How to use Finder on your Mac – Take control of Mac’s Finder!

When you first start Mac, you find yourself using a program called the Finder. The Finder is somewhat like Windows Explorer, but it’s an even more basic tool of Apple. You’ll find that you use the Finder all the time without even realizing it. Everything, from your Dropbox folders to your saved pictures, can be located in the Finder. Here is everything about Finder and how to use Finder on your Mac:

How to open a Finder window?

The easiest way to open Finder is:

• Click on your desktop (don’t select an app or program), click on File in the Menu bar and choose New Finder Window.
• On your Dock, click on the Finder icon (looks like a smiling face).
• Then, on your keyboard, hit ‘Command-N’ while you have the desktop selected.

Customize the Finder toolbar and use Finder on your Mac

If you don’t like the default settings for the Finder toolbar, then there are other options you can select from. You can customize it according to your likes and use Finder on your Mac.

1. Open a new Finder window by following the steps listed above.
2. Right-, control-, or two-finger-click on the toolbar.
3. Click Customize Toolbar…
4. Click and drag different tools onto the bar.
   • Quick Look: This is a great way to take a glimpse at a document or photo that you have in the finder.
   • Delete: Delete an item from the Finder after highlighting it.
   • Connect: Connect to an external server if you know the address. You can store several favourite servers and switch between them through this button.
   • Get Info: Highlight something in the Finder and press this button to get a detailed set of information on it.
5. Click Done present in the bottom right corner of the page once you’ve added all of the tools to the toolbar that you want.

How to use Quick Look?

With this you can get a glimpse of files that you have stored in the Finder folder. Here is how to use it:

1. Open a new Finder window as taught above.
2. Find the file you wish to use Quick Look with and click it once.
3. Click the Quick Look button on your Finder’s toolbar (it will have an eye as the icon).

Or you can simply tap the Space bar on your keyboard.

Use the Info button from FInder on your Mac

1. Open a new Finder window as mentioned above.
2. Click on the item for which you want information.
3. Click the Info button (it will have a small ‘i’ as the icon).

After clicking in it, you will find the details of the file you wanted to know about.

How to show or hide hard disks, external disks, CDs, and connected servers on your desktop?

1. In Finder, click on Finder in the Menu bar and select Preferences.
2. Click General, the first tab on the top left corner.
3. Check the boxes for the types of items you want to display on your desktop, like show hard disks, external disks etc.

Set a new Finder window’s default section and use Finder on your Mac

1. In Finder, click on Finder in the Menu bar and select Preferences.
2. Click General, the first tab on the top left corner.
3. In the drop-down menu, click on the folder or storage device.
4. If your desired section isn’t immediately available, choose Other, the last option in the menu.

How to use Tags?

1. In Finder, click on Finder in the Menu bar and select Preferences.
2. Click Tags, the second tab at the top after ‘General’.
3. Check the boxes next to your tags to select which tags which you want to be displayed in your Finder’s sidebar.
4. Drag a favourite tag to the bottom of the Tags tab to make it available for quick access in Finder menus.

Create custom Tags and use Finder on your Mac

1. In Finder, click on Finder in the Menu bar and select Preferences.
2. Click Tags, the second tab at the top after ‘General’.
3. Below the list of tags, click the + button, at the bottom left of the menu.
4. Enter a name for your tag.
5. Click the circle next to your tag to assign it the desired colour.

How to customize the Finder sidebar?

1. In Finder, click on Finder in the Menu bar and select Preferences.
2. Click Sidebar, the third tab at the top after ‘Tag’.
3. Check the boxes next to the items you want to see in your Finder’s sidebar.

Use Stacks in Finder

1. Click View in the Menu bar of your Mac on your desktop with no apps in the foreground.
2. Click Use Stacks, the fourth option in the drop-down menu.
3. Control-click, right-click, or two-finger-click on your desktop.
4. Hover your mouse cursor over Group Stacks By. Choose between Kind, Date Last Opened, Date Added, Date Modified, Date Created, and Tags.

How to use Gallery View in Finder?

1. Click on the Finder icon in your Dock to open a new Finder window.
2. Navigate to the folder or section that you want to view.
3. Click the Gallery View button on the right-most side of the view selection buttons on the Finder window.

View file metadata in Finder

1. Click on the Finder icon in your Dock to open a new Finder window.
2. Choose the view you want to use, present in the top bar of the menu.
3. Click on the file whose information you want to use.
4. Tap on the View in the Menu bar.
5. Click Show Preview, present after ‘Hide Sidebar’ in the drop-down menu.
6. Click Show More in the Preview pane to view additional metadata.

How to use Quick Actions in Finder?

1. Click on the Finder icon in your Dock to open a new Finder window.
2. Choose the view you want to use.
3. Select the file or files on which you wish to perform a quick action.
4. Click View in the Menu bar if the Preview pane isn’t already visible.
5. Click Show Preview, present after ‘Hide Sidebar’ in the drop-down menu.
6. Choose one of the actions present at the bottom row to perform it on the selected file or files.
7. Click More…, present at the bottom of the page, to find any other actions that you might be able to take.

Use Quick Look tools in Finder

1. Click on the Finder icon in your Dock to open a new Finder window.
2. Choose the view you want to use from the tabs present at the top bar.
3. Click on the file you want to use with Quick Look.
4. Tap the space bar on your keyboard to bring up Quick Look.
5. Click the action button to take action on the file. What actions you can take and what the button looks like will depend on the file type.
   • Documents will have a Markup button. You can draw, write, and highlight images and documents, add text boxes to them and even sign documents with a pre-saved signature with this. Moreover, you can also crop and rotate Images.
   • In addition to Markup, images may also have a Rotate button. Press this to rotate your image to the left.
   • Audio and video files will have a Trim button. Press this, then grab the sliders on either end of the Quick Look preview to trim the length of an audio clip or video.
6. Tap the space bar again when you’re done with Quick Look.

Conclusion- Use Finder on your Mac

Finder makes it easier to do basic work on your Mac. You can get to the Finder by clicking anywhere on the desktop or selecting its icon from the Dock and use Finder on your Mac. Moreover, You use Finder to move around among folders. You see a window when you double-click a folder or choose to File→New Finder Window from the Finder. Click and drag the icon to its left to wherever you want, just as you would the folder’s icon in its parent folder. Also, Finder windows have a sidebar on the left with a list of available storage volumes at the top and selected folders at the bottom. You can customize these sidebars by dragging folders into or out of the list area.