Give Finder something Xtra

Bring back old-style labels and add extra menu options with XtraFinder

Finder has changed a lot over the years, adding much-needed features, but also taking things away. While we’re big fans of the tabbed windows in OS X Mavericks and Yosemite, we were disappointed when old-style coloured labels vanished, and also when the sidebar icons became depressingly monochrome.

But where Apple no longer provides, enterprising third-party developers are often there to fill the

XtraFinder enables you to add all kinds of features to power up OS X’s file manager

void. One such example is XtraFinder, a free app (although you can donate to show your support) that’s available from trankynam. com/xtrafinder. Once installed, the app enables you to add all kinds of features to Finder, significantly powering up OS X’s file manager.

The app’s preferences are divided into four groups. ‘Tabs’ might seem superfluous – the section really exists due to XtraFinder pre-dating OS X Mavericks, which introduced native Finder tabs – but there are more options here than Apple provides, including a highly useful dual-pane view. ‘Features’ provides a range of new toys to play with, ‘Appearance’ deftly deals with both colour issues mentioned earlier, and ‘Add items to Finder menus’ can significantly expand the Finder contextual menu. Craig Grannell