HOW TO Customise the Finder

1 Tidy the sidebar

Too many things in the Finder sidebar? Click the Finder menu and then Preferences. Choose Sidebar. Uncheck the boxes next to those items you no longer want to see in the sidebar. Check any that you want to add.

2 Create tags

In Finder Preferences, click on Tags. Click the ‘ ’ and type a name for the tag. Press then click on the circle next to the name and choose a colour for the tag. If you don’t want it in the sidebar, uncheck the box.

3 Add tags to menus

Drag any tag you want to add to a contextual menu in the Finder into the bar at the bottom of Finder > Preferences > Tags. When you ≈-click on any file in the Finder, you will be able to apply that tag from the menu.

4 Specify preview details

To determine what is shown in the preview window when you click on a file, ≈-click it and choose Show Preview Options. Check the box next to any of the items you want to see without clicking More in the preview.

5 Customise the toolbar

In the Finder, click the View menu then Customise Toolbar. Drag elements you want to appear in the toolbar into the toolbar at the bottom of the window. Choose whether you want to see the icon, icon and text, or just text.

6 Choose how to open

Select a folder and choose a view (List, Column, etc). Click the View menu and choose Show View Options. Check the box next to ‘Always open in…’ to make sure that folder opens in the same view. Choose how to group and sort files.