common folders is to add them to the Finder sidebar, which can be done by dragging them to the Favorites section of the bar. This will mak... [Read more]