There are a number of hidden features in OS X that can greatly enhance how you handle windows, document organization, and other aspects of your workflow. In most of these cases Apple has not outlined these fetaures, so you will have to find them either by exploration and experimentation, or by word of mouth from other Apple users. One of these is the Path menu that OS X appends to windows that represent documents that are saved to your hard drive. Continue reading
How to use the path menu in OS X
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If you are at least vaguely familiar with the Terminal, then you will know that performing actions on files and folders requires you specify their full paths, and often this means you need to change to a specific directory. While you can use the “cd” command and then type out the path to the desired directory, often the sheer length of the path makes this an impractical approach. However, in the Terminal, there are four approaches you can take to make accessing a desired file or folder quicker. 
When using OS X you will undoubtedly run across the standard save dialogue box, where you specify a location on your drive in which to save your current document. This box can appear in two forms: a compact form where you can specify a name, tags, and then choose a location from the “Where” menu in which to save your file. Alternatively, you can click the triangle next to the Name field to expand the box and show a filesystem browser. 
While you can often access the files you need by browsing the filesystem in the Finder, sometimes you might need to specify the Unix path for a file or folder in question, either to run a Terminal command on it, or to communicate this path to others in an e-mail, online discussion, or otherwise.
