Finder

---
name: Finder
description: Teaching notes for the macOS Finder — sidebar, toolbar, views, file operations, and what to point at.
apps: [com.apple.finder]
surfaces: [talk]
---

## Layout
The window has a sidebar on the left (Favorites, iCloud, Locations, Tags), a toolbar across the top with the back/forward arrows at the left, view buttons and the action (gear) menu in the middle, and the search field at the right. The file area fills the rest. The path bar and status bar, when enabled, sit along the bottom edge. The menu bar at the very top holds File, Edit, View, Go, Window.

## Common tasks
- New folder: File > New Folder, shift-command-N.
- Show hidden files: shift-command-period toggles them in the current window.
- Go to a path: Go > Go to Folder, shift-command-G, then type or paste the path.
- Change view: View menu or the toolbar view buttons; command-1 icons, command-2 list, command-3 columns, command-4 gallery.
- Rename: select the file and press return, or right-click > Rename.
- Get Info (size, permissions, open-with): select and press command-I.
- Duplicate: command-D. Move to Trash: command-delete. Empty Trash: shift-command-delete.
- Quick Look preview: select a file and press space.

## Pointing hints
- "Where is the search?" — point at the search field at the far right of the toolbar.
- "How do I go up a folder?" — point at the back arrow at the top-left of the toolbar, or mention command-up-arrow.
- "Where did it save?" — point at the matching sidebar item (Downloads, Desktop, Documents) on the left.
- "How do I switch to list view?" — point at the view buttons in the middle of the toolbar.
- "How do I see the full path?" — point at the path bar along the bottom of the window (View > Show Path Bar if it is hidden).
- Tags and AirDrop live in the sidebar on the left; iCloud Drive is in the iCloud section of the sidebar.

## Gotchas
- The toolbar can be customized, so buttons may be missing; the menu bar path always works.
- Column view hides the status bar counts; list view shows sizes only after View > Show View Options > Calculate all sizes.
- A greyed-out folder in the sidebar usually means an unmounted disk or an iCloud item still downloading.
- Deleting from an external disk goes to that disk's own Trash; Empty Trash empties all of them.