iUseApple

Get Acquainted with the Finder

The Finder is the way we browse and search for files in OS X. It is comparable to Windows Explorer on a PC. The Finder “is responsible for the overall user-management of files, disks, network volumes and the launching of other applications” (Wikipedia). When I turn on a Mac for the very first time, the Finder stares me in the face. It is the first application we use when using a Mac. It is good to know all that I can do with it.

When I first used the Finder in OS X I was in a small video editing lab on my college campus. It looked like this:

And I said to myself “Is this it? This is Apple’s spectacular competition for Windows Explorer. Maybe you are saying to yourself, “This isn’t what my Finder looks like!” When I click the button in the upper right, the Finder transforms into this:

That button toggles the Finder between these two different views.

Navigating and Viewing

The back and forward buttons allows me to navigate through folders easily. It works just like an internet browser. There are three views I can see files with in the Finder: icons, lists, and columns.Click each button to choose the different views. The column view is the foreign to most people. Don’t be afraid of it, it can be very useful. If I click a Folder while in Column View, it will spring load the contents of that folder into another column and so forth.

The Sidebar

I can drag and drop any File, Folder, or Application to the Sidebar so it is always easily accessible. You don’t see a sidebar? Then drag the small button on the left of the Finder window to the right and the sidebar will appear.I can remove aliases here by dragging them out of the sidebar and releasing the mouse. The icon will go poof! and disappear.

Rename Files and Folders

Click once on the folder, then click again a second later, a slow double click.

Color Label Files and Folders

Color Labels are a great way to distinguish folders and files from one another. I can give any folder or file a color label so it stands out above the rest. This makes browsing through the Finder easier, since I can color code standard paths I may take.

To color label any file or folder, just Right Click or Ctrl + Click the file and select the appropriate color from the drop down menu.

Customize the Toolbar

I can customize the toolbar and add many useful options that will now be a click away! Ctrl+Click or Right Click the toolbar (any grey space at the top of the Finder), then Select Customize toolbar… from the drop down menu.

Drag and drop any icon to the toolbar to add it. I can now have one click access to Get Info, Ejecting, and Burning!

Finder Preferences

Select Preferences… from the Finder menubar at the top of the screen. Here I can select the items I want shown on the Desktop, designate the folder I want viewed in a new Finder window, name color labels, select what is visible in the Sidebar, and turn on file extensions.

Navigate to Recent Places

When I am working on a project, the files or that project usually get saved in one place. I could drag that folder to the sidebar for easy access while working on a project. But, if I have visited that folder recently I can save to it easily. Every Application uses the Finder when I want to Open and Save files. So when I select Open or Save from the Application’s menubar, I can navigate to a recent folder by clicking the selection tab and selecting the folder under Recent places.

On a larger scale, I can open recent items and applications directly from the Apple Menu. Click the Apple icon in the top left of the screen and Select Recent Items.