On the Macintosh: OLE, Publish and Subscribe
Object Linking and Embedding, or OLE, is Microsoft’s technology for embedding live, self-updating copies of one kind of data—such as spreadsheet data—in another kind of document, such as a spreadsheet. OLE exists both in Windows and on the Macintosh; the Macintosh-only Publish and Subscribe technology is similar.
OLE. You can insert OLE data from one program, such as a spreadsheet, into another program, such as Word, in one of two ways: as linked data, which updates automatically when you change the source material, and as embedded data, which, like a standard piece of pasted data, maintains no link to any extra document.
Few Macintosh programs offer OLE features; the prominent exceptions are Microsoft applications and Adobe PageMaker. Consult the application’s manual for details on how to link or embed objects appropriately.
Publish and Subscribe. Apple’s Publish and Subscribe technology is the same idea as linked objects in OLE: changes in the original “published” material, such as a portion of a spreadsheet, are reflected in any “subscribed” versions (that you have pasted into, say, the word processor). Although many Macintosh programs offer Publish and Subscribe commands, very few Macintosh users use this feature with any regularity.
If your programs offer Publish and Subscribe commands—almost every major Macintosh program does, including Word, Excel, FreeHand, PageMaker, AppleWorks, WordPerfect, and Photoshop—try the following steps:
Highlight some data in the publishing program—a logo in a drawing program, for example, or a range of cells in a spreadsheet.
Choose Edit → Create Publisher. (The actual command menu item might be in a submenu, but it’s usually in the Edit menu.)
Save the “edition” file when prompted. In the original document, a gray nonprinting border generally appears around the material you published. Save this document; if you close the document without saving, your edition file gets cut off from its source material.
Switch to the receiving program, position the insertion point in the appropriate location for the inserted data, and choose Edit → Subscribe To. (Again, the menu position may vary by program.)
Select the edition file that you just saved.
The data you selected in the first program now appears in the second program, once again enclosed by a nonprinting border. When you open the original publishing document, make changes, and then save the changes, you’ll see the subscribed copies update automatically.
On the Macintosh: Opening Files
The basics of opening files are similar in both Macintosh and Windows, but the preferred methods of working differ.
Documents and applications. As in Windows, you can open Macintosh documents and programs in a number of ways:
Double-click the file’s icon (or an alias of it).
Select the icon, and then choose File → Open (Command-O).
Drag a document’s icon to the icon of a program that can open it. Alternatively, you can open a particular application by double-clicking the icon of a document created by it.
Drag the document’s icon to a window of a program that can read the document. This works primarily when dropping icons into web browser windows.
Control-click the icon and then choose Open from the contextual menu.
You can open a document by launching a program that can read it, and then choosing File → Open from within that program.
Choose a document name from Apple menu → Recent Documents, or choose a program name from Apple menu → Recent Applications. See Documents Menu for more information.
Choose the item from Apple menu → Favorites (if you’ve designated it as a favorite). See Favorites Menu.
Make an alias of the document or program; place it in Macintosh HD → System Folder → Apple Menu Items, which makes the alias appear in the Apple menu. Then choose its name from the Apple menu. See Shortcuts and Start Menu for more information.
Place an alias of the document or program in Macintosh HD → System Folder → Startup Items. The document or program will open automatically every time you boot the Macintosh. For more information, see Shortcuts and StartUp Folder.
Folders and disks. Use the following methods to open folders and disks:
Double-click the folder’s icon or an alias of the folder.
In a list view, click the disclosure triangle next to the folder’s name.
Make an alias of the folder and place it in Macintosh HD → System Folder → Apple Menu Items to have it appear in the Apple menu. Then choose the folder from the Apple menu. Note too that you can choose any document or program from the hierarchical menu attached to that folder in the Apple menu. See Shortcuts and Start Menu for more information.
Choose the folder from Apple menu → Favorites if you’ve made that folder a favorite. See Favorites Menu.
Select the folder’s icon, then choose File → Open (Command-O).
Control-click the folder’s icon and choose Open from the contextual menu.
Make an alias of the folder and place it in Macintosh HD → System Folder → Startup Items to have the folder open automatically every time you boot the Macintosh. For more information, see StartUp Folder.