Put another way, aliases are organizational tools that let you store an icon in more than one place without creating multiple copies of the file.
An alias is very different from a duplicated file. For example, the iTunes application uses around megabytes MB of hard drive space.
An alias of iTunes, on the other hand, looks just like the original iTunes icon and opens iTunes when you double-click it but uses less than 2MB of hard disk space. So try placing aliases of programs and files you use most often in convenient places such as the Desktop or a folder in your Home folder. In effect, Microsoft stole the alias feature from Apple.
But what else is new? Aliases also open any file or folder or application on any hard drive from anywhere else on any hard drive — which is a very good trick.
SymbolicLinker
But there are other reasons why aliases are awesome:. Aliases enable you to make items appear to be in more than one place, which on many occasions is exactly what you want to do. For example, keep an alias of your word-processor program on your Desktop and another in your Documents folder for quick access. If you click it while the volume is ejected, you see the usual alias error dialog—click Cancel to dismiss it.
What Is an Alias in OS X El Capitan?
However, when you remount a drive, the aliases of which are in the Sidebar, you can now click them again and they work just the same as before. Email yours to mac macworld.
Mac cannot reply to email with troubleshooting advice nor can we publish answers to every question. How to restore deleted files in OS X. Glenn Ruga asks: Make a folder on your startup volume called Sidebar Aliases or the like.
Select an item or items, whether a drive, a folder, or a document, or any combination, from the mounted drive. Hold down Command-Option and drag the item or items into the Sidebar Aliases folder.