The default file manager used on the Mac OS and Mac OS X operating systems.
5
votes
2answers
2k views
Finder takes long time to load some folders
When opening some folders, the Finder takes a long time (30-60 seconds) to load all the files in it. Specifically, these folders typically contain 10-50 PHP files (which are text files), each about 10 ...
5
votes
5answers
2k views
How can I get Network drive shortcuts added to the Finder sidebar in Mountain Lion?
I updated to Mountain Lion from Lion and I noticed that my network drives are no longer shown in Finder's sidebar under Devices.
Under preferences I have all checkboxes ticked. And when I click on ...
5
votes
1answer
143 views
In Finder, the file size is dimmed
I copied a file from my Mac to a server on my LAN. In the Finder window for the destination, the filesize is slightly smaller, and is dimmed.
What does it mean that the filesize is dimmed?
In the ...
5
votes
1answer
2k views
Adding tags to files in OS X: How to use, where are tags stored, and will they work on a network?
I've heard it is possible to add tags to a file's meta data in OS X, and have Spotlight search through such tags.
In a nutshell, how would one access this feature in Finder – not Spotlight ...
5
votes
1answer
3k views
How can I change the default width of Finder columns?
I have found OS X's default column width to be a bit too narrow. Is there any way to make it wider?
I know how to resize columns manually, but it's annoying to repeat the process every time I open a ...
5
votes
1answer
4k views
How can I add Trash icon to the sidebar in Mac OS X Lion?
How can I add the Trash icon and empty Trash from the sidebar of Finder.app in Mac OS X Lion ?
I dont have a problem to add them in the list of favorites too, but the Trash icon is not draggable.
5
votes
3answers
2k views
Why does Finder use 59GB of swap space?
My new retina MacBook Pro(with 16GB RAM) keeps receiving this "Your Mac OS X startup disk has no more space available for application memory" message. I have 300 GB of free space on my hard drive, and ...
5
votes
3answers
2k views
Is there a way to remotely restart Finder (or wake-up the desktop) from SSH?
Over the last few months I've found my MacBook Pro is getting increasingly unwilling to wake-up if it's gone to sleep of it's own accord - not when I put it to sleep deliberately, but when the machine ...
5
votes
3answers
4k views
How to edit binary InfoPlist.strings in Mountain Lion (for Finder to display folders before files)?
The article Force your Mac to sort folders on top of files (windows style), lets the Finder change its sorting order to first show folders and next all files.
This trick doesn't seem to work with ...
5
votes
5answers
4k views
Mystery computer appearing in the Finder's source list
On my MacBook, in the Finder's sidebar there's a machine appearing under "Shared" that I don't recognize and definitely doesn't exist on our local network. When I attempt to connect to it, I get this ...
5
votes
1answer
2k views
How to customize Finder sidebar icons [duplicate]
I'm using Dropbox and replacing some of the standard user folders like Documents and Pictures with symlinks to locations in my Dropbox. I can easily set the icons of these symlinks to match the icons ...
5
votes
2answers
563 views
Create new file from contextual menu
Is there a program I can download to add an option to create a new file to the contextual menu of finder? NuFile doesn't seem to work in Snow Leopard.
5
votes
2answers
1k views
Finder search does not find all relevant documents MacOS 10.6.8
I'm having problems with the search in Finder windows in MacOS X 10.6.8.
If I'm typing a search keyword in the textbox in a finder window and search for "file name" or "content", I get no or only a ...
5
votes
2answers
292 views
Can I access a secondary hard drive on another computer via AFP
I am on machine LOC. I would like to connect to a directory on the second hard drive of machine REM. Both machines are running Lion 10.7.1. I use Finder on LOC and Command-K to connect to a server. I ...
5
votes
1answer
73 views
How to change the background of an DMG Software License Agreement dialog?
When I create my own dmg-images, I always attach a software license agreement to them. When I opened the flattened image, I always got the Jaguar "X" in the background of the agreement dialog, where I ...
5
votes
2answers
2k views
How to display the full path of files found by the Finder “Find” function?
I'm trying to use the Finder to search my code base. For example I would like to find every files that ends with ".m" and contains "keyDown".
Finder does this, but in the Finder window showing the ...
5
votes
1answer
2k views
Set ForkLift as default file viewer
Is there a way to set ForkLift as the default file viewer, to a degree? PathFinder somehow does this, see http://cocoatech.com/faqs#3, but how does it do this and could that option be set to redirect ...
5
votes
3answers
127 views
How to customize Finder's Share menu?
Is there a way to add custom services to Finder's Share menu?
I have created an automator service to copy selected files to my Dropbox directory (similar to this).
I enabled this service in the ...
5
votes
2answers
221 views
How can I disable the Option+click hiding behaviour?
In Mac OS X Mountain Lion at least, if you Option+click ( Alt+click ) on another a window of another app, this will make the other application to gain focus, and the current app to be hidden as if ...
5
votes
1answer
296 views
Toggle Finder sort order with AppleScript under Lion 10.7?
For years I've been using this AppleScript to toggle the sort order of a Finder window:
if sort direction of column id size column of list view options of window 1 is normal then
set sort ...
5
votes
1answer
437 views
Lion: Arrange Bug?
I have arrange by kind turned on at all times, yet sometimes I see a strange bug:
As you can see, the arrange headers: "Folders", "PDF Documents" and "Documents" do not show up properly. They are ...
5
votes
2answers
336 views
Duplicate entries in “Open With” menu in Finder even after rebuilding Launch Services
In Mac OS X 10.8.2, I have this curious problem. Every time I install a new updated version of one of several applications that I use, my system adds a new duplicate entry in the "Open With" ...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
Can Mountain Lion be modified so that a double click will open “hidden” folders and files?
I've noticed something strange in Finder since upgrading to Mountain Lion; any hidden folder or files (that I've already run defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE for) can only be ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
Why does it take so long for the Application folder to open?
My computer is pretty snappy, and the UI is typically silky-smooth. However, for some reason, on virtually every Mac OS X computer I've used, opening the Applications folder takes an inordinate (>5 s) ...
5
votes
1answer
2k views
Changing Airdrop Folder
Is there a way to change the default Airdrop location from the Downloads folder to something else? I have changed the location of many other applications, so I assume it's possible, even is possibly ...
5
votes
1answer
1k views
Stop Finder/OSX From creating TemporaryItems and .apdisk on Network shares
I'm looking for some way to configure OSX to prevent it creating .apdisk files and .TemporaryItems folders on network shares.
These are created any time OSX accesses a shared folder on the network.
...
4
votes
2answers
369 views
How to change path in Finder by entering the path manually?
It seems that by default there is no way to enter a whole path in the Finder, so instead one should traverse through all the tree to get somewhere deep in the filesystem. Is there anyway to overcome ...
4
votes
4answers
26k views
How to remove a nonfunctional folder from the Finder sidebar with Paragon installed?
I drag-and-drop 2 folders to the places group in finder's sidebar. Now i want to remove it. However, there was no option for remove it from side bar, although the other things (application, desktop, ...
4
votes
2answers
584 views
How do I select a file or directory inside a package?
When an application pops up the Mac OS X standard file or directory chooser dialog it won't allow me to open packages so that I can select something within. Is there a way to do this without creating ...
4
votes
1answer
683 views
What's the equivalent of windows explorer?
The documentation says that Finder replaces windows explorer. However I have gone to my home directory in a terminal and created a directory with
mkdir temp
How can I browse this directory using ...
4
votes
6answers
278 views
simplest way to open all images in a directory in Finder
When I have (and browse with Finder) a directory with a bunch of photos and videos (from e.g. my camera), I often want to open all the pictures in it.
How can I do that?
Right now, I select all ...
4
votes
5answers
255 views
make new Finder windows open at current folder
In Windows when I browse in Explorer, if I open a new Explorer window, it is opened to the same location as the window I had selected when I hit Ctrl-N. Is there a way of doing the same with Finder? ...
4
votes
3answers
12k views
Can I delete private/var/vm? What can I delete from the private directory?
What is this folder? It's huge and I can use the extra room. I've read sleepimage isn't necessary—is this true? Should I just deal with it? Is the "private" folder emptied automatically, or would I ...
4
votes
3answers
2k views
Mac OS X finder and disk utility not responding
My mac had turned slow and buggy - I did a reinstall.
After a couple of attempts I succeeded with a "blank" install. I thought it was working fine but now the problems from before keeps popping up:
...
4
votes
3answers
409 views
Is there any way to create a hard link in the finder?
Is there any way to create a hard link in the finder?
A hard link in terminal would be created with:
ln /path/to/file /path/to/newpath
whereas a symlink / alias can be done by holding command ...
4
votes
3answers
7k views
uh oh. -bash: ls: command not found
I installed the most recent mac update to OS X Lion (10.7).
After I did that, my terminal won't recognize normal commands. I type 'ls' and get:
-bash: ls: command not found
I figured I'd try to ...
4
votes
1answer
517 views
Why are FTP connections read-only when I use “Connect to Server…”?
I'm just trying to connect to the server hosting my website through Finder, but it's always read only, even though I'm logging in with my username and pass.
Obviously, I can connect with an FTP ...
4
votes
2answers
428 views
Why does changing “Open with” also change a files “Modification date”?
Something I noticed a while ago. I use Carbon Copy Cloner for backing up my files and I noticed one day when I changed a video's "Open with" flag to always open a video file with Movist instead of ...
4
votes
1answer
1k views
How can I convert .CR2 to .jpg?
Is there a simple tool that will convert .cr2 files (Canon RAW) to .jpg?
I know Preview does it well but I'm looking for something directly accessible from the contextual menu.
4
votes
4answers
2k views
Gray file in finder
Is there any way to force Finder to refresh its in-use information for gray (inaccessible) files?
Details:
I move infrequently used files from my Mac (OS/X 10.6) to a Windows server 2008 file ...
4
votes
1answer
1k views
Is there a way to refresh a Finder file listing?
I love my Mac and how things generally just work. Now and again, however, one finds a few annoyances. My latest one is that I cannot find a refresh button anywhere to update a file listing in a Finder ...
4
votes
2answers
442 views
How to select all similar files in an directory
If I want to view images I made with my camera using Preview, I have to select all files separately. Because when I select all files (cmd + a) all the videos I made get selected (and opened in ...
4
votes
1answer
359 views
How can I merge two similar-but-not identical folders?
I have a folder (which is filled with many many sub-folders and files) which is on a FireWire drive [source] which I am trying to move to a USB drive [destination].
I am trying to move all of the ...
4
votes
1answer
4k views
Where does Mac OS X save the list of items/icons it shows in the Finder sidebar?
Because a problem of compatibility between Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7 (the problem was that the computer with Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7 were both synchronized with the same Mobile Me account), I see an icon ...
4
votes
3answers
2k views
“Open folder in new window” for Finder?
In Finder, how do you open a folder in a new window, while the existing window keeps the same view?
All file managers I've ever used (on Linux only) have something like "Open folder in new window" ...
4
votes
1answer
145 views
How can I remove a program from “Open With”?
I recently installed VMWare Fusion and added Windows 7. Now when I right-click on a text file and choose Open With, there's an option to open with Notepad in Windows 7. This is not something I want ...
4
votes
5answers
2k views
AppleShowAllFiles does not show hidden files
I use OS X 10.8, I type the following
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
killall Finder
but still I cannot see any hidden files like .bash_history, .Trash, .cups, .gem etc. in ...
4
votes
2answers
3k views
How do I keep QTKitServer (QuickLook Helper) CPU usage from exploding out of control? OR How do I disable QuickLook entirely?
I've been watching lots of .MKVs lately, opened from the Finder. In Column View, when you single-click any file, QuickLook will load a viewable thumbnail into the next column over. This causes ...
4
votes
1answer
2k views
How do I get Finder windows to reopen on start up?
I just got my new computer with system 10.7.2 and this is really bugging me. I like having a few Finder windows always open. When I shut down and then start up my computer the next day, all the ...
4
votes
1answer
97 views
Fully displaying volume size info on the desktop
No matter which combination of icon size, spacing, font size I use for the desktop Finder view, the info for my drives on my Mac Mini hooked up to my TV (1080p) shows up as:
999.85 GB, ...06 GB free
...
