10 Tips For Using Proxy Icons

Proxy Icons appear next to the title of a document in most Mac apps. You can grab them and drag them to the Finder, Dock, other apps and places to perform tasks when the file isn't easily available in the Finder.

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Video Transcript: Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Here are ten tips for using proxy icons. 
What are Proxy Icons? Proxy icons are these little icons that appear in the title bar when you're editing a document in an app on your Mac. But you may not even know that they are there because they are not visible by default. 
I'm going to double click on this image file here and it will open up in Preview. Now where is the proxy icon? You won't see it here. But if I move my pointer over the title and wait you'll see it appear to the left. This is the proxy icon. Now what is the big deal. It's just a little icon that appears there. Well, it is actually an active item that you can use to do different things. 
For instance, you can drag this icon and open the file up in another app. So I have this opened in Preview not. But let's say I want it up in Pixelmator Pro. I can click and drag the icon. You can see how a kind of copy of the icon comes off of the title bar there and I can drag it where I want. If I go down to the Dock and find another app, like Pixelmator Pro that will open this kind of file, I can drop it on it and Pixelmator Pro will open the file. Just like if I were to drag the icon in the Finder to Pixelmator Pro in the Dock. So the Proxy Icon works as a proxy for the file in the Finder but you don't have to go to the Finder to use it. You can use it while you have the open in an app you're already working with. 
But let's say the app you want to use isn't in the Dock. You can actually use Launchpad with this. So, let me move my pointer over the title and the proxy icon appears. I can then drag it away. Now if I have a keyboard shortcut set for Launchpad I can use that. So I'm going to use my keyboard shortcut, go to Launchpad, and now I can use the proxy icon here and drag it into apps that will open this kind of file. But even if I don't have a keyboard shortcut for Launchpad I can drag down into the Dock, find Launchpad here and hover over Launchpad and it will open Launchpad and now I can drag this file into an app here. I can even type to Search here while I'm still dragging and then drop onto an app that can open this kind of file. 
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Now you can also use this to move the file without going to the Finder to find it.  So I can grab the proxy icon here and I can drag it into a Finder window and actually move it  into another location just by dropping it there. I'm actually moving the file while I'm still working on it in Preview. I still have the file open it will just be in a new location. You can also modify this in the same way you can modify dragging in the Finder. If I hold the Option Key you can see I get the green plus there and that allows me to make a copy of it somewhere. I'll still be working on the original but there will be a copy in a new location. Then Command and Option will make an alias for this file. 
A far more likely situation is that you're working on a file and you want to attach it to an email message. You can use the proxy icon for that. Normally you would have to find the file in the Finder and drag and drop it there or click this button and then go and locate the file. But you already have the file open here. You can use the proxy icon to drag the file into a message like this and it will attach it. You can use that for a message too. So I can drag it into Messages and add it here to a message. 
You can also use it to put content into another document. So I have Pages here where I certainly can bring images into a Pages document and I've got the image here in Preview so I can drag and drop it into the Pages document. It will work with any app where you can drag a file, like an image, into it to import that file. The proxy icon works just like dragging from the Finder does. 
You can also use this in Terminal. You can type a command and instead of having to type the full path or figure out the full path you can use the Proxy Icon and drag here and you'll get the path inserted. It even will put a backslash and space and things like that when required. 
It also works on webpages. If a webpage wants you to drag a file to upload something you can use the proxy icon for that. 
Now longtime Mac users may recognize that you didn't have to always move your pointer to the file name here at the top in order to get the proxy icon. It used to just be there all the time and it is certainly a lot easier to use if it is there to begin with. You actually can change this in Settings but it is not obvious where to look. Go into System Settings and then it is actually in Accessibility under Display. Then in here you're going to find a Show Window Title Icon Options. So they are not calling it proxy icons here. But that is what they are. Turn this On and you'll see the proxy icon appear there. It is now just always there automatically, not just when you move the pointer there. 
Now these last two tips don't really have to do with the proxy icon but the file or document name right here. That title. The first thing is you can use Command Click. Not Control Click which will bring up the Context Menu. But Command Click. It will show you the full path to that document and you can jump to anyone of these by selecting it. As a matter of fact, if you select the first item here, the folder where the file is actually located, not only will it open up a Finder window and go there but it will select the file. So you can quickly see where it is. 
Now if you Control Click or simply click on this little down arrow here you get this whole control here which allows you to Rename the file right here while you've still got it open in the app you're working in. You can also add a Tags, just like you could in the Finder. You can even use Where here and set a new location. So move the file. You can choose Other and actually choose any location. You even have the ability to Lock and Unlock the file from here. 
Now not all apps support having a Proxy Icon here in the title bar. Some do but it is a little tricky to bring it up. For instance here in Pixelmator Pro it's not there even though I have it selected in System Settings to be there by default. It still won't even appear there if I move the pointer there. But, if I Control Click or click on the little down arrow here to bring up all these options, notice that it does appear and now it will stay there. So you can actually use the Proxy Icon in this case. 
Proxy Icons come in handy especially in cases where, say, you open up a document as a recent document in that app. So you're not actually seeing the location of the file. Then you need to attach it to an email or add it to another document you can use the proxy icon instead of having to go find the file in the Finder and use it that way. 
I hope you found this useful. Thanks for watching.

Comments: 6 Responses to “10 Tips For Using Proxy Icons”

Khazar

3 months ago

Thanks Gary. Handy and very usefull!

Sheldon

Thanks bunches

Bill Riski

Great tips. Thanks much.

Mike

Fantastic! This will save me a lot of work!

Jerry

To rename a file, I used to close it, go to Finder and rename it, then open it back up. I'm embarrassed. Awesome video. Thanks.

Andrea Grasselli

Very useful, thank you Gary!