6 Mac Finder Settings That Can Improve Your Mac

If you interact with your Mac daily, your Mac Finder is your doorway to your applications, files, downloads, etc. And, for those who are new, users who, let’s say, have migrated from Windows to Mac, the Finder window is something you’ll be interacting with a lot. It is something like Windows’s File Explorer to bring things into perspective.

In this post, we’ll make your OS X Finder journey even more interesting, engaging and powerful because we will let you in on some secret Mac Finder window settings that will surely enhance your productivity. So, let’s begin!

Tweak These Mac Finder Settings Now To Enhance Productivity

1. See Hard Disks Right On Your Desktop

You often have to use the Finder to view all the hard disks attached to your Mac. This can be tedious if you often have to see the external hard disks or network drives attached to your Mac. You can enable hard disks on your Mac’s desktop to avoid this. To do this –

1. Open a new Finder window.

2. Head to Finder in the menu bar that you can see at the top of the screen.

3. Select Preferences.

4. Select the Hard disks checkbox under the Show these items on the desktop option.

5. Depending on your needs, you can select the other checkboxes too.

2. Enable Only Those Items You Want To See In The Sidebar

The Sidebar of your Finder gives you access to downloads, applications, documents, and much more. Sit back for a second and think do you use all the items on your Sidebar? Or do you want to add other locations? Here’s how you can add or remove items from your Finder’s Sidebar as per your needs –

1. Visit Finder’s Preferences as shown above.

2. Click on the Sidebar menu.

3. You can choose from many items based on your needs – Pictures, AirDrop, Movies, iCloud Drive, and others.

3. Change What Your Finder Window Shows

Your Finder window shows you the most recent files, which is okay. However, if you have downloaded many files or have to access many documents, you can, therefore, change your Finder’s view, which will make your tasks more convenient. For this, follow the steps mentioned below –

1. Click on the new Finder window.

2. Click on the Finder option that you can see in the menu bar at the top of the screen.

3. Select Finder Preferences

4. Under New Finder Windows, choose the folder you want.

You will no more see a list of files piled up. Instead, you can directly access the folder you want.

4. Show Filename Extensions

Every app that you use on Mac has a file extension. For example, the PDFs you view on Mac bear .pdf extension, or the Word documents you use have a .doc extension. The same goes for various other applications as well. Won’t it be better if you could see the extension of the file beforehand and thereby increase your productivity because then you would know which application to open for a particular file? The Finder gives you the functionality to enable extensions and do this, and here’s how –

1. Open Finder Preferences just like we have shown you above.

2. Head to the Advanced section.

3. Click on the checkbox that says Show all filename extensions.

You will now notice that the Finder has changed how the files are placed. You can now see the file extension of the files and choose which application to use to open a particular file.

5. Add Status Bar and Path Bar For Better Navigation

It is natural to go astray when navigating between files and folders in Finder. Here, we’ll show you a trick to help you stay on track while navigating. Name of the trick that will make your life peaceful? Add Status Bar and Path Bar. For this –

1. Open Finder, and click on the menu at the top.

2. Select View and then click on the Show Status or Bar Show Path Bar

You will now be able to see directories and even the file storage. Not just that, if you want, you can even change the icon of files.

6. Customize Your Finder’s Toolbar

Let’s tell you how you can take more control of your Finder. See the top right of your new Finder’s window filled with icons? How about placing only those icons that you need. For example, you can add AirDrop’s icon here and swiftly send files to your iPhone, iPad, or other Apple device.

1. Go to the menu bar of your new Finder window
2. Go to View and then further on, Customize Toolbar.
3. You will now be able to see different icons. To enable a particular icon, click on the icon/s and then drag them into your new Finder window

Wrapping Up

We hope that as far as working with Mac Finder is concerned, we have spiced up things for you. Do try out these Mac Finder settings and let us know if you have been able to change the way you use Mac or not. If yes! Share this post with other Mac users. For more tech-filled, interesting, fun-filled, and useful content, keep reading WeTheGeek.