Thank you for the video! I’ve gone back and forth using Apple and PC for work the last 20 years, and this is always the frustrating difference - Finder vs Explorer. Explorer has always just felt more natural. Even after using the 14” pro now exclusively since November, I still can’t quickly navigate Finder like I can Explorer. While Apple usually goes with a minimalistic, simple approach, sometimes I feel like they try to trick things up way too much. Like they try to make options for everyone (which becomes confusing) vs. just having one basic approach to things. Anyway, thanks for the always enlightening content!
I always found it confusing and frustrating as I am always having to reset the view and position. Good explanation of why that is the case. The last tip about having a finder window with tabs of the most common folders you use is a great idea. I think I will start implementing that approach.
I'm the same Gary, I always keep a finder window open all the time with two or three different tabs. That's the set up I prefer the most. I use many desktops instead of hiding the finder window, switching from one to another with keyboard shortcut. Thank you for explaining all possibilities to use Finder windows 👍
I've mainly used a Windows computer. Recently I got myself a 2017 MacBook Air and a 2021 M1 iMac. So I'm still learning all the things about macOS. Thank you for the videos and channel.
Very interesting! In the windows world…it will remember where you last closed the particular window and will remember a finite number of size/positions. To reset it, hold down the alt or control key while clicking the X in upper-right to reset the size and position should it get stuck in an awkward position (such as off-screen) and can use alt+spacebar and arrow keys to move it back on the screen and to set it there.
"Does get a little complex" Yes indeed but, as always, you delivered a great tutorial on a subject that, while seemingly simple, is actually pretty complex. That said, this clarified a lot and has enabled me to make my folders behave the way I want. Thank you Gary!
Nice to see this explained. I just patiently change the view each time it’s “wrong” until the “wrong” one seems to go away. Now I know why; I can work a bit better knowing what’s going on. My joke-to-myself is that “Finder” is a dumb name for a great computer function. It’s like a little kid was asked “what does this do” and the kid answered “it finds stuff.” “Search engine,” for instance, sounds so much more dignified (I realize that Finder is *not* a search engine, I’m just comparing names). Separately, I have a topic I’d love to see you discuss, but I’m not sure how to bring it to your attention. You have done a piece on it, but it was in 2016… And yes - I’m a longtime fan! Thanks for everything and sorry for the long comment.
Thank you! This very thing* has been confusing and frustrating me the last couple of weeks. This fixed it. Thank you again! * Certain windows, especially when opened via an alias, always seemed to reset to an icon view when I wanted a list view. So I'd change it to a list view. And sure enough, next time when I opened the folder, it had reverted back to the icon view.
I needed this one! And I think I'll watch it again... Really helpful as I didn't understand Finder states/defaults and the difference between Open In and Browse In, as well as between windows versus folder locations.
Thank you so very much for this video. I have been a Macintosh consultant since 1984. I actually was an apple 2+ consultant before that. That said, I never had any idea how any of this worked. And I’ve always wondered very much how it worked but never bothered to investigate. After your video I am still ridiculously confused but that is not because of your fantastic video. It’s just because there is a lot to wrap my head around. As a quick question, is there an invisible file that is storing this data.? - Eric ZORK Alan & Sweetie [ Professional Poets & Bed Vloggers ]
This info is interesting but i cannot think of any use case i would make use of this. Now I understand why some windows open in another view and some dont, but … It is rather confusing for a userr to have diffent setting for specific folder. Am i supposed remeber which folder i opened in which view? To me it seems a little over-engineered.
Consider what you do in the different folders. If you have a folder that contains images, setting it to always open in icon view rather than column view is useful. If you have a folder with many subfolders, it's easiest to navigate those subfolders in column view. A folder with items that need to be re-sorted often is best viewed in list view with the relevant columns showing. For this last one, I often find switching between Name and Date Added is helpful in quickly locating items.
Wow, so many options! my brain is fried, honestly 😅 Question: is there a way to switch from a Finder window to another with a shortcut? Always great videos, the best on youTube, Gary! 👏🏻
Wow, it took me a while to get it, I didn't know where the ` key was. probably because I have a European keyboard? Anyway, for me it's Command + the key between Shift and Z, the one with > and
I'm sorry, but after watching I'm still confused, is there a way to set all tabs in Finder (Documents, Photos, ect) and the files in each folder to the same size all at once rather than doing it one by one?
Can the Finder be set to remember the file name column width? Some of my filenames are long and get truncated which means expanding the column every time which gets tedious very quickly :-)
This is a huge frustration for me too. There is a button that expands columns to fit contents, but is tedious and impractical to do every time. Why “fit column width” isn’t a tick box is a huge mystery! I have requested this from Apple. Gary, any work around to make this the default behavior??
Do you double click the edge of the column to resize it to the long file name or option click or double click to resize all the columns? Another thing you can do is right click and resize what you want. The default size can probably be permanently set in Terminal but I would have to check to be sure.
helped me much, only what is confusing for me is that some folder windows get stored cascaded and not centered on the screen if I close all windows and use Go To for example (happens mostly on my external drive were I ve already deleted DS_Store files) unfortunately i always have to browse again to set them correct, greets Alex
Is there a way that when you use the menu to Open New Finder Window (with no other finder windows open - yes I know Desktop is actually a folder), that it opens to the last location opened? For example, maybe I was last in the Movies folder, and I choose Open New Finder Window from the menu that it will open the Movies folder? It doesn't look like there is an option in the Finder settings, unless I'm missing it.
Hi Gary, hopefully you will get to read this. I have to confess I'm pretty upset with apple since Big sur arrived and even now Monterey. Fact is since the dawn of time ( 22 years for me on the mac anyway ) you have been able to customise the finder toolbar in document windows. Most importantly for me the ability to add flexible spaces between the icons. In Big Sur & Monterey when you drag a flexible space into the toolbar all you get is a straight line which does nothing. I have emailed apple support and even Craig Federighi and nothing !! grrrr do you know any way to override it or have you the POWER to submit it to apple ( assuming it does the same for you ? ) btw I had never realised there were quite so many delete options, also I never used the forward delete key on my extended keyboard, until today, never to old to learn something new huh ? Cheers, from another Gary
Not sure what you mean by a line. When I customize toolbars in apps I get Space and Flexible Space options and can use them as I could in the years before. Which app are you working in?
@@macmost my current macbook will only upgrade to big sur and that is when I saw the problem, so I downgraded back to Catalina as it was annoying my OCD 🙂 Hoping for a new mac mini sometime soon. The customise options I mean are in Finder windows, open a new Finder window then go to View > Customise Toolbar then drag a flexible space into the toolbar and all I saw was a straight line not a box outline, single space works fine, went to my local mac dealer and tried it in Monterey on a new macbook pro and it did the same. If you can't see it I'll go back and try to get a pic of it and send you a link to view. I really appreciate you replying anyway, cheers Gary
Hello Sir: I hope that you are well. I am experiencing an issue with Finder and would appreciate your assistance in resolving it. I use a 32-inch, 4K display in full resolution. I do not wish to scale the resolution to enlarge the user interface. I can use everything effectively. However, I face one difficulty. Everything in the finder's list view and column view is quite tiny. I utilized cmd+J and set the text size and icon size to their maximum values. Still insufficient. Is there a technique or terminal command to make the list view and column view items larger than the cmd+J option's maximum size? Thank you.
@@macmost I am currently using the accessibility zooming shortcut. I do not wish to magnify everything. However, this is currently my only alternative. After using it a few times, I now believe that it is quick to enable and disable, therefore this method will suffice until I discover a better one. Thank you sir.
Thank you for the video. I have been trying to find how to change something (I am on 12.5), but I can't find how to do it. The default photo icon thumbnail size for Finder is tiny. I think it is 64 x 64 pixels. So, in the Finder I went to View | Show View Options and made it larger and made it the default. When using Finder directly all is good, but then when I am on a forum, Facebook, creating an email, etc. when I want to add a photo to a post a Finder window pops up with the original tiny thumbnails. How can I make this pop up Finder show the default thumbnail size that I set? I add photos probably 15-20 times a day and the tiny thumbnails in the upload window that are smaller than the default size in the regular Finder are a big annoyance. Do you know how I can get the popup Finder window to use the thumbnail size that I had already set? Thanks!
@@macmost - Thank you for that tip. I knew that I could use Quick Look, but it does not help much when I am scanning through a folder of many photos, graphics, etc. trying to find a particular one. Very slow to try to do that and use Quick Look over and over. It is strange that the popup Finder window ignores the icon size setting. It seems like it is hardcoded to always use the smallest icon size (it is what an incompetent, low level, unskilled software developer might do) and this has never been fixed even though the regular Finder window does use the proper chosen icon size. This is likely an afternoon's work for a single software developer to fix. Yes, I have been a software engineer for a few decades. 🙂 A college intern could fix it.
@@macmost - In many forums and other websites you can't do that because they do not support that functionality. In the ones that do support it that is what I have started doing. Sadly, some of the places I most often need to upload a photo or graphic they do not support drag and drop.
@@macmost - Oh, wait a minute. I think I see what you mean. Have a regular Finder window open with the larger icons and then when the popup Finder window opens to the same folder I drag a large icon from the normal Finder to the popup Finder. They are both open to the same folder and then that dragged icon will be already selected in the popup Finder. I will try that.
The view options in the Finder are completely unintuitive. It's one big mess. I've been browsing various forums and there are a lot of topics where people are writing about how badly this has been working for many years. The "Use as Defaults" option doesn't seem to work or works in some incomprehensible way. After every computer reboot the Finder has some different settings. It's so annoying and frustrating.
@@mariuszbieniek4979 Sorry about that. As a creator when you go through your list of pending comments it isn't easy to keep track of which comment is from which video. So this video attempts to explain the "logic" behind why Finder windows work the way they do.
@@macmost for me personally, i've been using macos for some 15 years and I didn't know that there is difference between viewing, opening and browsing folders in finder. For me personally, the feature of saving each folder's view setting is useless. i expected and I used finder as it has only global setting (column view, list, view, ...) and I was just wondering why some of the folders act differently when i see current folder as column view and another one in icon view .. i thought it is a bug/glitch. So it's hard for me to consider it a feature :) And as frequently happens in macos, these things are hardly discoverable or explained anywhere (except your fantastic in-depth videos 🙏). I'm Always amazed from all the scenarios when you can apply modifier keys (Alt, Ctlr, ...) to get to "hidden" options. When you drop down the select box in Hot corners settings - it was a jaw-dropping one.
Thank you for the video! I’ve gone back and forth using Apple and PC for work the last 20 years, and this is always the frustrating difference - Finder vs Explorer. Explorer has always just felt more natural. Even after using the 14” pro now exclusively since November, I still can’t quickly navigate Finder like I can Explorer. While Apple usually goes with a minimalistic, simple approach, sometimes I feel like they try to trick things up way too much. Like they try to make options for everyone (which becomes confusing) vs. just having one basic approach to things. Anyway, thanks for the always enlightening content!
I always found it confusing and frustrating as I am always having to reset the view and position. Good explanation of why that is the case. The last tip about having a finder window with tabs of the most common folders you use is a great idea. I think I will start implementing that approach.
I'm the same Gary, I always keep a finder window open all the time with two or three different tabs. That's the set up I prefer the most. I use many desktops instead of hiding the finder window, switching from one to another with keyboard shortcut. Thank you for explaining all possibilities to use Finder windows 👍
I've mainly used a Windows computer. Recently I got myself a 2017 MacBook Air and a 2021 M1 iMac. So I'm still learning all the things about macOS. Thank you for the videos and channel.
Very interesting! In the windows world…it will remember where you last closed the particular window and will remember a finite number of size/positions. To reset it, hold down the alt or control key while clicking the X in upper-right to reset the size and position should it get stuck in an awkward position (such as off-screen) and can use alt+spacebar and arrow keys to move it back on the screen and to set it there.
Genius! No explanation needed. Perfect as it is 👏 👏 👏
"Does get a little complex" Yes indeed but, as always, you delivered a great tutorial on a subject that, while seemingly simple, is actually pretty complex. That said, this clarified a lot and has enabled me to make my folders behave the way I want. Thank you Gary!
Nice to see this explained. I just patiently change the view each time it’s “wrong” until the “wrong” one seems to go away. Now I know why; I can work a bit better knowing what’s going on.
My joke-to-myself is that “Finder” is a dumb name for a great computer function. It’s like a little kid was asked “what does this do” and the kid answered “it finds stuff.” “Search engine,” for instance, sounds so much more dignified (I realize that Finder is *not* a search engine, I’m just comparing names).
Separately, I have a topic I’d love to see you discuss, but I’m not sure how to bring it to your attention. You have done a piece on it, but it was in 2016…
And yes - I’m a longtime fan! Thanks for everything and sorry for the long comment.
A very useful and informative video tutorial today! You always explain so well. Thank you, Gary! 👏🏻❤️
Oh my gosh this was exactly what I needed, thank you Gary! I had never even seen the Show: View Options menu before!
Wow! Options galore, yet I can muddle through just selecting my view as I browse. Thank you.
Thank you! This very thing* has been confusing and frustrating me the last couple of weeks. This fixed it. Thank you again!
* Certain windows, especially when opened via an alias, always seemed to reset to an icon view when I wanted a list view. So I'd change it to a list view. And sure enough, next time when I opened the folder, it had reverted back to the icon view.
Thanks so much for this video, it helped me a lot
Thank you so much! I knew you could figure it out. I mostly leave my window open all the time.
Thanks a ton Gary. Even after using macs since 2009, I’m always learning something new from every video of yours. 👍
Thanks Gary, another great vid for new mac users.
I needed this one! And I think I'll watch it again... Really helpful as I didn't understand Finder states/defaults and the difference between Open In and Browse In, as well as between windows versus folder locations.
As always, Gary, a very useful video explaining the nuances of using a Mac. Thanks!
Coming from windows PC I enjoy column view in finder.
Thank God for this channel boy I needed this lol
So happy I begged Gary to make this video lol.
So many options to customize, thanks.
Ohhhhhhh thats how it does it! Now i get it! Thank you!!!!
thank you exclent explaining so helpful
Thanks. I have never understood why the window resizes or whatever. And I didn't know about the tabs ability so will try that.
Wow.. Thanks for your videos i have learned a lot with it.
Thank you so very much for this video. I have been a Macintosh consultant since 1984. I actually was an apple 2+ consultant before that. That said, I never had any idea how any of this worked. And I’ve always wondered very much how it worked but never bothered to investigate. After your video I am still ridiculously confused but that is not because of your fantastic video. It’s just because there is a lot to wrap my head around. As a quick question, is there an invisible file that is storing this data.? - Eric ZORK Alan & Sweetie [ Professional Poets & Bed Vloggers ]
Yes, an invisible file is exactly what is used.
This info is interesting but i cannot think of any use case i would make use of this. Now I understand why some windows open in another view and some dont, but … It is rather confusing for a userr to have diffent setting for specific folder. Am i supposed remeber which folder i opened in which view? To me it seems a little over-engineered.
Consider what you do in the different folders. If you have a folder that contains images, setting it to always open in icon view rather than column view is useful. If you have a folder with many subfolders, it's easiest to navigate those subfolders in column view. A folder with items that need to be re-sorted often is best viewed in list view with the relevant columns showing. For this last one, I often find switching between Name and Date Added is helpful in quickly locating items.
Thanks lot.
Wow, so many options! my brain is fried, honestly 😅 Question: is there a way to switch from a Finder window to another with a shortcut? Always great videos, the best on youTube, Gary! 👏🏻
You can switch windows in any app with Command+`
@@macmost Thank you! I’m sure this tip was in one (or more) of your videos, but your knowledge is so vast it doesn’t fit my brain 😄 Thank you again 👏🏻
Wow, it took me a while to get it, I didn't know where the ` key was. probably because I have a European keyboard? Anyway, for me it's Command + the key between Shift and Z, the one with > and
I wish this applied to network shared drives
It does ... There is a special Terminal Command which will allow finder to remember view options on Networked Drives
I'm sorry, but after watching I'm still confused, is there a way to set all tabs in Finder (Documents, Photos, ect) and the files in each folder to the same size all at once rather than doing it one by one?
If you have already set a folder to a custom size, then you have to set it to a new size to change it. So, basically, no.
@@macmost I see, well thanks. :)
Can the Finder be set to remember the file name column width? Some of my filenames are long and get truncated which means expanding the column every time which gets tedious very quickly :-)
This is a huge frustration for me too. There is a button that expands columns to fit contents, but is tedious and impractical to do every time. Why “fit column width” isn’t a tick box is a huge mystery! I have requested this from Apple. Gary, any work around to make this the default behavior??
Do you double click the edge of the column to resize it to the long file name or option click or double click to resize all the columns? Another thing you can do is right click and resize what you want.
The default size can probably be permanently set in Terminal but I would have to check to be sure.
This is the sort of thing I address in the video. Follow along and then use what I show here to experiment on your own.
@@macmost no, it’s not. You addressed a lot of other useful things though, thank you.
Do these same principles apply to program windows such as Chrome, safari, final cut ect?
No, this is specifically about Finder windows.
👍👍👍
helped me much, only what is confusing for me is that some folder windows get stored cascaded and not centered on the screen if I close all windows and use Go To for example (happens mostly on my external drive were I ve already deleted DS_Store files) unfortunately i always have to browse again to set them correct, greets Alex
Can someone help me out, why does not work the back and forward button on my mouse in finder? Is there a setup for this?
Not sure what buttons you mean.
Is there a way that when you use the menu to Open New Finder Window (with no other finder windows open - yes I know Desktop is actually a folder), that it opens to the last location opened? For example, maybe I was last in the Movies folder, and I choose Open New Finder Window from the menu that it will open the Movies folder? It doesn't look like there is an option in the Finder settings, unless I'm missing it.
Yes, Go, Recent Folders, choose the top one. Or, simply don't close the Finder window(s) like I suggest.
Did the layout recently changed?
Layout of what, exactly?
Does anyone uses the Path Finder app, I heard that is much better, but cant really find any video to show me why.
Very convoluted. You are not clear at all and go way too fast. Explain the rules ans priorities instead
😓 he speaks as if we should know already how to navigate Finder. I have just come to the conclusion that I hate Macs
How to reopen Closed Finder tabs?
Look in the History menu, Recently Closed.
I just want to have the same settings in all the folders 😭😭 is so annoying to have to change each folders’ view. HELP 😭😭😭
Hi Gary, hopefully you will get to read this. I have to confess I'm pretty upset with apple since Big sur arrived and even now Monterey. Fact is since the dawn of time ( 22 years for me on the mac anyway ) you have been able to customise the finder toolbar in document windows. Most importantly for me the ability to add flexible spaces between the icons. In Big Sur & Monterey when you drag a flexible space into the toolbar all you get is a straight line which does nothing. I have emailed apple support and even Craig Federighi and nothing !! grrrr
do you know any way to override it or have you the POWER to submit it to apple ( assuming it does the same for you ? )
btw I had never realised there were quite so many delete options, also I never used the forward delete key on my extended keyboard, until today, never to old to learn something new huh ?
Cheers, from another Gary
Not sure what you mean by a line. When I customize toolbars in apps I get Space and Flexible Space options and can use them as I could in the years before. Which app are you working in?
@@macmost my current macbook will only upgrade to big sur and that is when I saw the problem, so I downgraded back to Catalina as it was annoying my OCD 🙂
Hoping for a new mac mini sometime soon.
The customise options I mean are in Finder windows, open a new Finder window then go to View > Customise Toolbar then drag a flexible space into the toolbar and all I saw was a straight line not a box outline, single space works fine, went to my local mac dealer and tried it in Monterey on a new macbook pro and it did the same. If you can't see it I'll go back and try to get a pic of it and send you a link to view. I really appreciate you replying anyway, cheers Gary
@@gb52 Yes, I see that it does work that way in the Finder. It doesn't show a line in other apps (like Numbers) though.
@@macmost Is it a bug then Gary, if so how can I get it fixed ? do you have contacts at apple ?
@@gb52 Send feedback to Apple through www.apple.com/feedback/ I don't have any connection to Apple.
Hello Sir:
I hope that you are well. I am experiencing an issue with Finder and would appreciate your assistance in resolving it.
I use a 32-inch, 4K display in full resolution. I do not wish to scale the resolution to enlarge the user interface. I can use everything effectively. However, I face one difficulty. Everything in the finder's list view and column view is quite tiny. I utilized cmd+J and set the text size and icon size to their maximum values. Still insufficient. Is there a technique or terminal command to make the list view and column view items larger than the cmd+J option's maximum size?
Thank you.
No, you have done all you can do short of changing your screen resolution (or wearing reading glasses).
@@macmost I am currently using the accessibility zooming shortcut. I do not wish to magnify everything. However, this is currently my only alternative. After using it a few times, I now believe that it is quick to enable and disable, therefore this method will suffice until I discover a better one.
Thank you sir.
Why did Apple make it so unnecessarily complicated and laborious to use? So many exceptions, so much unintuitive behavior.
Thank you for the video. I have been trying to find how to change something (I am on 12.5), but I can't find how to do it. The default photo icon thumbnail size for Finder is tiny. I think it is 64 x 64 pixels. So, in the Finder I went to View | Show View Options and made it larger and made it the default. When using Finder directly all is good, but then when I am on a forum, Facebook, creating an email, etc. when I want to add a photo to a post a Finder window pops up with the original tiny thumbnails. How can I make this pop up Finder show the default thumbnail size that I set? I add photos probably 15-20 times a day and the tiny thumbnails in the upload window that are smaller than the default size in the regular Finder are a big annoyance. Do you know how I can get the popup Finder window to use the thumbnail size that I had already set? Thanks!
You can always use Quick Look there (select the thumbnail, press space) to check the photos.
@@macmost - Thank you for that tip. I knew that I could use Quick Look, but it does not help much when I am scanning through a folder of many photos, graphics, etc. trying to find a particular one. Very slow to try to do that and use Quick Look over and over. It is strange that the popup Finder window ignores the icon size setting. It seems like it is hardcoded to always use the smallest icon size (it is what an incompetent, low level, unskilled software developer might do) and this has never been fixed even though the regular Finder window does use the proper chosen icon size. This is likely an afternoon's work for a single software developer to fix. Yes, I have been a software engineer for a few decades. 🙂 A college intern could fix it.
@@henryrichardson3508 How about then using a Finder window to find what you want, then drag and drop into that Open dialog?
@@macmost - In many forums and other websites you can't do that because they do not support that functionality. In the ones that do support it that is what I have started doing. Sadly, some of the places I most often need to upload a photo or graphic they do not support drag and drop.
@@macmost - Oh, wait a minute. I think I see what you mean. Have a regular Finder window open with the larger icons and then when the popup Finder window opens to the same folder I drag a large icon from the normal Finder to the popup Finder. They are both open to the same folder and then that dragged icon will be already selected in the popup Finder. I will try that.
The view options in the Finder are completely unintuitive. It's one big mess. I've been browsing various forums and there are a lot of topics where people are writing about how badly this has been working for many years. The "Use as Defaults" option doesn't seem to work or works in some incomprehensible way. After every computer reboot the Finder has some different settings. It's so annoying and frustrating.
I think you are referring to saved Finder window settings, not the view options themselves. See th-cam.com/video/nKXCjD4HdpY/w-d-xo.html
@@macmost Hmmmm, you pasted a link to the same video
@@mariuszbieniek4979 Sorry about that. As a creator when you go through your list of pending comments it isn't easy to keep track of which comment is from which video. So this video attempts to explain the "logic" behind why Finder windows work the way they do.
People
Design is like a joke. It´s bad when you have to explain it…
So how would you design it... ?
@@macmost for me personally, i've been using macos for some 15 years and I didn't know that there is difference between viewing, opening and browsing folders in finder. For me personally, the feature of saving each folder's view setting is useless. i expected and I used finder as it has only global setting (column view, list, view, ...) and I was just wondering why some of the folders act differently when i see current folder as column view and another one in icon view .. i thought it is a bug/glitch. So it's hard for me to consider it a feature :) And as frequently happens in macos, these things are hardly discoverable or explained anywhere (except your fantastic in-depth videos 🙏). I'm Always amazed from all the scenarios when you can apply modifier keys (Alt, Ctlr, ...) to get to "hidden" options. When you drop down the select box in Hot corners settings - it was a jaw-dropping one.
confusing
It is! (I think I say that a few times).