Unbelievable Gary. I first bought a Mac for playing around while still using Windows. Then it became my main system. I started to use it to organize myself by getting the chaos out of my head. But now I had the chaos on my Mac. Now Gary comes into play to help me a lot to use the capabilities of MacOS to get this chaos sorted out. Your tipps were by far the most helpful. So much appreciated you to play a big role in helping me getting my life organized. Thanks a lot. I think I owe you some coffees.
Excellent tips. Probably one of the most useful tutorials I have come across for someone like me converting from Windows (PC) to Finder (Mac). Thank you.
I think my two biggest annoyances are 1) Finder doesn't stay in Icon view for all folders/sub-folders (this is likely because I chose list view for a moment but I wish it would reset or inherit icon view from the parent for next time. 2) By default Finder allows folders and files to be anywhere in the window. To me that just looks messy and unorganized. I constantly have to do Cleanup By > Kind.
Excellent Gary! Everything Finder in a nutshell. When I once transitioned from Win to Mac I was completely annoyed by the Finder. Nowadays it‘s the contrary.
Thank you, this was very useful. I recently moved to MacOS from Linux Cinnamon desktop, and Finder is the only thing that really gives me problems getting used to it. I find it clunky, bloated, and inefficient, but your video hopefully will help me getting over this.
OMG - you saved me!! Hide Preview!! It's exactly what you said, lol. I have no idea how I turned it on, and I had no idea how to turn it off. After like a YEAR, I finally went on the hunt to get rid of it - and this video solved it. Thank you!! lol #smallmercies
I really love this video. What brought me to it is a general frustration that I have with find... basically that it isn't Windows Explorer. I want a navigation pane. The alternatives out there all seem to push the same dual-pane feature which I find zero value in. I basically want a List view that isn't a heirarchy... when I click on a folder, it goes into the folder, but still list view, and then the navgation pane (not the breadcrumbs) follows me around. Do you have any suggestions there?
Sorry, I don't know what you are looking for based on that description. Try both Column and List views and learn to use them. Perhaps one of them is what you are looking for if you set it up right.
Any idea how to index streamed storage services such as Google Drive and Egnyte?? So grateful for the streaming so files don't take up space but I terribly miss command spacebar search to find the files!
Oh that inspector tip! I was searching for that for forever. I remember I tried highlighting all 200 files I wanted it to combine the size info of, clicked get info and bam it opened 200 info windows. I was like no fkn way you do that to me 😃. Now I know how to do that. Thanks!
Hey Gary, this may not be the place to pose a question that not related to the video that presented, but I couldn't figure out how to email you or send a question via your RUclips page. I have a Studio Mac and a MacBook Pro (MBP). I would like my MBP desktop to always look like the desktop on my Studio, in essence have the two desktops synched. When I change something on the Studio desktop, I want the same change to occur with the MBP desktop. Files are in the cloud and they already synch between the two. I just need to figure out how to synch the two desktops.
RUclips doesn't have a place where you can do that. But I do: macmost.com/ask You said that you are using iCloud Drive. If you have the Desktop & Document feature of iCloud Drive turned on for both then both Desktops will show the same files.
This is great work! thank you. Can you tell me? When I save, I get a list of folders, then I have to click "other" at the bottom, to access the normal finder save window. I'd like to skip the first bit. Just like in the good old days! The list of folders is rarely helpful.... thank you!
Look for the button to the right of the Where menu in the Save dialog. It looks like a down arrow. Click that and it expands the dialog to look like you want.
In the finder window, I used to have drop down arrows to the left of folders for quick access. Something changed all of them to not be visible now - how do I get these back? TIA
I could not agree more with you about getting rid of files on the desktop. I have not had files there in 10 years. I had fixed all the other settings as well, with the exception of one: did not know of the Inspector instead of regular "Get info". Thanks a lot
Thank you for the information. But can you tel me how i can remove some of the content in the Recent folder. In my Recent folder i see 1219 items, but the most of them from long time ago. Can i clear these items out of this folder whiteout really delete them? I see in this folder items from 4 Years ago, i doint need them in the recent folder but i like to keep them on the original place on my MacBook. Thank you.
There is really no "Recents Folder." What you are seeing is a list of your recent files, from other folders. See ruclips.net/video/9bY9cDSRZxc/видео.html to understand.
@@macmost Thank you for your answer and the helpful link. Ok, now i understand. For al safety i think i should not manipulate this folder to much and to often. I now how to find him behind the Go button, so i am gonna delete it in the sidebar. I think i don't need this folder much, in case of needing it there still is the Go button. Many hanks and greetings
Great video. I mainly use column view in Finder. However, I find the default column width too narrow but when I customise column width it is not retained when I open Finder next time. I’m constantly changing the width so I can read file names correctly. Is there a way retain my custom column widths?
How do I get that little circle you use on your keyboard, I can’t seem to find the correct session about. I did watch several times the keyboard class but could find anything about. I have vision problems, that circle seems helpful.
It will remember the size, but it is folder-specific. So if you set the size while viewing one folder, close the window and then open a new window that is say, Documents, then you get the size for the Documents folder. Note that you don't need to close Finder windows. I never do. I usually have one Finder window always open with several tabs. I never worry about the size because I never close it. I hide it if necessary, but never close it.
How did you get them to black and white? Did you change your display/accessibility settings so other things are black and white? Or, did you just create only tags that use black and white as the color? Figure that out first.
Nice!! Do you happen to know how to get the gray and white bars in Finder's list view to disappear? (To make the background plain white and clean, as it is in column view? I have searched for ways and have not found anything that works so far. I watched your video in the hopes you would have this solution but didn't see it.
I like using Column view as I find it best for navigating around the Finder. However, it annoys me that the column widths are NEVER automatically resized to fit the length of the file names. I wish there was a setting to allow it to automatically ‘fit’ the column widths to the longest name in that column when opening a window. I realize that occasionally a very long file name with a small window size may mean that you can only have a single column visible, but this would not happen often IMO. Is there a way around this annoyance?
No way to do that. My hypothesis is that if you could do this, you'd try it and stop pretty quickly. Having columns jump around in size all the time would be way worse than you can imagine.
Option drag will permanently place the divider where you want it even if you close or reopen the finder window. Also, right click on the divider for some other options.
@@macmost Option drag will permanently place the divider where you want it even if you close or reopen the finder window. Also, right click on the divider for some other options.
ONE CUESTIÓN THERE IS ANY WAY TO CHANGE THE COLOR OF THE "TAG MENU "FOR A SPECIFIC COLOR LIKE A DIFFERENT BLUE, MORE DARK OR LIGHT BLUE OR ANY COLOR I WANT?
Thanks again! Question: as a Shortcuts rookie, I am wondering... is there a way to make a shortcut that will run the "Kill Desktop" terminal steps to hide desktop items? And, also to reverse it? And to get even fancier... could I create a voice command for my Mac that would run the whole process? "Hide Desktop Items"
Do you mean the Shortcuts app? Yes, sure. You can use the Run Shell Script action to run the Terminal commands if you like. But I would caution that this is a Terminal command not meant to be run over and over all day. It may have issues. If you really need to have your Desktop clean that often, I would just keep it clean. Don't put anything in the Desktop folder. Use your Documents folder for all of your files.
@@macmost Thanks. I get it. I was hoping there could be simple way to "clear the deck" for screen sharing during Zoom sessions...even tho I rarely share the entire screen. Tho part of why I rarely share my screen is because it is often cluttered. I suppose a better solution to this Zoom dilemma is to set up a separate Mac User for me when I do Zoom sessions. I assume you do something similar with all your tutorial materials and settings shareable from that user account with a clean desktop.
@@victrolux Yes, I use a second Mac user account for many reasons while recording a tutorial. But if I was just doing zoom meetings, I wouldn't want to switch user accounts and have to deal with setting up zoom and other things in two accounts all the time. I would simply only share a single window, or keep my Desktop clean (which I do anyway).
No wait…if you double-click on a column heading border (changes to doubleheaded arrow) it does just that: it resizes the column to the widest number of characters in that column. May be just a temp solution but works for me in the moment! Desktop-specific; no iOS equivalent as far as I know. Let me know if that’s what you are asking…
@@howardlevinger4571 Option drag will permanently place the divider where you want it even if you close or reopen the finder window. Also, right click on the divider for some other options.
Hi Gary. My pet annoyance with finders is the way the column widths don't remain as selected after I change folders! I'm probably missing something simple, but can't find it!!
@@macmost Thanks Gary!! That's almost exactly what I needed. However that command sets the same default for all columns. Is there a way to set a default for just one of the columns?
@@GozoAya A default would apply to all columns, yes. There is no way to set it for a specific folder any time that folder happened to appear in a Finder window.
Thanks for making this video. Is there a way to turn off the Finder lines in the background? The grey and white lines are distracting and I'd rather have a solid colour instead.
One Finder annoyance I've been seeing is the window size reverts to a tiny window. I will resize it, then bounce the Finder application, then it'll stay the size I want - until the next time and I have to do it all over again. It's a weird bug. (feature)
It is nice to be able to resize columns in the Finder, List mode, window but, something that has been an annoyance for years is that the Finder doesn't remember these changes. When the Finder window is reopened it reverts back to the original settings. Is there a way to fix this? I have not been able to find a way.
after doing some of the features, my files are difficult to find. now find that i have multiple "Desktop" folders as well as can't find folders/files that i went to often.
Hi. I have a doubt with Finder. A little mystery. Maybe someone can help. I got my first MacBook, M1 MacBook Air. I was testing stuff and really liked how in Finder I could change the size of the thumbnails with the Trackpad using 2 fingers, but then I was setting up stuff and updated from Big Sur to Monterey. Later I realized I couldn’t change the size of thumbnails in Finder anymore by pinching… was it the update to Monterrey or something I turned off/on? Do you know?
This post is quite helpful! There's one particular issue that really bothers me. Whenever I click on "get info" or any other option that triggers a pop-up box, it consistently appears in the least desirable location. It would be fantastic if the developers could find a solution to position these elements in a more logical and convenient manner.
Excellent video! Thank you. But how do i stop Finder from showing me recents when I open it? :D I disabled recents in finder preferences, but when i open finder, it still shows me a list of recent files. I would love to disable that, but can't find how! FYI, you gave my advise previously abbout battery, i followed it, and system learned and is working as intended. No more third party tools for me.
When I search for some document in my finder it usually gives me zero searched results but when I change the option that says name to every I get my search result. Is there any way I can change it permanently to search for everything?
how do i remove the PATH folder name in the toolbar in the every window? It takes up so much space in your window and want my buttons back in that space.
The only problem I have with the get info /show inspector is that it always by default throws the get info window to the far left of my screen when I would love to have it appear on the right side instead. I haven't found a way to make that happen or at least when I do a get info on an item that the window pops up where I last had it.
How to set up the default view as List for all folders on the finder? Use as Default option only defaults for that particular folder and not for all other folders on mac.
For hiding desktop icons, I was expecting a right-click menu option like on Windows. Was not expecting a terminal command. I suppose if someone had to do this often, an Automator script could be made.
Is this possible to sort files and folders automatically? Like in windows? In mac every time I create a new folder I have to sort it. Can’t it be sorted automatically like it happens in windows? This is very frustrating and time consuming process to sort again and again.
Phooey! Some people are annoyed by the weather whatever it is, or by the sun coming up every morning. My sister won't open up her Mac unless she really has to. It's more than these few things that bother her. She's just fiercely uninterested and has other things she's much more interested in.
Great video, thank you..let me ask something: I’ve set file extensions to off (to be hidden), as I do NOT want to see them. However, despite having set extensions to off, each time I create a file, the extension is still displayed in finder (wheareas i don’t want to!). This means every now and then I have to select those new files, right click for “more info” and manually tick to hide extensions. How do you keep extensions hidden permanently hidden? In Windows, if you select to hide extensions, they are always hidden for all files (existing ones and new ones too, so no need for manually turning extensions off as I have to do on my Mac). Thank you.
If you create a file with the extension, it will assume you want to see the extension. So if you name a file "test.txt" then you'll get "test.txt" with the hide extensions turned off. So just name it "test" instead of "test.txt."
@@macmost Aha, wasn’t aware of this, will try it….I’ve lost so much time with manually selecting and unclicking the “hide ext” tick box… have gone to the Apple store and no one knew….THANK YOU Gary! Subscribed!
I don't know how to keep a Finder window open above another App such as Logic. I'm trying to drag audio into Logic but each time I highlight Logic the finder window disappears - any ideas please?
The window you are using is always on top. So if you want to see them both, you'll need to shrink your Logic window some to make room. But to drag files into Logic, you should be able to bring the Finder window to the front, make it small enough so you can see the drop destination in Logic, and then drag from Finder to Logic. You can also start dragging, and while still dragging using Command+Tab to switch apps.
Im having an issue with the mac finder window. every time i open up a new finder window it opens up on a new desktop screen. how can i change this to open up on the current desktop being used. having to drag the finder window across desktops everytime is very annoying.
Thank you - the tips are very useful! 👌. The most annoying for me is Finder’s ‘back’ button (arrow). I can’t figure out what it does, but I wish it would go up one level in the current file/folder hierarchy. Or that have an ‘up’ button, since navigating is such an essential function to working with files.
Use Command+Up to go up, or Go, Enclosing Folder. Back works just like in a web browser. It goes back to the previous location shown in that window or tab. Try using the sidebar to jump to several locations: Documents, Desktop, Applications, etc. Then Back, Back, Back to go back through them.
@@vwood2 I have "Path bar" and "Status bar" (Menu -> View) always turned on. It adds two bars at the bottom of each finder window showing (you guessed it!) the statistics and the path of the folder you are currently in. You may double-click at any parent folder in the bar to go directly up there.
Thanks for the video. My biggest finger annoyance is that I cannot create a new sub folder in a highlighted folder in the list. I have to actually open the highlighted folder for that new sub folder to be created there. Dumb!
Great presentation! I think I have had all of these annoyances at one time or another! LOL. My current one is: In Finder if I hit the spacebar, the "preview" is small and looks like a thumbnail. ( Same way with Comand Y) I have my preferences in Finder and Preview the same as my MacBook Pro... Any one have any ideas? Many THanks!
I find that every time I restart my computer, my desktop becomes super messy again. Folders that I got rid of or moved, all go back to where there were originally, to desktop. Any way to fix this?
Thanks for the video. But the main annoyance is not addressed. Finder periodically "forgets" default view settings (eg. group by kind, name, etc.). And there is no way to make it to "remember" them for some reason.
These files are used to store information about the folder. They should be invisible to you unless you are using the drive on Windows or something non-Mac. Or, maybe you just made invisible files visible by mistake? Shift+Command+. (period) will toggle that.
my finder is not responding to the changes that i make, for example when i changed "new finder windows show:" to "download" it keeps showing me other folder named "searching this mac". does someone know how to fix this issue ? why does it not responding to my recent setting change?
Sounds like maybe you are using the current Finder window for a search. Do you see anything in the search box at the top right? If so, click the X in that box to dismiss the search.
My complaint still exists and it used to not exist in older Mac OS's. When the size of the folders in the list The Column view are shrunk, the Name width is compromised instead of the other columns. This wasn't the case in older OS's like Lion (the Name column's width wouldn't shrink even when you shrunk the folder down to a very small size). I wish they would make this optional to go back to the old behavior without adding something like XtraFinder to my OS
I know I'm way late to this but I'm having problems opening JPG files that are in a folder of photos I created. When I double click on some of them I get a message that the file can't be found. But if I double click again they open! Also if I control click, and click open in preview app, they open fine, but it's a pain in the butt! This problem does not occur with all the JPG files in the folder. Any ideas?
Why doesn’t apple produce a book with all this info in when you buy a computer, would be so useful. But I guess nowadays everything you have to search for. Thanks Gary, excellent work
@@macmost In the end I call Apple support, they gave me a call (on sunday) immediately. I needed to click on ''customize toolbar''even if I didn't changed anything, click on done, and the toolbar was restored on its place visible. Same for ''hide sidebar'', I hide it and restored it and it was kept visible. They told me it may be an issue because of updated (but I was updated on ios), so I think is more of a bug. At least now I know what to do. I recommend calling Apple Support for these bugs, you share your screen and they see what is happening, is quite useful. Cheers
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
Unbelievable Gary. I first bought a Mac for playing around while still using Windows. Then it became my main system. I started to use it to organize myself by getting the chaos out of my head. But now I had the chaos on my Mac. Now Gary comes into play to help me a lot to use the capabilities of MacOS to get this chaos sorted out. Your tipps were by far the most helpful. So much appreciated you to play a big role in helping me getting my life organized. Thanks a lot. I think I owe you some coffees.
I appreciate all you do. I recently purchased a new iMac and I’ve learned to do so many new things thanks to you.
Didn't know about the Show Inspector tip... wish I knew this sooner!
Can't believe such useful features are just under our noses! Thanks for sharing. Sometimes we neglect to check out the obvious.
I still cant believe some useful features are only possible via Terminal... like disabling mouse acceleration.
Another that I like: double clicking a column divider in Finder (List View) will auto-resize it based upon the length of the content shown.
THIS!
Geat tip, thanks. I can’t get it to stay like this. It keeps going back when I go back to The same folder again.
Excellent tips. Probably one of the most useful tutorials I have come across for someone like me converting from Windows (PC) to Finder (Mac). Thank you.
Finder has a feature called Stacks for organizing a messy desktop. I would recommend this over the approach shown in this video.
Wow - this was really great. I will be using at least 3 of these tips on a daily basis from now on! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I think my two biggest annoyances are 1) Finder doesn't stay in Icon view for all folders/sub-folders (this is likely because I chose list view for a moment but I wish it would reset or inherit icon view from the parent for next time. 2) By default Finder allows folders and files to be anywhere in the window. To me that just looks messy and unorganized. I constantly have to do Cleanup By > Kind.
Excellent Gary! Everything Finder in a nutshell. When I once transitioned from Win to Mac I was completely annoyed by the Finder. Nowadays it‘s the contrary.
Thank you, this was very useful. I recently moved to MacOS from Linux Cinnamon desktop, and Finder is the only thing that really gives me problems getting used to it. I find it clunky, bloated, and inefficient, but your video hopefully will help me getting over this.
excellent list, solved many annoyances for me, thank you!!
Thank Man!! Your video has been such an eye-opener!! (true that MacOS, even in 2023 is far from being "intuitive".
OMG - you saved me!! Hide Preview!! It's exactly what you said, lol. I have no idea how I turned it on, and I had no idea how to turn it off. After like a YEAR, I finally went on the hunt to get rid of it - and this video solved it. Thank you!! lol #smallmercies
I learned so much from watching this today, thank you.
Thank you for the inspector tip👍
Appreciate you efforts. Thank you. I am a Patreon member now.
Great videos I’m a new Mac user and your informative movies make it easy to convert. Cheers from Sweden
I'm loving your videos Garry.Huge thanks.
Gary I am amazed at your knowledge! If I retain 1% I would consider myself doing good!
Gary have you found any way to put the mac os widgets on the home screen of a macbook pro?
Not sure what you mean by "home screen." That's something in iOS. Notification Center widgets are just for the Notification Center though.
I really love this video. What brought me to it is a general frustration that I have with find... basically that it isn't Windows Explorer. I want a navigation pane. The alternatives out there all seem to push the same dual-pane feature which I find zero value in. I basically want a List view that isn't a heirarchy... when I click on a folder, it goes into the folder, but still list view, and then the navgation pane (not the breadcrumbs) follows me around. Do you have any suggestions there?
Sorry, I don't know what you are looking for based on that description. Try both Column and List views and learn to use them. Perhaps one of them is what you are looking for if you set it up right.
Gary,
omd, my Finder was stuck on the download folder, which drove me nuts. Thank you for correcting that for me!
Just discovered and subscribed to your channel, amazing, thank you for all the tips!
Fantastic episode, Gary! Thank you so much!
Any idea how to index streamed storage services such as Google Drive and Egnyte?? So grateful for the streaming so files don't take up space but I terribly miss command spacebar search to find the files!
Oh that inspector tip! I was searching for that for forever. I remember I tried highlighting all 200 files I wanted it to combine the size info of, clicked get info and bam it opened 200 info windows. I was like no fkn way you do that to me 😃. Now I know how to do that. Thanks!
great value, thx4sharing Gary
Hi! do you know if there is a fix for finder showing a white background on png images which should have transparent backgrounds, Thanks!
Great inspector tip!
Amazing stuff thanks. Never knew Tim Roth was so Mac Savvy as well :)
Hey Gary, this may not be the place to pose a question that not related to the video that presented, but I couldn't figure out how to email you or send a question via your RUclips page. I have a Studio Mac and a MacBook Pro (MBP). I would like my MBP desktop to always look like the desktop on my Studio, in essence have the two desktops synched. When I change something on the Studio desktop, I want the same change to occur with the MBP desktop. Files are in the cloud and they already synch between the two. I just need to figure out how to synch the two desktops.
RUclips doesn't have a place where you can do that. But I do: macmost.com/ask
You said that you are using iCloud Drive. If you have the Desktop & Document feature of iCloud Drive turned on for both then both Desktops will show the same files.
This is great work! thank you. Can you tell me? When I save, I get a list of folders, then I have to click "other" at the bottom, to access the normal finder save window. I'd like to skip the first bit. Just like in the good old days! The list of folders is rarely helpful.... thank you!
Look for the button to the right of the Where menu in the Save dialog. It looks like a down arrow. Click that and it expands the dialog to look like you want.
Is there a way to right-click to create a new TXT file inside a folder? Like Windows does from the beginning of the times..? Thank you
ruclips.net/video/t1JfsDs-abM/видео.html
In the finder window, I used to have drop down arrows to the left of folders for quick access. Something changed all of them to not be visible now - how do I get these back? TIA
I could not agree more with you about getting rid of files on the desktop. I have not had files there in 10 years. I had fixed all the other settings as well, with the exception of one: did not know of the Inspector instead of regular "Get info". Thanks a lot
Thank you for the information. But can you tel me how i can remove some of the content in the Recent folder. In my Recent folder i see 1219 items, but the most of them from long time ago. Can i clear these items out of this folder whiteout really delete them?
I see in this folder items from 4 Years ago, i doint need them in the recent folder but i like to keep them on the original place on my MacBook.
Thank you.
There is really no "Recents Folder." What you are seeing is a list of your recent files, from other folders. See ruclips.net/video/9bY9cDSRZxc/видео.html to understand.
@@macmost
Thank you for your answer and the helpful link. Ok, now i understand.
For al safety i think i should not manipulate this folder to much and to often. I now how to find him behind the Go button, so i am gonna delete it in the sidebar. I think i don't need this folder much, in case of needing it there still is the Go button.
Many hanks and greetings
Great video. I mainly use column view in Finder. However, I find the default column width too narrow but when I customise column width it is not retained when I open Finder next time. I’m constantly changing the width so I can read file names correctly. Is there a way retain my custom column widths?
See ruclips.net/video/nKXCjD4HdpY/видео.html
You are the most useful man kisses from wonderful Greece
How do I get that little circle you use on your keyboard, I can’t seem to find the correct session about. I did watch several times the keyboard class but could find anything about. I have vision problems, that circle seems helpful.
I don't know what you mean by "little circle you use on your keyboard." Where in the video (what time) do I show it?
Good collection of tips - I knew them but def the key adjustments!
Thanks for a great video Gary. My particular Finder annoyance is being unable to set the Finder size on first opening it. Any thoughts?
It will remember the size, but it is folder-specific. So if you set the size while viewing one folder, close the window and then open a new window that is say, Documents, then you get the size for the Documents folder. Note that you don't need to close Finder windows. I never do. I usually have one Finder window always open with several tabs. I never worry about the size because I never close it. I hide it if necessary, but never close it.
@@macmost Thanks for your thoughts.
Hi Gary, new to mac, today all my tags in finder are black and white........is there a way to reset back to color tags?
How did you get them to black and white? Did you change your display/accessibility settings so other things are black and white? Or, did you just create only tags that use black and white as the color? Figure that out first.
@@macmost all the other icons in sidebar are also black and white
@@magicmanj32 Perhaps you switched some things in System Settings, Accessibility, Display?
@@macmost on file menu for finder I cant click on tags...like they arent clickable
@@magicmanj32 Do you have a file selected? If so, maybe try selecting a different file.
Nice!! Do you happen to know how to get the gray and white bars in Finder's list view to disappear? (To make the background plain white and clean, as it is in column view? I have searched for ways and have not found anything that works so far. I watched your video in the hopes you would have this solution but didn't see it.
No. But those help you see the rows more clearly.
@@macmost That's true! That is a very valid point and I will seek to appreciate it more. Thanks for your speedy response! +1!
I like using Column view as I find it best for navigating around the Finder. However, it annoys me that the column widths are NEVER automatically resized to fit the length of the file names. I wish there was a setting to allow it to automatically ‘fit’ the column widths to the longest name in that column when opening a window. I realize that occasionally a very long file name with a small window size may mean that you can only have a single column visible, but this would not happen often IMO. Is there a way around this annoyance?
No way to do that. My hypothesis is that if you could do this, you'd try it and stop pretty quickly. Having columns jump around in size all the time would be way worse than you can imagine.
Option drag will permanently place the divider where you want it even if you close or reopen the finder window. Also, right click on the divider for some other options.
@@macmost Option drag will permanently place the divider where you want it even if you close or reopen the finder window. Also, right click on the divider for some other options.
@@mehmd1913 thanks for the tip. Will give it a try and explore what other options are available with the right-click when I get back to the computer.
@@apeel2008 you’re welcome. It seems to stay put once done.
ONE CUESTIÓN THERE IS ANY WAY TO CHANGE THE COLOR OF THE "TAG MENU "FOR A SPECIFIC COLOR LIKE A DIFFERENT BLUE, MORE DARK OR LIGHT BLUE OR ANY COLOR I WANT?
No. But don't focus so much on the colors as the names of the tags. Colors are just a bonus.
Yes very useful video tutorial today! Thank you, Gary! 👍🏻❤️👏
Thanks again! Question: as a Shortcuts rookie, I am wondering... is there a way to make a shortcut that will run the "Kill Desktop" terminal steps to hide desktop items? And, also to reverse it? And to get even fancier... could I create a voice command for my Mac that would run the whole process? "Hide Desktop Items"
Do you mean the Shortcuts app? Yes, sure. You can use the Run Shell Script action to run the Terminal commands if you like. But I would caution that this is a Terminal command not meant to be run over and over all day. It may have issues. If you really need to have your Desktop clean that often, I would just keep it clean. Don't put anything in the Desktop folder. Use your Documents folder for all of your files.
@@macmost Thanks. I get it. I was hoping there could be simple way to "clear the deck" for screen sharing during Zoom sessions...even tho I rarely share the entire screen. Tho part of why I rarely share my screen is because it is often cluttered. I suppose a better solution to this Zoom dilemma is to set up a separate Mac User for me when I do Zoom sessions. I assume you do something similar with all your tutorial materials and settings shareable from that user account with a clean desktop.
@@victrolux Yes, I use a second Mac user account for many reasons while recording a tutorial. But if I was just doing zoom meetings, I wouldn't want to switch user accounts and have to deal with setting up zoom and other things in two accounts all the time. I would simply only share a single window, or keep my Desktop clean (which I do anyway).
More great stuff. Thanks.
Great video. I use column view all the time. Is there a way to have the column's width automatically be based on the longest file name in the folder?
No. My guess is that in practice that would be a nightmare, with columns always shifting around in size as you moved from folder to folder.
No wait…if you double-click on a column heading border (changes to doubleheaded arrow) it does just that: it resizes the column to the widest number of characters in that column. May be just a temp solution but works for me in the moment! Desktop-specific; no iOS equivalent as far as I know. Let me know if that’s what you are asking…
@@howardlevinger4571 Option drag will permanently place the divider where you want it even if you close or reopen the finder window. Also, right click on the divider for some other options.
Hallelujah!! I couldn't add information columns to my finder panels. It was driving me nuts (5:26-6:32).
this video was so helpful
Great video, Gary !
Great tips. Thanks
Hi Gary. My pet annoyance with finders is the way the column widths don't remain as selected after I change folders! I'm probably missing something simple, but can't find it!!
Option+drag the line between columns to set the default.
@@macmost Thanks Gary!! That's almost exactly what I needed. However that command sets the same default for all columns. Is there a way to set a default for just one of the columns?
@@GozoAya A default would apply to all columns, yes. There is no way to set it for a specific folder any time that folder happened to appear in a Finder window.
@@macmost Gary - thank you SO much for taking the time to check that and respond!
Loved the bonus. Many thanks!
Another Excellent Video! Thx!
Who knew! Such useful info. Thanks so much.
Thanks for making this video.
Is there a way to turn off the Finder lines in the background?
The grey and white lines are distracting and I'd rather have a solid colour instead.
No, that's just how it looks.
Maaaannnn... this video helped a bunch! THANKS!!!
One Finder annoyance I've been seeing is the window size reverts to a tiny window. I will resize it, then bounce the Finder application, then it'll stay the size I want - until the next time and I have to do it all over again. It's a weird bug. (feature)
Thank you, well explained!
It is nice to be able to resize columns in the Finder, List mode, window but, something that has been an annoyance for years is that the Finder doesn't remember these changes. When the Finder window is reopened it reverts back to the original settings. Is there a way to fix this? I have not been able to find a way.
after doing some of the features, my files are difficult to find. now find that i have multiple "Desktop" folders as well as can't find folders/files that i went to often.
Hi. I have a doubt with Finder. A little mystery. Maybe someone can help. I got my first MacBook, M1 MacBook Air. I was testing stuff and really liked how in Finder I could change the size of the thumbnails with the Trackpad using 2 fingers, but then I was setting up stuff and updated from Big Sur to Monterey. Later I realized I couldn’t change the size of thumbnails in Finder anymore by pinching… was it the update to Monterrey or something I turned off/on? Do you know?
Great content as always 🔥
This post is quite helpful! There's one particular issue that really bothers me. Whenever I click on "get info" or any other option that triggers a pop-up box, it consistently appears in the least desirable location. It would be fantastic if the developers could find a solution to position these elements in a more logical and convenient manner.
Excellent video! Thank you. But how do i stop Finder from showing me recents when I open it? :D I disabled recents in finder preferences, but when i open finder, it still shows me a list of recent files. I would love to disable that, but can't find how! FYI, you gave my advise previously abbout battery, i followed it, and system learned and is working as intended. No more third party tools for me.
Finder, Preferences, General "New Finder Windows Show."
if you create a video on how to turn of finder "disk not ejected properly" notification, you would save so many people lives.
Thank You very much, Gary!
Veeeery helpful, thx!
When I search for some document in my finder it usually gives me zero searched results but when I change the option that says name to every I get my search result. Is there any way I can change it permanently to search for everything?
The default is to search for everything. It is only if you select Name or type "name:" that you get a name-only search.
@@macmost Mine default is name, i don't know why
how do i remove the PATH folder name in the toolbar in the every window? It takes up so much space in your window and want my buttons back in that space.
That's part of the toolbar. It is the "title." You can't remove it.
The only problem I have with the get info /show inspector is that it always by default throws the get info window to the far left of my screen when I would love to have it appear on the right side instead. I haven't found a way to make that happen or at least when I do a get info on an item that the window pops up where I last had it.
Very helpful.
How to set up the default view as List for all folders on the finder?
Use as Default option only defaults for that particular folder and not for all other folders on mac.
I've got a video on that coming up (explaining why this is so and how to work around it).
I need help, my finder dosent show the side bar on the left i don't know what i done. Please help.
For hiding desktop icons, I was expecting a right-click menu option like on Windows. Was not expecting a terminal command. I suppose if someone had to do this often, an Automator script could be made.
Is this possible to sort files and folders automatically? Like in windows? In mac every time I create a new folder I have to sort it. Can’t it be sorted automatically like it happens in windows? This is very frustrating and time consuming process to sort again and again.
Next time you need to do it, go to View, Show View Options. Set sorting as you like. Then click Use As Defaults.
@@macmost thank you for the response. I’ll try that :)
Phooey! Some people are annoyed by the weather whatever it is, or by the sun coming up every morning.
My sister won't open up her Mac unless she really has to. It's more than these few things that bother her. She's just fiercely uninterested and has other things she's much more interested in.
Great video, thank you..let me ask something: I’ve set file extensions to off (to be hidden), as I do NOT want to see them. However, despite having set extensions to off, each time I create a file, the extension is still displayed in finder (wheareas i don’t want to!). This means every now and then I have to select those new files, right click for “more info” and manually tick to hide extensions. How do you keep extensions hidden permanently hidden? In Windows, if you select to hide extensions, they are always hidden for all files (existing ones and new ones too, so no need for manually turning extensions off as I have to do on my Mac). Thank you.
If you create a file with the extension, it will assume you want to see the extension. So if you name a file "test.txt" then you'll get "test.txt" with the hide extensions turned off. So just name it "test" instead of "test.txt."
@@macmost Aha, wasn’t aware of this, will try it….I’ve lost so much time with manually selecting and unclicking the “hide ext” tick box… have gone to the Apple store and no one knew….THANK YOU Gary! Subscribed!
7:28 Inspector !!! 🥰🤯😎🙏
Real genius!
One thing strange happening since the update of macOS Monterey 12.4, the saved favorites keep disappearing upon rebooting of Mac that is unexpected.
I don't know how to keep a Finder window open above another App such as Logic. I'm trying to drag audio into Logic but each time I highlight Logic the finder window disappears - any ideas please?
The window you are using is always on top. So if you want to see them both, you'll need to shrink your Logic window some to make room. But to drag files into Logic, you should be able to bring the Finder window to the front, make it small enough so you can see the drop destination in Logic, and then drag from Finder to Logic. You can also start dragging, and while still dragging using Command+Tab to switch apps.
Im having an issue with the mac finder window. every time i open up a new finder window it opens up on a new desktop screen. how can i change this to open up on the current desktop being used. having to drag the finder window across desktops everytime is very annoying.
Control+click on the Finder in the Dock and see if you have a setting there for Assign To This Desktop, maybe?
@@macmost omg.....so simple!!!!! thank you!!!!!!! solved..finally..no more annoyances
Thank you - the tips are very useful! 👌. The most annoying for me is Finder’s ‘back’ button (arrow). I can’t figure out what it does, but I wish it would go up one level in the current file/folder hierarchy. Or that have an ‘up’ button, since navigating is such an essential function to working with files.
Use Command+Up to go up, or Go, Enclosing Folder. Back works just like in a web browser. It goes back to the previous location shown in that window or tab. Try using the sidebar to jump to several locations: Documents, Desktop, Applications, etc. Then Back, Back, Back to go back through them.
@@macmost Oh, thank you - I appreciate the reply! Great tips & my problem solved 😊
@@vwood2 I have "Path bar" and "Status bar" (Menu -> View) always turned on. It adds two bars at the bottom of each finder window showing (you guessed it!) the statistics and the path of the folder you are currently in. You may double-click at any parent folder in the bar to go directly up there.
@@hape3862 - Thanks tor the great tips! 😊
Thanks for the video. My biggest finger annoyance is that I cannot create a new sub folder in a highlighted folder in the list. I have to actually open the highlighted folder for that new sub folder to be created there. Dumb!
Hi! why does a spreadsheet shift horizontally when i'm just scrolling vertically on my mac using the trackpad ? please help this is so annoying.
It shouldn't. Perhaps you aren't going straight up and down but a little diagonal?
Great presentation! I think I have had all of these annoyances at one time or another! LOL. My current one is: In Finder if I hit the spacebar, the "preview" is small and looks like a thumbnail. ( Same way with Comand Y) I have my preferences in Finder and Preview the same as my MacBook Pro... Any one have any ideas? Many THanks!
A restart should fix that.
I find that every time I restart my computer, my desktop becomes super messy again. Folders that I got rid of or moved, all go back to where there were originally, to desktop. Any way to fix this?
Not sure why that is happening for you, but maybe try putting much of that in your Documents folder instead of Desktop.
Thanks for the video. But the main annoyance is not addressed. Finder periodically "forgets" default view settings (eg. group by kind, name, etc.). And there is no way to make it to "remember" them for some reason.
Is there a way to stop Finder from creating .DS_Store file?
These files are used to store information about the folder. They should be invisible to you unless you are using the drive on Windows or something non-Mac. Or, maybe you just made invisible files visible by mistake? Shift+Command+. (period) will toggle that.
my finder is not responding to the changes that i make, for example when i changed "new finder windows show:" to "download" it keeps showing me other folder named "searching this mac". does someone know how to fix this issue ? why does it not responding to my recent setting change?
Sounds like maybe you are using the current Finder window for a search. Do you see anything in the search box at the top right? If so, click the X in that box to dismiss the search.
Thank you
My complaint still exists and it used to not exist in older Mac OS's. When the size of the folders in the list The Column view are shrunk, the Name width is compromised instead of the other columns. This wasn't the case in older OS's like Lion (the Name column's width wouldn't shrink even when you shrunk the folder down to a very small size). I wish they would make this optional to go back to the old behavior without adding something like XtraFinder to my OS
I know I'm way late to this but I'm having problems opening JPG files that are in a folder of photos I created. When I double click on some of them I get a message that the file can't be found. But if I double click again they open! Also if I control click, and click open in preview app, they open fine, but it's a pain in the butt! This problem does not occur with all the JPG files in the folder. Any ideas?
Are these files perhaps in iCloud Drive or some other cloud storage folder?
Why doesn’t apple produce a book with all this info in when you buy a computer, would be so useful. But I guess nowadays everything you have to search for. Thanks Gary, excellent work
Hi, and how to make the left column and the top column always visible?
No idea what you mean. "Top column?"
@@macmost In the end I call Apple support, they gave me a call (on sunday) immediately. I needed to click on ''customize toolbar''even if I didn't changed anything, click on done, and the toolbar was restored on its place visible.
Same for ''hide sidebar'', I hide it and restored it and it was kept visible.
They told me it may be an issue because of updated (but I was updated on ios), so I think is more of a bug.
At least now I know what to do.
I recommend calling Apple Support for these bugs, you share your screen and they see what is happening, is quite useful.
Cheers
You ROCK!