Macos – How does one open multiple tabs in TextWrangler

macostabstext-editorstextwrangler

No, I'm not bluffing. I really can't figure this out.

The setup:

I went to File -> Open, and then selected a directory rather than a file. As expected, a directory tree opened on the left side of my document. Hooray! I can easily view the files' structure in my Rails project. So, I make a few changes in a file, and then I click on a different file in the directory tree.

My problem:

TextWrangler then asks me whether I want to save my changes. Huh? I say "No", and the new document doesn't open at all. Great. I try hitting Command+N (new document). A new window opens. Ughhhh. How the heck do I open documents in a new tab?

Note: I have set the "New & opened documents" behavior to "Open in the front window". This does not change the behavior described (i.e. when a directory is opened rather than a single file).

Best Answer

By selecting the directory you open a DIsk Browser (see window title).

When you create a new document, that document has no location on disk yet. But the Disk Browser window is associated with that folder. It wouldn't make sense to place it in a list of files of a certain directory as long as it's unsaved and has no location. In fact, it doesn't open in "in a new window", but in the window containing perhaps previously created unnamed documents.

Regarding editing, while this topic is a bit older and no longer accurate it highlights the limited capabilities of TextWrangler. While they implemented editing, it doesn't seem they implemented tabs/multiple opened modified documents for Disk Browser windows.

So my next question is whether there is a way to have multiple files open with the disk browser. I'm looking for an SFTP solution. ExpanDrive + BBEdit works great

The disk browser is browser focused; 1 document at a time with quick editing as necessary.

For working with multiple files, creating a Project will be a much better fit.

Projects currently can support reference nodes to things in locally mountable file systems, and individual URL based items.

_{Get a real editor if you're working with it a lot, not the free companion to a commercial product. While I don't use BBEdit, I know that at least the multiple opened, modified documents are possible in TextMate.}

Related Solutions

Macos – How to remove a single item from the “Open Recent” menu on Mac OS X

In most applications, application-specific recent documents are in a file named:

~/Library/Preferences/com.company.application.LSSharedFileList.plist

To list all these files in Terminal, enter the following:

ls -Ad Library/Preferences/* | grep LSSharedFileList

On Mac OS X 10.6, these files are (usually) in a binary format.

Use Property List Editor (Apple Developer Tools / Xcode 3) or Xcode 4 to view and edit them.

They are re-read when the application launches, not while it's running. You need to close the application while editing this file.

I guess I was bored...

#!/usr/bin/env bash

mode=$2
if [ -z "$mode" ] ; then
    echo "Usage:"
    echo "$0 <filename> ls       - list recent file entries in specified *.LSSharedFileList.plist"
    echo "$0 <filename> rm <idx> - remove recent file entry with given index from specified plist"
    exit 1
fi

if [ "$mode" != "ls" ] && [ "$mode" != "rm" ] ; then
    echo "second argument must be one of [ls, rm]"
    exit 1
fi

file=$1
if [ -z $file ] ; then
    echo "Need argument (recent items plist file)!"
    exit 1
fi
if [ ! -f $file ] ; then
    echo "File $file does not exist!"
    exit 1
fi

if [ "$mode" = "ls" ] ; then
    i=0
    cont=1
    while [ $cont ] ; do
        recentfilename=$( /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print RecentDocuments:CustomListItems:$i:Name" $file 2>/dev/null )
        if [ "$?" -ne "0" ] ; then
            cont=
        else
            echo "$i - $recentfilename"
            i=$(( $i + 1 ))
        fi
    done
fi

if [ "$mode" = "rm" ] ; then
    i=$3
    if [[ $i =~ ^-?[0-9]+$ ]] ; then
        # argument is integer
        $( /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Delete RecentDocuments:CustomListItems:$i" $file )
    else
        echo "Expected integer, got $i as third argument"
        exit 1
    fi
fi

Usage:

$ ./editrecent.sh 
Usage:
./editrecent.sh <filename> ls       - list recent file entries in specified *.LSSharedFileList.plist
./editrecent.sh <filename> rm <idx> - remove recent file entry with given index from specified plist


$ ./editrecent.sh Library/Preferences/com.macromates.textmate.LSSharedFileList.plist ls
0 - rcd
1 - artifactory.sh
2 - py.py
3 - iTunes Music Library.xml
4 - iTunes Library.xml
5 - gradle-proxy-support.diff
6 - DefaultGradlePropertiesLoader.java
7 - DefaultGradlePropertiesLoader-proxy.java
8 - gradle-proxy-support.patch
9 - DefaultKeyBinding.dict
10 - DefaultKeyBindings.dict

$ ./editrecent.sh Library/Preferences/com.macromates.textmate.LSSharedFileList.plist rm 3

$ ./editrecent.sh Library/Preferences/com.macromates.textmate.LSSharedFileList.plist ls
0 - rcd
1 - artifactory.sh
2 - py.py
3 - iTunes Library.xml
4 - gradle-proxy-support.diff
5 - DefaultGradlePropertiesLoader.java
6 - DefaultGradlePropertiesLoader-proxy.java
7 - gradle-proxy-support.patch
8 - DefaultKeyBinding.dict
9 - DefaultKeyBindings.dict

Macos – Preview on macOS doesn’t open multiple PDF files in one window anymore

To work around Apple's removal of this feature in Mac OS High Sierra (10.13), you can use the Automator application to build your own application to combine pdfs which you can then save, search, count pages or print.

Open the Automator application from the /Applications folder
Choose to create a "New Document" and choose "Application" for "Choose a type for your document"

From the Actions Library drag the "Ask for Finder Items", "Combine PDF pages" and "Open Finder Items" actions to the workflow pane in that order. The workflow pane shows "Drag actions or files here to build your workflow" when there are no items in it.

Select the options to "Allow multiple selection" for the "Ask for Finder Items" action, "Appending pages" for the "Combine PDF pages" action and "Default Application" for the "Open Finder Items" action.

Save your application somewhere (I saved mine to /Applications), and run it the same way you run any application.

It will ask you for the files you want to combine, combine them, and then open them in your default pdf reader ready for you to save somewhere, count pages, print, search etc.

See the screenshot for an example.