FASTER FINDER

Get what you need more quickly

1 Get tagging

Tags are a brilliant way to organize and access files. To create tags for flagging files and folders in Finder, go to Finder > Preferences > Tags. You can use multiple tags, so for example you might apply Work and a project name.

2 Sort your Sidebar

Finder’s Sidebar is one of our most–used Mac features, and if you go to Finder > Preferences > Sidebar you can choose what it should and shouldn’t display. You can also drag folders from the Finder into the sidebar for faster access to them.

3 Change the toolbar

You can change the Finder toolbar to include the commands that you use the most: just Ctrl–click on it and choose Customize Toolbar. You can now reorder, and add and remove toolbar icons. If you mess up, just drag the default set from the bottom of the pop–up.

4 Locate the Library

Your Mac’s Library doesn’t usually appear in the Finder’s Go menu — the idea is to stop people wandering into it by accident — but you can make it appear by holding down the Ctrl button when the Go menu is visible.

5 Get into Groups

If you click the Action button in a Finder window you’ll see an option to Use Groups. This organizes the current folder’s contents by type, such as folders, documents, images and so on, or by type, or by date, or by any other attribute. Doing so can make very large folders much easier to navigate.

6 Use Spotlight as a launcher

With the exception of copying and pasting, the keyboard shortcut we use most is Cmd+Spacebar: that’s the Spotlight shortcut, and you can use it to carry out quick sums and conversions or to launch specific apps on your Mac.

7 Use more Widgets

Widgets in macOS appear in a panel that pops up when you need it and stays away when you don’t; we use ours for our schedule, and the weather forecast, but you might want Notes, News or other apps. To change your widgets, click the date and time in the menu bar, then on the Edit Widgets link in the bottom.

8 Embrace accessibility

System Preferences > Accessibility can make Finder easier to use for people with poor vision, so for

example on a Touch ID–equipped Mac or keyboard you can tap the Touch ID sensor three times to turn on VoiceOver, which provides more control via the keyboard and spoken or Braille descriptions of what’s on screen. You can also adjust features such as keyboard navigation, pointer control, zoom controls and more.

9 Show the Path

If you want to know where a file lives, go into the Finder’s View menu and select Show Path Bar. This adds a bar at the bottom of the window showing the exact location of the selected file or folder.

10 Go to the Gallery

Trying to find a specific picture in a busy folder? Use your Finder window’s View menu to select Gallery. This displays your folder contents as a strip of thumbnails, with a large image of the currently selected item. Use your Mac keyboard’s arrow keys to switch between the different items.