System 7 was released in 1991 by
Apple Computer, and it contained a number of user-interface enhancements.
Among them:
- Stationery was introduced. Stationery allowed any document to be used as a read-only template. Opening a stationery pad would create a new, untitled document.
- Everything in the Finder is in color. All the window borders and many icons were redesigned for a pseudo-3D appearance. 256-color icons were allowed. This became the standard appearance until Mac OS X.
- Publishing and subscribing was introduced. A document or a portion thereof could be published into a generic file. The published data could then be used in another document and it would update automatically after changes in the published material.
- The Trash folder was introduced on every volume. Files left in the Trash are moved here, and only deleted when the Trash is emptied. In earlier versions, files were lost upon reboots or shutdowns
- A new version of the Desktop database using two files (Desktop DF and Desktop DB), was introduced for volumes greater than 2 megabytes in size.
- The single-tasking environment was completely removed and MultiFinder became standard.
- Control Panel devices were renamed to Control Panels, and were accessible from outside of the Control Panel desk accessory.
- Desk accessories became standalone applications. The Apple Menu Items folder was introduced, which could hold anything you wanted. The previous method of importing desk accessories and fonts into the System file was removed.
- Likewise, a Fonts folder for fonts and font suitcases was introduced. You can hide sounds in font suitcases with ResEdit for easier management.
- New folders for extensions (formerly known as INITs), Control Panels, and Preferences files were created, to prevent these things from cluttering up everything in the System Folder.
- The Finder stopped using MENU resources and started using fmnu resources. This does not prevent you from changing all your menu titles and selections to the word "splat".
- In previous versions of the Finder, double-clicking on the name of a file to open it would be interpreted as an attempt to rename that file. In System 7, you can now double-click a name to open a file. To rename a file, now you must either click the name and wait about one second, or move the mouse, or hit Return when the file is highlighted. You can remove the delay and revert to pre-System 7 behavior with a ResEdit trick.
- Balloon Help and the help menu came to be.
- Soft Power Off started working again for machines that supported it.
- The wording in the Get Info window for an application was changed slightly.
- Sharing files no longer required AppleShare server software.
- About this Macintosh replaced "About the Finder" in the Apple Menu. This window displayed the memory allocated to and used by each open application, the amount of available memory, and the largest contiguous block of memory. About the Finder is still available by using the option key when selecting the About this Macintosh option.
Versions of System 7 include
- System 7.0
- System 7.0.1
- System 7.1
- System 7.1.1 - System 7 Pro, including PowerTalk collaboration features.
- System 7.1.2 - first version for Power Macintosh
- System 7.1.3 - shipped with the Blackbird PowerBooks: PB5xx, PBDuo25x (I think)
- System 7.5 - included OpenDoc, QuickDraw GX. increased filesystem size limit to 4GB, fixed hideous Disk Cache bug
- System 7.5.1
- System 7.5.2
- System 7.6 - newest release that will run on Macs with less than a 68040