Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2004 3:12 am Post subject: all msoffice files are 0 bytes insize
all the MS-office files in shared directories are 0 bytes in size and contents are missing. It was mentioned that someone had created a Mac aliase, if it is the case how do I remove the aliase and get my files back on windows.
If anyone knows the answer please help me out here.
The specifics of the shared directories (on a server, the same Mac, etc.) will perhaps alter the exact process you need, but the general steps go like this:
1) Go to the Finder and navigate to the shared directory containing the Mac aliases/0 byte files.
2) Select a file and do cmd-R (or File>Show Original).
A new window should pop up with the actual MS-Office file selected (assuming you have permissions to view the enclosing folder).
At this point you have two options:
A) make a copy of the file in the shared directory (and thus have two versions that could get out of sync), or
B) make a UNIX-style symbolic link (symlink), which will work with OOo and most (all?) OS X apps but not with any pre-OS X (Classic, or Mac OS 7/8/9 apps if the shared directory is on a server which also has OS 7/8/9 clients accessing it); also, the symlink will break if the original file is moved--technically the symlink points at a given location while a Mac alias points at a specific file, no matter where it goes.
If you choose Option A, then make a copy of the original file in the shared directory to replace the alias, and repeat for every alias file.
If you choose Option B, you need to open the Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities) and enter some simple commands.
For example, if I wanted to put a symlink on my Desktop to a file, bob.txt, that lives in my Documents folder, I would type:
ln -s ~/Documents/bob.txt ~/Desktop/bob.txt
(~/ is Unix shorthand for /Users/yourusername/)
To make this easier (save you from having to type two complete paths each time), open the folder where you want to put the aliases (symlinks) and the folder(s) with the orginal documents. Then, in the Terminal, type
cd
follwed by a space. Then drag to the Terminal the little icon (in the window titlebar, next to the folder name) of the folder where you want the symlinks to appear--the Terminal will fill in the path for you--and hit return.
In my example above, I would have dragged the titlebar icon of the Desktop (were there such a thing; the actual "Desktop" icon in my home directory, or any actual folder icon for "real" folders, would also have worked). The command would have been
cd /Users/smokey/Desktop
Then, type
ln -s
followed by a space, drag the first of your original files to the Teminal--the Terminal fills in the path to the orignal file and the trailing space--and then type the name you want the symlink to appear as, i.e., file.doc, and hit return.
I.e., having previously changed directory [cd] to my Desktop, my final commad (after the Terminal filled in the path to my original file) would have been:
ln -s /Users/smokey/Documents/bob.txt bob.txt
Repeat for each of your other original files. There may be some third-party utility out there that will do this via a GUI and/or in bulk, but I haven't looked.
Hope this helps (and was not too confusing),
Smokey
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