Copying and pasting the path within Finder

FileUtils is a contextual (right-click) finder plugin that, among other things, allows one to copy the path of items to the clipboard.

Then you can press command-shift-G to have a "Go to folder" dialog appear where you can paste. This shortcut works in any standard open/save dialog on the Mac.

You can also drag a folder to the open/save dialogs (so the cursor has a green + symbol), which will change the dialog to that folder. This also works with the little icons in the Finder window title bar (called "Proxy icons" often), and is probably going to be faster than copy-pasting paths.

This may not directly answer your question, but I find these useful:

• You can drag and drop the folder icon next to the folder name in the Finder. You can drop it in an Open/Save dialog
• Command-click the icon in the Finder window to get a list of all the folders "up" the tree
• Enable the Path Bar (in the view menu)

And you might find this a good page describing how best to use the Finder. In general, I think that it's best to not treat it like the Windows Explorer. It can do much of the same stuff but it does work differently.

Typing a / character into the Open and Save dialogs displays a dialog to enter a path.