**Mastering the Finder: Tips and Tricks to Boost Your Productivity**
The Finder is an essential tool on your Mac, allowing you to navigate and manage your files with ease. However, its capabilities can be limited if you don't know how to optimize it for your needs. In this article, we'll explore various tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your Finder experience.
**Customizing Your Finder Workspace**
One of the first things you can do to improve your Finder workflow is customize your workspace. By default, the Finder window is set up with a series of columns that display information such as file names, sizes, and dates. However, if you find yourself working with files in a specific folder on a regular basis, you may want to consider setting it as the default folder for new Finder windows. To do this, click on "Preferences" in the Finder menu bar, select the General tab, and choose one of the options from the drop-down menu under "New Finder Window Shows." You can also set up custom columns by right-clicking (or control-clicking) on the bottom of the column divider and adjusting the width to fit the longest file name. Another useful trick is to hold down the Option key while adjusting the column width manually, which adjusts all of the columns in the same window at the same time and also sets the chosen size as the default column width for all Finder windows going forward.
**Customizing Your Toolbar**
The toolbar in the Finder can be customized to include more options that make it easier to work with files and folders. To do this, right-click (or control-click) on the Finder window's toolbar and select "Customize Toolbar." This will allow you to add buttons and shortcuts to your toolbar, making it a more efficient way to manage your files. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Command + Shift + T to quickly switch between windows.
**Managing Multiple Windows**
It's easy to get caught up in opening multiple Finder windows at once, but this can lead to clutter on your desktop. To unify multiple windows as tabs in a single window, simply open a new Finder window and click "Window" in the menu bar, then select "Merge All Windows." This will combine all of your open windows into a single tabbed interface, making it easier to navigate through your files.
**Finding File Paths**
When working with files on your Mac, it's not always easy to find their full path. To get around this, you can right-click (or control-click) on the folder name and icon in the title bar, which will display the full path in a drop-down menu. Alternatively, you can select "View" > "Show Path Bar" in the Finder menu bar, which displays the file path at the bottom of every window.
**Using the Status Bar**
The status bar in the Finder window is a useful feature that displays two pieces of information: the number of items contained in the open folder and the available storage space on the current disk. To toggle the status bar on or off, select "View" > "Show Status Bar" in the Finder menu bar.
**Limiting Searches**
When searching for files using the Finder's search function, it can be frustrating when it searches your entire system by default instead of just the folder that you're currently in. However, this can be easily changed by modifying the "Search" preferences. To do this, click on "Finder Preferences," select the Advanced tab, and then choose one of the options from the drop-down menu under "When Performing a Search." Selecting "Search the Current Folder" will limit searches to only the folders that you're currently viewing.
**Quick Look and Full Screen Slideshow**
The Quick Look feature in the Finder allows you to preview files with a quick glance, but did you know about the full-screen slideshow feature? To activate this, hold down the Option key while pressing the Spacebar. This will display a close-up of your selected image or document on the desktop, which can be scrolled through using the arrow keys or the on-screen navigation buttons. You can also select the index card icon to view all of your selected files on one screen.
**Showing Hidden Files**
Finally, if you need to access hidden files on your Mac, but don't know where to look, you can use a keyboard shortcut to reveal them. Pressing Shift + Command + B dot (.) will display your hidden files in the current window. This is a convenient feature that can save time when working with files on your Mac.
By following these tips and tricks, you'll be able to optimize your Finder experience and become more productive when working with files on your Mac.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everyone dan with MacRumors and in this video we're going to go through some of our top tips for using the Mac OS finder more efficiently our first tip involves the column view and more specifically how to quickly adjust the width of the columns if you open a new Finder window and the column width is too small to view the names of your files double click on the bottom of the column divider and the width will automatically expand to fit the longest file name another useful trick is to hold down the option key when adjusting the column width manually by clicked ragging the divider this adjusts all of the columns in the same window at the same time and also sets the chosen size as the default column width for all finder windows going forward if you often work with files in a specific folder then it's worth setting it as the default folder that every new Finder window opens with automatically so for example whenever I open up a new Finder window it will automatically default to opening the recent folder and I generally prefer to open in desktop to change this click preferences in the finder menu bar and under the general tab you'll see a drop down menu under new Finder window shows then select one of the options in the list or click other to choose a custom location like the Safari toolbar the toolbar in Finder can also be customized and can put more options at your fingertips when working with files and folders by adding more action buttons to every Finder windows toolbar to do so right-click or control-click the Finder windows toolbar and select customize toolbar you'll see a drop down menu of buttons any of which you can drag up to the toolbar with your mouse cursor as well as a default set that you can drag up to replace any you've previously added speaking of the toolbar you can also add convenient shortcuts along the top of the Finder window to any app file or folder you like simply by holding down the command key and dragging the item onto an available space in the toolbar our next tip is one that really helped me out because after a few hours working on my Mac I probably end up with 10 different Finder windows open and scattered throughout my desktop if this sounds like you don't panic there is an easy remedy for this if your desktop is being taken over by multiple Finder window you can quickly unify them as tabs in a single window with a Finder window active simply click window in the menu bar and select merge all windows the location of a folder or file may not be immediately obvious when viewed in a Finder window so here are a few ways to find out that file or folder path the easiest method is to right-click or control-click the folder name and icon in the title bar this will show you the full path in a drop-down menu allowing you to quickly jump to any folder in the list alternatively you can make the path constantly visible at the bottom of every Finder window by selecting view and show path bar in the finder menu bar side note you can double click on any folder in the path bar to jump straight to it in the current open window or tab the status bar in the Finder window is something that is very useful and surprisingly turned off by default the finder status bar displays two pieces of information that will come in handy when organizing your files for example you'll see how many items are contained in the open folder as well as the current disks available storage space to toggle the status bar on in the finder menu bar select view show status bar if you've ever performed a search inside of the Finder window you might be frustrated when it searches your entire system by default as opposed to just the folder that you're currently in good news is there's an option in finder preferences that lets you automatically limit searches to the folders that's currently open in the menu bar click finder preferences and select the advanced tab in the drop down menu under when performing a search select search the current folder now most Mac OS users are familiar with finder spacebar activated quick look mode which offers a preview of the currently highlighted file or files but you might not know about Quick Looks full screen slideshow feature you can enter a full screen slideshow preview by holding the option key when you next press the spacebar to activate quick look the desktop will fade out for a close-up of your selected images and/or documents which can be scrolled through using the arrow keys or using the on-screen navigation buttons you can also select the index card icon on the overlay to glance at all of your selected files on the one screen finally our last tip is the ability to show you your hidden files in a Finder window so for example when you select your Macintosh hard drive you'll see a few basic folders like Applications Library System and users there are actually a ton of hidden files that finder conveniently hides from you because you most likely do not need quick access to these file types on a daily basis if you do however need to access a hidden file simply press shift command + b dot or period key and your hidden files will appear use the same keyboard command to toggle this feature on or off let us know if you have any hidden tips or tricks to be more efficient with finder in the comment section down below this has been Dan with MacRumors thanks for watching and I will see you in the next onehey everyone dan with MacRumors and in this video we're going to go through some of our top tips for using the Mac OS finder more efficiently our first tip involves the column view and more specifically how to quickly adjust the width of the columns if you open a new Finder window and the column width is too small to view the names of your files double click on the bottom of the column divider and the width will automatically expand to fit the longest file name another useful trick is to hold down the option key when adjusting the column width manually by clicked ragging the divider this adjusts all of the columns in the same window at the same time and also sets the chosen size as the default column width for all finder windows going forward if you often work with files in a specific folder then it's worth setting it as the default folder that every new Finder window opens with automatically so for example whenever I open up a new Finder window it will automatically default to opening the recent folder and I generally prefer to open in desktop to change this click preferences in the finder menu bar and under the general tab you'll see a drop down menu under new Finder window shows then select one of the options in the list or click other to choose a custom location like the Safari toolbar the toolbar in Finder can also be customized and can put more options at your fingertips when working with files and folders by adding more action buttons to every Finder windows toolbar to do so right-click or control-click the Finder windows toolbar and select customize toolbar you'll see a drop down menu of buttons any of which you can drag up to the toolbar with your mouse cursor as well as a default set that you can drag up to replace any you've previously added speaking of the toolbar you can also add convenient shortcuts along the top of the Finder window to any app file or folder you like simply by holding down the command key and dragging the item onto an available space in the toolbar our next tip is one that really helped me out because after a few hours working on my Mac I probably end up with 10 different Finder windows open and scattered throughout my desktop if this sounds like you don't panic there is an easy remedy for this if your desktop is being taken over by multiple Finder window you can quickly unify them as tabs in a single window with a Finder window active simply click window in the menu bar and select merge all windows the location of a folder or file may not be immediately obvious when viewed in a Finder window so here are a few ways to find out that file or folder path the easiest method is to right-click or control-click the folder name and icon in the title bar this will show you the full path in a drop-down menu allowing you to quickly jump to any folder in the list alternatively you can make the path constantly visible at the bottom of every Finder window by selecting view and show path bar in the finder menu bar side note you can double click on any folder in the path bar to jump straight to it in the current open window or tab the status bar in the Finder window is something that is very useful and surprisingly turned off by default the finder status bar displays two pieces of information that will come in handy when organizing your files for example you'll see how many items are contained in the open folder as well as the current disks available storage space to toggle the status bar on in the finder menu bar select view show status bar if you've ever performed a search inside of the Finder window you might be frustrated when it searches your entire system by default as opposed to just the folder that you're currently in good news is there's an option in finder preferences that lets you automatically limit searches to the folders that's currently open in the menu bar click finder preferences and select the advanced tab in the drop down menu under when performing a search select search the current folder now most Mac OS users are familiar with finder spacebar activated quick look mode which offers a preview of the currently highlighted file or files but you might not know about Quick Looks full screen slideshow feature you can enter a full screen slideshow preview by holding the option key when you next press the spacebar to activate quick look the desktop will fade out for a close-up of your selected images and/or documents which can be scrolled through using the arrow keys or using the on-screen navigation buttons you can also select the index card icon on the overlay to glance at all of your selected files on the one screen finally our last tip is the ability to show you your hidden files in a Finder window so for example when you select your Macintosh hard drive you'll see a few basic folders like Applications Library System and users there are actually a ton of hidden files that finder conveniently hides from you because you most likely do not need quick access to these file types on a daily basis if you do however need to access a hidden file simply press shift command + b dot or period key and your hidden files will appear use the same keyboard command to toggle this feature on or off let us know if you have any hidden tips or tricks to be more efficient with finder in the comment section down below this has been Dan with MacRumors thanks for watching and I will see you in the next one\n"
