Quick way to "link" to location on a shared SMB server?
I work at a small office where everyone uses Macs. We have a shared SMB server for storing files, which often contain spaces and other special characters.
Let's say that I have a folder containing important data for a coworker. Our current workflow is:
- I take a screenshot of the folder path in Finder:
- I attach this screenshot to an email and send it to my coworker.
- My coworker uses the screenshot to manually navigate to the correct directory in Finder.
We do this many times each day, and it adds up. Step 3 in particular is quite annoying for the recipient.
Is there a technique we could use, or some software we could install, that would expedite this process? Ideally, I'd like the ability to email a "link" that, when clicked, would automatically open the directory in Finder.
Again, this method must be compatible with special characters, and should be easy to explain to less technically savvy users.
- Right-click the file or folder in Finder > Services > Copy full path
- Paste the path into the email (I used Apple Mail)
- The recipient just has to choose the whole path in the email and right-click it > Reveal in Finder
You don't have to escape spaces in the path with backslashes! The share has to be mounted already.
If you don't find a service like "Copy Path" or "Copy full Path" you can simply create it yourself:
- Launch Automator
- Create a new service
- Search for “Copy to Clipboard” and drag that into the rightside panel of the Service
- Set ‘Service receives selected’ to “files or folders” and ‘in’ to “Finder” at the top of the service.
- Save the service as "Copy Path"
- Depending on your system you can copy the path either by right-clicking an item > Copy Path or Services > Copy Path.
If you're on Mojave, they've changed the default so now command-option-C on a file copies the smb path with the URL rather than the /Volumes/ path.
In recent (Mojave 10.14 - Catalina 10.15) versions of macOS Finder, you can easily get a copy of any of the path variants:
Edit->Copy the good old ⌘-C
becomes just the filename when pasted as text:
file.ext
Edit->Copy as Pathname with added option (⌥⌘-C
) becomes:
/Volume/Share on some server/file.ext
Edit->Copy as Link with added control & option ^⌥⌘-C
becomes exactly what the question asked for in this case:
smb://someserver/Share%20on%20some%20server/file.ext