Fast file management
Browse drives, find files and move things around in quick time
1 The path bar
When moving files around in Finder, it’s often helpful to reveal the path bar (View > Show Path Bar). The breadcrumb trail of folders leading right to the top of your drive is interactive, so you can drag and drop items onto one of those folders, or double-click a folder to jump to it.
2 Open folders faster
When you drag and hold a selection of one or more items over a folder in Finder, you’ll notice it takes a moment for the folder to open. Fortunately, you can speed up the process by pressing the space bar as soon as the folder’s icon becomes dimmer.
3 Save at the start
When starting a document, be sure to save it immediately. At the very least, this ensures Time Machine can back it up hourly. If the app has a File > Revert To submenu, it supports Auto Save and Versions (bit.ly/asver), saving time if you change your mind about excised material.
4 Column view
In Finder’s Column view, file and folder names can often get concealed. Double-click the dividing line to the right of a column to resize that column to fit the longest filename contained in it. Holding down å when you do this will additionally resize all other columns to match their respective longest filenames.
5 Tag items
Tags can help you find files later on. To tag a file in Finder, ≈- click it and pick one of the coloured tags shown near the bottom of the menu. The seven defaults may be all you need; you can assign them labels with personal meaning: in Finder > Preferences > Tags, select a tag’s row, then click its label and type a new one.
6 Create new tags
To replace the menu’s shortcuts, in Finder > Prefs > Tags, drag a tag from the top list to a spot in the bottom area. You can create your own tags – say, to label saved or scanned receipts with ‘Tax return’. ≈- click a file, pick Tags, type a label, press ® once to tag the file with that label, and again to close the pop‑up.