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I love it so much. The only Finder's feature(well, aside from label) I miss when using Windows Explorer. I can fly through my folder hierarchy quickly with just

I love it so much. The only Finder's feature(well, aside from label) I miss when using Windows Explorer. I can fly through my folder hierarchy quickly with just directional keys, with crystal clear picture of where/how deep I am in the directory. Windows have an alternative File manager with Miller Columns called OneCommander, though it is quite sluggish compared to Finder.

infogulch 8y ago
Alt+Up in Windows Explorer navigates to the parent directory. And Alt+L/R does browser-style forward/back. These combined with typing the file name to select it makes it pretty easy for me to navigate. One nit I do have is that when you first go into a directory the selection is a bit funky; nothing is selected by default so enter doesn't do anything, but if you press Down it selects the second item, so if you need to go to the first item (pretty common in practice) you have to do this awkward down-up-enter to get there. Edit: Reading comprehension is hard.
- Birch-san 8y ago
  Try pressing Space instead of Down.
  - theandrewbailey 8y ago
    Neat! Thanks for the tip. This might be as useful as when I (accidentally) discovered that Ctrl+W closes Explorer windows. It even works on Windows 98!
    - Birch-san 8y ago
      Other shortcuts that changed the way I use Windows: Alt+Space (open window management context menu) Shift+F10 (right-click using the keyword) Ctrl+Shift+Escape (launch task manager) Windows+E (open Explorer window) Windows+X (open context menu of random useful things) Ctrl+L (select address bar) Home (go to start of line of text) End (go to end of line of text) Ctrl+{direction} (move by one word) Windows+{number} (focus a process from your taskbar) And some useful things in the Run menu (Windows+R): sysdm.cpl (System Properties) inetcpl.cpl (Internet Properties) %APPDATA% (goes to C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming)
pierrebai 8y ago
I find the bread crumb in the navigation bar of the Windown File Explorer does 90% of the work the columns did. Its advantage is that it takes a lot less screen real-estate, can show more levels at once, which in turn allows navigating further up faster. Its only downside is that to go up and then down takes two clicks instead of one. OTOH, with columns, you an onyl do this if you go up only one level or two, given that the number of visible columns is much more limited than the bread crumbs. Overall, I think the bread crumbs is a win, especially given the balance between real estate vs frequency of use.
- abrowne 8y ago
  I agree. I thought I'd miss column view when I switched from Mac to Linux, but I'm ok with the breadcrumbs.
bluedino 8y ago
>> I can fly through my folder hierarchy quickly with just directional keys Which is ironic, since the Mac interface is so anti-keyboard. Miller Columns are one of the biggest reasons I don't like Finder.
- gattilorenz 8y ago
  What? The consistency of keyboard shortcuts across all applications, including those not developed by Apple, is one of the reasons I love OS X...
  - function_seven 8y ago
    The consistency is great, but number of actions you can perform just from the keyboard is smaller. I use the Alt key to access menu items all the time in Windows. As far as I know, this isn't possible in most Mac applications. To get to a menu item, you have to use the mouse. Sure, some menu items also have Command shortcuts, but not all of them. I do like the general theme of Ctrl being used for system-wide shortcuts, while Cmd is (mostly) reserved for applications. I just wish menu items had a letter underlined...
    - kitsunesoba 8y ago
      It’s not on by default, but you can turn on keyboard menu accessibility.
      - function_seven 8y ago
        Thanks. TIL about [CTRL]+[F2]. The menu items don't have the little underlined letter to indicate the key, but this is pretty close. First letter does it. Just have to select, then arrow down to display, before continuing.
  - kitsunesoba 8y ago
    Not to mention how the Keyboard preference pane allows one to assign custom keyboard shortcuts to any menu item of any application, even when the app’s dev never included or intended such functionality. As long as the app hooks the native menubar, it just works. Combined that with enabling tab-highlighting of any onscreen control and I’m not sure how macOS lags behind in keyboard control. You can’t quite do system wide vim bindings or anything crazy like that (though hacking around with Hammerspoon would get you close), but that’s going to be difficult with any setup short of a bespoke Linux desktop with a customized WM and very selective set of applications.

infogulch 8y ago

Alt+Up in Windows Explorer navigates to the parent directory. And Alt+L/R does browser-style forward/back. These combined with typing the file name to select it makes it pretty easy for me to navigate. One nit I do have is that when you first go into a directory the selection is a bit funky; nothing is selected by default so enter doesn't do anything, but if you press Down it selects the second item, so if you need to go to the first item (pretty common in practice) you have to do this awkward down-up-enter to get there. Edit: Reading comprehension is hard.

Birch-san 8y ago
Try pressing Space instead of Down.
- theandrewbailey 8y ago
  Neat! Thanks for the tip. This might be as useful as when I (accidentally) discovered that Ctrl+W closes Explorer windows. It even works on Windows 98!
  - Birch-san 8y ago
    Other shortcuts that changed the way I use Windows: Alt+Space (open window management context menu) Shift+F10 (right-click using the keyword) Ctrl+Shift+Escape (launch task manager) Windows+E (open Explorer window) Windows+X (open context menu of random useful things) Ctrl+L (select address bar) Home (go to start of line of text) End (go to end of line of text) Ctrl+{direction} (move by one word) Windows+{number} (focus a process from your taskbar) And some useful things in the Run menu (Windows+R): sysdm.cpl (System Properties) inetcpl.cpl (Internet Properties) %APPDATA% (goes to C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming)

pierrebai 8y ago

I find the bread crumb in the navigation bar of the Windown File Explorer does 90% of the work the columns did. Its advantage is that it takes a lot less screen real-estate, can show more levels at once, which in turn allows navigating further up faster. Its only downside is that to go up and then down takes two clicks instead of one. OTOH, with columns, you an onyl do this if you go up only one level or two, given that the number of visible columns is much more limited than the bread crumbs. Overall, I think the bread crumbs is a win, especially given the balance between real estate vs frequency of use.

abrowne 8y ago
I agree. I thought I'd miss column view when I switched from Mac to Linux, but I'm ok with the breadcrumbs.

bluedino 8y ago

>> I can fly through my folder hierarchy quickly with just directional keys Which is ironic, since the Mac interface is so anti-keyboard. Miller Columns are one of the biggest reasons I don't like Finder.

gattilorenz 8y ago
What? The consistency of keyboard shortcuts across all applications, including those not developed by Apple, is one of the reasons I love OS X...
- function_seven 8y ago
  The consistency is great, but number of actions you can perform just from the keyboard is smaller. I use the Alt key to access menu items all the time in Windows. As far as I know, this isn't possible in most Mac applications. To get to a menu item, you have to use the mouse. Sure, some menu items also have Command shortcuts, but not all of them. I do like the general theme of Ctrl being used for system-wide shortcuts, while Cmd is (mostly) reserved for applications. I just wish menu items had a letter underlined...
  - kitsunesoba 8y ago
    It’s not on by default, but you can turn on keyboard menu accessibility.
    - function_seven 8y ago
      Thanks. TIL about [CTRL]+[F2]. The menu items don't have the little underlined letter to indicate the key, but this is pretty close. First letter does it. Just have to select, then arrow down to display, before continuing.
- kitsunesoba 8y ago
  Not to mention how the Keyboard preference pane allows one to assign custom keyboard shortcuts to any menu item of any application, even when the app’s dev never included or intended such functionality. As long as the app hooks the native menubar, it just works. Combined that with enabling tab-highlighting of any onscreen control and I’m not sure how macOS lags behind in keyboard control. You can’t quite do system wide vim bindings or anything crazy like that (though hacking around with Hammerspoon would get you close), but that’s going to be difficult with any setup short of a bespoke Linux desktop with a customized WM and very selective set of applications.