Alias multiple folders into one

aliasautomatorfinderfolder-actionfolders

Here's the thing:
I'm organizing my document (for example to organize papers). I divide them into subsections, (ex: astrophysics & quantum physics) and all those sections have a "Read", "Reading" and "To Read" folders. Could I alias all the files contained in the folder efficiently to have a folder where all papers (or at least their aliases) are present (no matter if they were in astrophysics or quantum physics). I wouldn't mind using automator folder actions if shown how…

Example Folder Structure:

All Read:
    Nice paper I read about astrophysics.alias
    Nice paper I read about Quantum Physics.alias
All Reading:
    Nice paper I am reading about astrophysics.alias
    Nice paper I am reading about Quantum Physics.alias
All To Read:
    Nice paper I should read about astrophysics.alias
    Nice paper I should read about Quantum Physics.alias
Astrophysics:
    Read:
        Nice paper I read about astrophysics.pdf
    Reading:
        Nice paper I am reading about astrophysics.pdf
    To Read:
        Nice paper I should read about astrophysics.pdf
Quantum Physics:
    Read:
        Nice paper I read about Quantum Physics.pdf
    Reading:
        Nice paper I am reading about Quantum Physics.pdf
    To Read:
        Nice paper I should read about Quantum Physics.pdf

Best Answer

Something like find .. -name "*.pdf" -exec ln -s {} basename

Related Solutions

Normal size of alias folder

Looks about right to me, just tested with a random folder, made an alias, threw it in the trash...

Comparatively, I tested against a small jpg image. Image was 273KB, alias is 957KB

MacOS – Batch compress multiple folders into individual zip files

Here is an Automator Service¹ that becomes available in Finder when Folders are selected and emulates the context-menus Compress [n] Items command except it creates an individual zip archive file for each selected Folder in the name of the selected Folder. If the Folder Name.zip file already exists then a " 2" (space 2) is appended to the filename, e.g. Folder Name 2.zip. This ensures an existing zip archive file is not touched and the zip archive filename will be automatically incremented as necessary.

_{¹ In macOS Mojave, and later, an Automator Service is called a Quick Action. There are also other minor nomenclature differences but they should be more obvious when comparing them to pre-macOS Mojave Automator workflows.}

To Create the Service:¹

Open Automator and select Service¹ or File > New > Service If Automator is already open.
Set Service receives selected to folders and in to Finder.

Add a Run Shell Script Action, setting Shell: to /bin/bash and Pass input: to as arguments and add the following code:

for f in "$@"; do

    dn="$(dirname "$f")"
    bn="$(basename "$f")"

    cd "$dn" || exit

    if [[ ! -e "$bn.zip" ]]; then
        ditto -c -k --sequesterRsrc --keepParent "$f" "$bn.zip"
    else
        n=2
        for i in $bn *.zip; do
            if [[ "$bn $n.zip" == "$i" ]]; then
                n="$(( n + 1 ))"
            fi
        done
        ditto -c -k --sequesterRsrc --keepParent "$f" "$bn $n.zip"
    fi

done

afplay /System/Library/Sounds/Purr.aiff

Save the Service as: Compress Folders Separately

To Use the Service:

In Finder or on the Desktop select multiple Folders, then right-click and select Compress Folders Separately from under Services.

Or after selecting the target Folders, you can also click Finder > Services > Compress Folders Separately from the menu bar.

There you have it, a way to compress multiple folder separately and simultaneously at one time in individual zip archives while emulating how Finder creates a zip archive file. Meaning the zip archive contains preserved resource forks and HFS meta-data in the subdirectory __MACOSX and embeds only the parent directory name source in destination-archive, not the fully qualified pathname as when using zip (without -j) to create the archive.

Image of Compress Folders Separately

Related Question