14 Changes That Will Make Your Mac’s Finder App Way More Useful

Finder is your pathway to all your Mac's files. Yes, you can (and should) use Spotlight to quickly find and open files. But when it comes to actually managing and working with files, folders, and documents, the Finder app is essential—especially since none of us know how to create a folder hierarchy anymore.

It's good news, then, that Finder does a really good job of helping you organize files. But there are certain things about it that could be improved. What if every new Finder window didn’t automatically default to the Recents folder? What if you could easily see the detailed path for a given folder? Or organize files using tags? Well, you can: here’s how to customize what you see in the Finder app.

How to customize the sidebar in Finder

The sidebar is where you’ll probably start interacting with Finder, so you should take some time to add the things you want to see there and remove what’s cluttering it up.

Go to Finder > Preferences > Sidebar. From here, select the sections that you want to show or hide. For example, you can remove the Tags section, limit the Locations items, and prune down the Favorites section.

After you've done that, navigate to some of your frequently used folders and drag them to the Favorites section so you’ll always be able to access them easily.

How to change Finder's default folder

By default, Finder launches with the Recents folder ready to go. This may not be useful for you—if you store all your files in the Downloads or Documents folder, it might be better to use one of those as a starting point.

Go to Finder > Preferences > General > New Finder Windows Show. Here, choose any folder to serve as the default when you open a new Finder window.

How to show the path bar in Finder

Every finder user should enable the path bar. It gives you a sense of where exactly you are in a file directory. Go to View > Show Path Bar to turn it on.

You’ll now see the path for every folder at the bottom of the Finder window. You can click on any folder from the path to navigate to it. You can also quickly copy the full pathname by clicking on a folder from the path and choosing the “Copy as Pathname” option.

If you don’t want to always see your file path, you can choose to display it selectively; just right-click on the file or folder name at the top of your Finder window to see a list of all the folders or files your current file/folder stems from.

How to show the Finder status bar

By default, the status bar in Finder only does two things: It shows you how many items there are in a folder (and how many are selected), as well as how much space is left on your Mac. That’s generally good info to have, so it’s worth turning on. To do so, go to View > Show Status Bar.

How to customize the Finder toolbar

You can customize the Finder toolbar just like you can the one in Safari. Right-click in the empty space in the Finder toolbar and choose the “Customize Toolbar” option.

Here, you can rearrange elements or drag or remove elements from the top. (Adding buttons for “Delete” and “New Folder” will be really helpful.)

How to increase the font size in Finder

If you're using a 13-inch MacBook Air, you might find it difficult to view a long list of file names. Try increasing Finder's font size. To do this, go to View > Show View Options, and from the “Text Size” option, bump the text size up to a reasonable number (16 is probably a good choice).

Open new Finder folders in windows instead of tabs

Finder now has tabs, just like Safari. Simply double-click a folder while holding the Command key to start using them. However, if you'd rather go back to using windows with this shortcut instead, that's still an option.

To revert back to the old behavior, go to Finder > Preferences and uncheck the “Open folders in tabs instead of new windows” option.

Change folder view and sorting

Finder offers you powerful ways to customize how you view and sort items in your folders. First, the Views. Click on the Views icon in the top toolbar to choose between Icons, a List, Columns, and a Gallery.

Each view is useful depending on the folder's content. Icons are the default, but you can switch to the Gallery view to make it easier to view images in a larger preview size. The Columns view shows you a multi-pane structure, so you can keep digging deeper into your folder structure while still keeping an eye on higher-level folders. List is the most powerful view, and it's what I usually default to. It shows all files and folders sorted based on different metrics, like name, last time updated, or size. You can click on any of these properties to change the sorting, and all this metadata is always available right next to the file name, which is super handy.

You can also choose the Group icon from the toolbar to group files based on different criteria like name, application, tags, size, when the files were last updated, and more.

The only thing to note here as that all these view settings are on a per-folder basis, so you'll need to change the settings for each folder as you navigate through them. Though, once they are set, Finder will remember your settings going forward.

Show hidden files on Mac

If you use hidden files often, or you need to see hidden files in the system or Library folder, you can quickly use the keyboard shortcut Command+Shift+. (period) to make them appear or disappear.

And if you're into keyboard shortcuts, try out the Marta app. It's a third-party alternative to the Finder app built around the idea of navigating files using the keyboard.

Change default search location

Using Finder means using its search feature, but you might find it a bit annoying without making some changes. By default, it searches only the current folder that you're in, not your entire Mac.

Go to Finder > Settings > Advanced. In the "When performing a search" section, switch to the Search This Mac option. Or better yet, switch to Use the Previous Search Scope to make sure the Finder remembers whichever option you used last.

Don't be afraid to use Tags

Don't sleep on Finder Tags. They are just as useful as the tags in your reminders app. Right-click on any file or folder to assign a colored tag to it. If you click on the Tags button, you can also create a new custom tag, with a color of your choice. Tags that are in use will automatically show up in the Finder sidebar for quick access.

Tags are a great way to group similar files in one view, without moving them between folders. This way, you can collect all the files related to a project in one section, and then get rid of the tag when the work is done.

Customize Quick Actions

Quick Actions is a relatively new addition to Finder, but already hosts one of the best new hidden features on the Mac. Right-click on an image, choose Convert Image, and you can convert a HEIC image to JPEG, or reduce an image's size with ease. But you can also click the Customize button to add more features to this menu. The best thing to add to Quick Actions, though, are Shortcuts. You can create shortcuts to resize images or move or manipulate files, helping automate your browsing process.

Improve Quick Look

Quick Look is one of my all-time favorite Finder features. You hit the Space bar, and instantly you're greeted with a preview of what's in the file you have selected. It's the fastest way to read through a PDF or see a video. By default, Quick Look doesn't work for all file types, but Mac developers have created lots of Quick Look extensions that help you preview ePubs, content in zip files, and more. We've highlighted the best Quick Look plugins in our dedicated guide.

You can also use an indie app called Peek to add support for more than 600 file types.

Pin Finder to all Desktops

If you use multiple monitors on your Mac, you can pin the same Finder window to all desktops. Right-click on the Finder icon in the Dock and go to Options > All Desktops. Now, as you move between your desktops, the same Finder window will move with you.