Tricks to improve the efficiency of the finder in macos (part 1)

The Finder is one of the essential elements in our Mac computers; we always have it at hand, in the dock of our desk, ready to help us search, find and organize all kinds of documents, files, folders and more. It is identified with the icon of a smiling face known as "Happy Mac", and also includes the Finder menu bar at the top of the screen. But its power lies in each of the Finder windows. In this article, we will look at some of the most useful tips and tricks to get the most out of it, and I am sure that some of them you did not know. Let's go there.

Set a default folder for a new Finder window

If you often work with files in a specific folder, then you might prefer to configure that folder to be the one that opens automatically every time you launch the Finder. To do this, click on Preferences in the Finder menu bar, and under the General tab you will see a drop-down menu in "New Finder windows show:". Select one of the options in the list, or click Other… to choose a custom location.

Quickly adjust column widths

Column view is one of the most useful ways to work with files, and there are a couple of tricks with which you can adjust this feature to make it even more efficient for you.

If you open a new window in the Finder and the width of the column is so small that it prevents you from displaying the file names, double click at the bottom of the column separator and the width will automatically expand to fit the file name longer.

IMAGE | MacRumors

You can also hold down the Option key (⌥) by adjusting the width of the column manually (by clicking and dragging the divider). This will adjust all the columns of that window simultaneously, and also set the chosen size as the default column width for all Finder windows in the future.

Customize the toolbar

The Finder will be much more useful when working with files and folders if you add more action buttons on the toolbar of each Finder window.

To do this, right-click (or Control-click) on the toolbar of the Finder window and select the option "Customize toolbar…" You will see a drop-down menu like the one you see on these lines that includes a wide variety of buttons. Drag the ones you want to the toolbar, you can even drag a default set.

Add shortcuts to apps, files or folders in the toolbar

And as a complement to the previous trick, you can also add shortcuts to the applications you want in the Finder toolbar, and thus you will always have them at hand.

IMAGE | MacRumors

You can add shortcuts to specific applications, or to any file or folder at the top of the Finder window, just hold down the Command key (⌘) while dragging the item in question to a space you have free in the bar of tools.

And so far this series of tricks and tips to be much more efficient using the Finder in macOS. But beware, stay tuned because there is still the best and we will show you in the coming days.