How to Make an Alias on Mac (Shortcut to a File)

An alias is macOS’s version of a shortcut: a tiny file that opens something stored elsewhere. Put an alias of a deep project folder on your Desktop and you get one-click access without duplicating anything — and unlike a copied file, an alias never goes stale, because there’s only ever one original.

Three ways to make an alias

1. Right-click: select the file, folder, or app in Finder, right-click it, and choose Make Alias. A new item appears next to the original with “alias” appended to its name and a small curved arrow on its icon. Drag it wherever you want it.
2. Keyboard: select the item and press Ctrl+Cmd+A — the shortcut for File → Make Alias. Same result, no trip to the menu bar.
3. Drag with Option+Cmd: hold Option+Cmd and drag the item to the destination folder or the Desktop. The pointer gains the curved-arrow badge, and the alias is created right where you drop it — in one move, and without the “alias” suffix. This is the fastest method once it’s in your muscle memory.

Aliases work for anything: files, folders, apps, external drives, even network shares. Renaming an alias is safe — the link lives in the alias’s data, not its name — and deleting an alias never touches the original.

Jump back to the original

When you need the real file — to move it, share it, or check its neighbors — right-click the alias and choose Show Original, or select it and press Cmd+R. Finder opens the enclosing folder with the original highlighted.

Not sure whether something is an alias? Press Cmd+I: the Kind line reads “Alias”, and the General section shows the path of the original it points to.

Fix a broken alias

Aliases track their target by identity, so they survive the original being moved or renamed on the same disk. They break when the original is deleted, or when it lived on a drive or server that isn’t connected. Opening a broken alias brings up a dialog with three choices:

• Delete Alias — removes the dead pointer.
• Fix Alias… — lets you pick a new original; the alias points there from then on.
• OK — dismisses the dialog and keeps the alias as is (useful when the missing drive will be back later).

If the target was on an external drive, plug the drive in before writing the alias off — it will resolve again on its own.

Places an alias earns its keep

• Desktop launcher: an alias of the folder you’re working in this month. When the project ends, trash the alias — the folder stays put.
• One document, many projects: keep the master file in one canonical folder and drop aliases into each project folder that references it. Edit anywhere, and every “copy” is current, because there are no copies.
• App shortcuts without the Dock: aliases of two or three niche apps in a folder beat a Dock crowded with icons you use monthly.

Two Finder features overlap with aliases and are sometimes the better tool: dragging a folder to the right side of the Dock gives you a menu of its contents, and File → Add to Sidebar (Ctrl+Cmd+T) pins the selected folder to every Finder window. Use an alias when you want the shortcut to live in a folder, not in Finder’s chrome.

When an alias isn’t enough

Terminal commands, scripts, and many apps can’t follow Finder aliases — they need a real path. For those cases, create a symbolic link instead: it behaves like the original at the file-system level. Here’s how to create a symlink with ln -s, and how the two compare.