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There's a lot to not like about Windows's UI, but Explorer is worlds better than Finder, there's absolutely no comparison. Every day I still struggle to remembe

There's a lot to not like about Windows's UI, but Explorer is worlds better than Finder, there's absolutely no comparison. Every day I still struggle to remember how to go up a level. Option+Up? Nope that selects the next folder up. Control+Up? No, that made all of my windows do something weird that I don't know what that is. Ah, it's Command+Up. As far as I can tell, there's no non-keyboard way to do it. I can't click a button and go up to the parent folder, all I can do is go back, which is confusing if I forget what the previous folder was. Likewise, "All My Files" sorts based on... what? And which folders does it look in? Because very often I save a file from the Internet and it never shows up in All My Files. And when I search for something when I'm in a directory, I expect the search to be restricted to that directory by default. Instead it defaults to My Mac, which makes no sense. Is there also no way to get the current path as text? On Windows I can type "C:\Users\My Documents" by hand in Explorer. I don't see an option to do that in Finder. Explorer isn't perfect, but Finder is just awful. Just awful.

akio 10y ago
> As far as I can tell, there's no non-keyboard way to do it. I can't click a button and go up to the parent folder, all I can do is go back, which is confusing if I forget what the previous folder was. Right-click on the toolbar and select "Customize Toolbar...", then drag the "Path" button into the toolbar.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
Razengan 10y ago
> Option+Up? Nope that selects the next folder up. Control+Up? No, that made all of my windows do something weird that I don't know what that is. Ah, it's Command+Up. In macOS, generally: ⌘ Command = App-specific shortcuts. The primary modifier key. ⌃ Control = Global shortcuts. App-specific shortcuts will not generally have Control as the sole modifier. ⌥ Option/Alt = Something to with the keyboard, selection, or secondary modifier for a shortcut. Option+Up/Down is Page Up/Down. ⇧ Shift = Something to with the keyboard, selection, or secondary modifier for a shortcut. Common shortcuts are way more consistent than in Windows, and you can search for them from the Help menu of any app, and even modify/create shortcuts for any app from System Preferences -> Keyboard. ---- > As far as I can tell, there's no non-keyboard way to do it. Right-click on the folder icon in the title bar, use Columns view, or show the Path Bar from the View menu. > Likewise, "All My Files" sorts based on... what? Files in your home folder's hierarchy, that are indexed by Spotlight. > And when I search for something when I'm in a directory, I expect the search to be restricted to that directory by default. Instead it defaults to My Mac, which makes no sense. Keyword: defaults. You can change it. > Is there also no way to get the current path as text? On Windows I can type "C:\Users\My Documents" by hand in Explorer. I don't see an option to do that in Finder. "Go to Folder", it's under the Go menu. To copy an item's path name, hold down Option/Alt to modify the "Copy" menu item. ---- Most of your complaints are basically "it doesn't do everything the way Windows does it so it's bad" or "I'm furious because I didn't bother to tweak the defaults."
- reitanqild 10y ago
  In macOS, generally: Back when I used it, 5 years ago, it was a solid mess IMO: Jump one word forward or backwards? Windows/Linux: ctrl + arrow Mac: depends on which program you are currently using IIRC our resident Mac enthusiast explained that it was because some was written in carbon and some in cocoa or something but I don't care. Opening a file upload dialog box in one browser window would block other windows from the same browser forcing me to use two different browsers: one for docs and one for the task at hand. This went on for 3 years and in the end I looked as much forward to leave as I had once looked forward to get a Mac. To each their own but Mac users talking about consistency and ease of use still baffles me.
  - oneeyedpigeon 10y ago
    These are the things that bug me the most about macOS. See also: page up / page down, home / end. For an OS that seems to want to care about consistency, to have pretty much every app interpreting the most common keyboard navigation differently is incredibly annoying.
  - comex 10y ago
    > Jump one word forward or backwards? > Windows/Linux: ctrl + arrow > Mac: depends on which program you are currently using I don't know what the deal is with Carbon - it was already dead 5 years ago, even Photoshop transitioned in 2010 - but everything I use uses option-arrow. Even the terminal. > Opening a file upload dialog box in one browser window would block other windows from the same browser forcing me to use two different browsers: one for docs and one for the task at hand. I just checked and at present in Safari, file upload dialogs block the current window (i.e. can't access other tabs) but not other windows. Though to be honest, I don't understand why you needed to keep file upload dialogs open… why would you click the button to pop the dialog if you weren't intending to immediately select a file? But I guess https://xkcd.com/1172/ https://xkcd.com/1172/ applies :)
    - reitanqild 10y ago
      Though to be honest, I don't understand why you needed to keep file upload dialogs open… why would you click the button to pop the dialog if you weren't intending to immediately select a file? Would finding and copying a somewhat long folder path from the internal wiki qualify as a good reason?
russellbeattie 10y ago
I've learned to right-click the title on the toolbar, which shows a dropdown of folders above the current one, which you can select to go up.
- scaryspooky 10y ago
  Funny you call it a right click...
antfarm 10y ago
Just cmd-click the window title. Works in every document-based native macOS app btw.

akio 10y ago

> As far as I can tell, there's no non-keyboard way to do it. I can't click a button and go up to the parent folder, all I can do is go back, which is confusing if I forget what the previous folder was. Right-click on the toolbar and select "Customize Toolbar...", then drag the "Path" button into the toolbar.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

Razengan 10y ago

> Option+Up? Nope that selects the next folder up. Control+Up? No, that made all of my windows do something weird that I don't know what that is. Ah, it's Command+Up. In macOS, generally: ⌘ Command = App-specific shortcuts. The primary modifier key. ⌃ Control = Global shortcuts. App-specific shortcuts will not generally have Control as the sole modifier. ⌥ Option/Alt = Something to with the keyboard, selection, or secondary modifier for a shortcut. Option+Up/Down is Page Up/Down. ⇧ Shift = Something to with the keyboard, selection, or secondary modifier for a shortcut. Common shortcuts are way more consistent than in Windows, and you can search for them from the Help menu of any app, and even modify/create shortcuts for any app from System Preferences -> Keyboard. ---- > As far as I can tell, there's no non-keyboard way to do it. Right-click on the folder icon in the title bar, use Columns view, or show the Path Bar from the View menu. > Likewise, "All My Files" sorts based on... what? Files in your home folder's hierarchy, that are indexed by Spotlight. > And when I search for something when I'm in a directory, I expect the search to be restricted to that directory by default. Instead it defaults to My Mac, which makes no sense. Keyword: defaults. You can change it. > Is there also no way to get the current path as text? On Windows I can type "C:\Users\My Documents" by hand in Explorer. I don't see an option to do that in Finder. "Go to Folder", it's under the Go menu. To copy an item's path name, hold down Option/Alt to modify the "Copy" menu item. ---- Most of your complaints are basically "it doesn't do everything the way Windows does it so it's bad" or "I'm furious because I didn't bother to tweak the defaults."

reitanqild 10y ago
In macOS, generally: Back when I used it, 5 years ago, it was a solid mess IMO: Jump one word forward or backwards? Windows/Linux: ctrl + arrow Mac: depends on which program you are currently using IIRC our resident Mac enthusiast explained that it was because some was written in carbon and some in cocoa or something but I don't care. Opening a file upload dialog box in one browser window would block other windows from the same browser forcing me to use two different browsers: one for docs and one for the task at hand. This went on for 3 years and in the end I looked as much forward to leave as I had once looked forward to get a Mac. To each their own but Mac users talking about consistency and ease of use still baffles me.
- oneeyedpigeon 10y ago
  These are the things that bug me the most about macOS. See also: page up / page down, home / end. For an OS that seems to want to care about consistency, to have pretty much every app interpreting the most common keyboard navigation differently is incredibly annoying.
- comex 10y ago
  > Jump one word forward or backwards? > Windows/Linux: ctrl + arrow > Mac: depends on which program you are currently using I don't know what the deal is with Carbon - it was already dead 5 years ago, even Photoshop transitioned in 2010 - but everything I use uses option-arrow. Even the terminal. > Opening a file upload dialog box in one browser window would block other windows from the same browser forcing me to use two different browsers: one for docs and one for the task at hand. I just checked and at present in Safari, file upload dialogs block the current window (i.e. can't access other tabs) but not other windows. Though to be honest, I don't understand why you needed to keep file upload dialogs open… why would you click the button to pop the dialog if you weren't intending to immediately select a file? But I guess https://xkcd.com/1172/ https://xkcd.com/1172/ applies :)
  - reitanqild 10y ago
    Though to be honest, I don't understand why you needed to keep file upload dialogs open… why would you click the button to pop the dialog if you weren't intending to immediately select a file? Would finding and copying a somewhat long folder path from the internal wiki qualify as a good reason?

russellbeattie 10y ago

I've learned to right-click the title on the toolbar, which shows a dropdown of folders above the current one, which you can select to go up.

scaryspooky 10y ago
Funny you call it a right click...

antfarm 10y ago

Just cmd-click the window title. Works in every document-based native macOS app btw.