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Some users really like the Finder windows sidebars that were introduced with OS X 10.3 Panther. Others are less enthusiastic. Personally, I’m ambivalent. The sidebars take up more room, especially if you work with a relatively small monitor like I do, but they can also be very useful navigation tools.
However, if the sidebars bug you, just double-click anywhere on the gray vertical divider bar that separates the sidebar from the window’s contents, and - it disappears. You can also click on the bar and drag it all the way to the left to the left to hide it.
To summon the sidebar back into view, just double-click on the left border of the Finder window and it will reappear.
The Title Bar Menu
If you Command-click on the flie name beside the mini-icon in a window's title bar, amenu will appeal showing the file's place in the Directory heirarchy, which can be a quick and useful navigation aid.
Deleting Files With The Toolbar
I generally use the highlight plus Command-Delete method for dispatching files to the Trash, but if you have a folder from which you frequently remove files, you may find it convenient to add a Delete File icon to its window’s toolbar. Just opened the View menu and select Customize Toolbar.
A dialog will open from which you can drag the Delete icon (red circle with a slash) to your window toolbar. Click Done and you are. Henceforth, highlighting a file’s icon and clicking the Delete icon will dismiss it to the Trash.
Creating New Windows With The Toolbar
Perhaps the most universally-reviled innovation in OS X from Apple’s traditional keyboard shortcuts retinue is the change from Command-N to Shift-Command-N for creating new folders. I find this extremely annoying, as do many others.
While it’s not a 100 percent cure for this distemper because it doesn’t work with the desktop, it can be useful to add a New Folder toolbar icon to, say, your Home folder window, which will make creating new folders a single click operation there.
Just select Customize Toolbar from the View menu as described above and drag the New Folder icon to your toolbar.
Scroll To Here Option
If dragging a window’s scroll bar up and down gets tiresome you can enable the Scroll To Here function. Open System Preferences and click on the Appearance icon. In the “Click in the scroll bar to� section, Enable Scroll To Here.
Old Finder Mode
In OS X, when you open a folder-within-a-folder, the original folder window disappears when the other folder window opens. If you prefer the way windows worked in the Classic Mac OS, just click the little white button in the upper right hand corner of a folder window, and it will revert to "Old Finder" behavior. The Toolbar and Sidebar will disappear, and double-clicked folders within will open in another window, leaving the original one open as well
Charles W. Moore
Tags: Blogs ï Hands On Mac ï
