Our Verdict
A common feature request I get — often from Windows users tack to the Mac , but also from foresighted - clock time Mac users — is for a way to more - apace make a novel filing cabinet in the Finder . In Windows , when you right - click inside a folder , the result contextual menu includes a command to make a new document aright there and then . This can be very commodious — after all , when you make a new written document , opportunity are you already roll in the hay where you ’re rifle to put it and , in fact , that brochure is often already open . This Windows characteristic is certainly a more - convenient process than the traditional Mac OS choice : switching to the appropriate broadcast ; make a Modern papers ; choosing the Save control ; pilot in the Save dialogue to the desired folder ; and click the Save push button .
Because of this gadget , two of my all - time best-loved Mac Gems have been NuFile and Document Palette , which offer a contextual card or an onscreen pallet , respectively , for creating a new text file in the active Finder windowpane . Sadly , NuFile hold on process as of Snow Leopard ( OS X 10.6 ) , with no update in sight , and Document Palette seems to have gone the way of the dodo . ( Document Palette actually works utterly under Snow Leopard ; it ’s just no longer available for downloading . )
So I was more than a footling excited to discoverNeu , a Snow Leopard - compatible — nay , Snow Leopard - only — utility that combines the best feature of NuFile and Document Palette , as well as a few unexampled ones , in one program .
Neu’s menu-bar document chooser
Neu ’s menu - bar document chooser
With Neu running , whenever you ’re work in a Finder window , you may use Neu in one offiveways to produce a new document : Neu ’s systemwide menu - bar menu , Neu ’s Dock menu , the Finder ’s Services submenu ( in the Finder card ) , the Finder ’s contextual fare , or either of two configurable keyboard shortcut . Whichever approach you use , Neu offers two commands : produce Document and produce And Open Document . The former only create a new document in the active Finder window ; the latter creates the document and then mechanically open up it in the appropriate program . ( Using the contextual - menu method acting , you could even create a fresh documentinsidea folder that ’s not exposed — just right - clack on that folder . )
What variety of novel documents can you create ? Neu offer a customizable list of choices . By default , those include a PNG prototype , a Pages file cabinet , a unembellished - school text filing cabinet , an HTML text file , and a shopping tilt in full-bodied - textbook ( RTF ) format , all blank and waiting for you to ply the content . But you could tailor-make this list either by using the political platform ’s Manage Templates windowpane or by target your own files in~/Library / program Support / com.elegantchaos.neu / Templates . When you utilize one of Neu ’s menus to make a new document , the control ’s hierarchical menu displays a lean of uncommitted templates — choose one to create a text file based on that templet . When using Neu ’s keyboard shortcuts , Neu displays , depending on your setting , either a schoolbook list or an ikon power system of guide options . ( I favor the lean to the control grid , because when you use the Grid view , you must opt a guide using the black eye cursor — you ca n’t use your keyboard ’s arrow key . )
Neu’s list-view document chooser
Neu ’s list - view document chooser
Neu offers a figure of utilitarian options . For example , you may choose to hide Neu ’s Dock menu or systemwide bill of fare - bar computer menu , and you may opt to have Neu cue you to name each raw written document , using a traditional Save dialog , on the rainfly .
For advanced users , Neu offers an interesting feature for mechanically substituting template text with dynamic datum . For model , by using thecorrect syntaxin your template , you may have Neu mechanically replace variable with , for example , your username , the route to the novel data file , the date and time the raw Indian file was created , and which templet was used to create it .
Because of a the way Finder Services oeuvre , Neu ’s Services options come out in the Finder menu only if you first take a single file in the active Finder window . likewise , the contextual - fare instruction appear only if you right - click ( control - dog ) on an exist file or folder in the windowpane . In other parole , if you want to create a document in anemptyfolder , you must practice one of Neu ’s carte du jour - streak or Dock menus or its keyboard cutoff .
There are also a few features and improvements I ’d like to see . For example , I wish you could customize the order in which templet appear in Neu ’s storage-battery grid and lean sentiment and its menus . I ’d also like to be able to assign a shortcut to each guide — with Document Palette , I could bring up the template picker and pressbto make a Modern BBEdit papers . I ’d also wish to be able to resize Neu ’s lean horizon — it currently shows only four templet at a time , requiring you to scroll to see others . likewise , the grid view cuts off longer template names — a larger grid that provided place for longer names would be welcome .
If you ’re one of the many Mac Gems readers who ’s bemoan the demise of NuFile and Document Palette , give Neu a try . It ’s not quite as elegant as Document Palette , but it ’s quite a mo more flexible and muscular . And , perhaps best of all , it works in Snow Leopard and is being actively develop .
( Note that if Neu ’s options do n’t appear in the Services submenu of the Finder menu or within contextual menu , you may want tomanually enable those services in the Keyboard pane of System Preferences . )
Want to stay up to date with the latest gem ? Sign up for the Mac Gems newssheet for a weekly e - ring mail summary of Gems reviews send at once to your Inbox . you’re able to alsofollow Mac Gems on Twitter .
