4 ms·

What exactly is so bad about Finder? I've never had any issues with it.

bowsamic 2y ago
Same, honestly. I find it very pleasant to use. Especially compared to a lot of Linux file browsers
etrautmann 2y ago
Things that are hard: launching a terminal at a location, viewing or copying a files path, navigating a deep file system, column width in the column view, searching for files, finding file info, and lots of other.
- spinningarrow 2y ago
  > launching a terminal at a location A workaround for this (especially if you have a terminal always open) is to drag the file/folder you want to operate on into an open terminal window, which will paste in its path.
  - setopt 2y ago
    This is what I do as well. Note that nearly every MacOS app shows a file or folder icon in its title bar if you hover the mouse over it – this icon can be dragged into a terminal to open the current file or folder there. Also useful if I e.g. want to grep something in a currently open text file in the terminal, or something like that. (There is a system setting to always show this in the title bar without hovering, which was the old default behavior before Big Sur if I recall correctly. I’m a bit annoyed that it’s now hidden away by default.)
  - WillAdams 2y ago
    Also, remember the commands pbcopy and pbpaste which along with pipes allow one to do a myriad of tasks.
- johncoltrane 2y ago
  > launching a terminal at a location Right-click on directory > Services > New Terminal at Folder. > viewing or copying a files path Right-click on directory or file and press Option > Copy "<filename>" as path name. > navigating a deep file system Not sure what you mean. > column width in the column view Option + click & Drag. Or do you want them to adjust to files/folders name length? > searching for files What's wrong with Command + F? > finding file info Do you want more than what is shown by Command + I or in the "details" column?
  - matthew-wegner 2y ago
    > Right-click on directory > Services > New Terminal at Folder. Note that you can also bind a hotkey to this! And in general in macOS, you can a bind to a hotkey to any menu item in any application. Search "keyboard shortcuts" in settings, then under Services -> Files and Folders.
    - kernel-panics 2y ago
      To add to this: cdf: aliased to cd "$(pfd)" Doesn't really open a new Terminal, but usually, that's not what I want to happen anyway.
      - evanb 2y ago
        pfd is not standard and is doing all the work---what is it?
    - kmt-lnh 2y ago
      except Excel's ribbon menu items. As far as I know there's no method to hotkey those like ALT+[<letter>] on windows. Same for Outlook's categorize email function.
      - johncoltrane 2y ago
        Those are not "menu items" as generally understood in macOS.
- traceroute66 2y ago
  > searching for files Erm, what ? I use Mac, Windows, Linux and BSD daily. Of all four, searching for files on a Mac is a dream. Apple Spotlight is and always has been lightyears ahead of whatever garbage Microsoft use on Windows. And don't get me started on the inconvenience of searching for files on Linux or BSD, I mean, for starters you have to download a non-default tool like `fd` if you want to search at any reasonable speed.
  - eviks 2y ago
    This just tells me you've never used they only file search dream - Everything search, unfortunately Windows only. Spotlight has never come close to that
    - KineticLensman 2y ago
      > Everything I was going to say Everything was awesome as a file searcher except for its non-easily searchable name. But when I checked in a raw Edge instance it was in fact the first result. Ho hum. It's produced by Voidtools in case YMMV: https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/ https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/
  - rubslopes 2y ago
    I agree with OP, searching for files is awful. Many times it doesn't find a file I know it is inside a subdirectory of where I am right now. Things got much better when I moved from Spotlight to Raycast.
  - setopt 2y ago
    > Apple Spotlight is and always has been lightyears ahead of whatever garbage Microsoft use on Windows. I certainly agree on that, and I also find it more convenient than the desktop search options I’ve tried on Linux (there I usually drop to the command line to search). But despite really wanting to like Spotlight, e.g. its integration with Apple Mail with email previews is great, I find it unusable for heavy work. I’ve tried customizing it to disable lots of search backends that I don’t need, but still for reasons I don’t understand, it sometimes takes 5+ seconds to process my search results before showing anything, and even the average search often takes a second and is not well-sorted. In comparison, Alfred is always instant at searching on my computer, and I really prefer how you can explicitly tell it what you are searching for (e.g. `'filename`, `in file contents`, `=math`, etc.) whereas Spotlight tries to guess this and often guesses wrong. It’s also easier to customize if you want to integrate e.g. specific web searches in it. I’ve tried Raycast since lots of people praise it, but I still find Alfred to have a nicer and more responsive interface, but perhaps it’s just what I’m used to.
- kps 2y ago
  At least it has a column view.
where-group-by 2y ago
- Awkward sorting by name (mixing folders and files), unless you change the default - Does not snap files to a grid by default on icon view, leaving some folders looking like a mess - Not possible to figure out what's the exact path of the open folder - I just want a full path in the header/title bar. Or let me copy the full path without having to open "get info"
- wlesieutre 2y ago
  Sounds like you want "Show Path Bar" (in the View menu), though it lives at the bottom of the window not in the header. The sorting by name criticism is a weird one to me though. You want it to not sort by name when you tell it to sort by name, and instead sort by file vs folder and then within those two groups sort by name?
  - where-group-by 2y ago
    I should have paid more attention to the menu bar. Show Path Bar helps with my needs. For sorting I want it to sort like File Explorer or Dophin. So folders on top (sorted by name), then files (sorted by name). It works if I change Settings > Advanced > Keep folders on top.
- ttepasse 2y ago
  > I just want a full path in the header/title bar Apart from the Path bar in the bottom, there is also an old school title bar method: defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool true killall Finder ("false" for reversing it.) It doesn’t work for great for tabs, though, because tabs are short and paths are long. > Or let me copy the full path … There are some alternative fun and old methods: * If you're hovering over the title bar of a finder window there is a little folder icon, the so-called proxy icon which gives access to the current folder. One can drag and drop it and it moves the folder. Dragging a folder or the proxy icon on the Dock icon of Terminal or iTerm opens a new window with the working directory directly set to the folder. But dragged into a text field you're getting the text path. Right click gives you a dropdown for navigation in the current folders path. The proxy icon was stable in Finder until recently, now you need to hover. But you can re-activate the permanent display of the proxy icon under System Settings → Accessibility → Display, I think. * MacOS has, since the Next days, the concept of Services. Services are little actions which the System and (good) Apps can provide to do something with with something. Services are found in the context menu or the App menu. If you're right clicking on a folder (sadly not the proxy icon), there are Service Actions by Terminal and iTerm for opening a window or tab for a selected folder. * AppleScript: tell application "Finder" if exists window 1 then set currentDir to POSIX path of ((target of front Finder window) as text) else set currentDir to POSIX path of (path to desktop folder) end if set the clipboard to currentDir end tell It works in Script Editor at least. I'm not an AppleScript expert. But you can use AppleScript everywhere in MacOS. The Script-Menu, as an own App, as an Automator action or a Shortcut, you can give those hotkeys, possible use them in Alfred or Raycast, etc. Apart from the syntax it will be a sad day, if Apple retires the AppleScript architecture.
butlike 2y ago
It never seems to receive focus when I'm expecting it to

Same, honestly. I find it very pleasant to use. Especially compared to a lot of Linux file browsers

Things that are hard: launching a terminal at a location, viewing or copying a files path, navigating a deep file system, column width in the column view, searching for files, finding file info, and lots of other.

spinningarrow 2y ago
> launching a terminal at a location A workaround for this (especially if you have a terminal always open) is to drag the file/folder you want to operate on into an open terminal window, which will paste in its path.
- setopt 2y ago
  This is what I do as well. Note that nearly every MacOS app shows a file or folder icon in its title bar if you hover the mouse over it – this icon can be dragged into a terminal to open the current file or folder there. Also useful if I e.g. want to grep something in a currently open text file in the terminal, or something like that. (There is a system setting to always show this in the title bar without hovering, which was the old default behavior before Big Sur if I recall correctly. I’m a bit annoyed that it’s now hidden away by default.)
- WillAdams 2y ago
  Also, remember the commands pbcopy and pbpaste which along with pipes allow one to do a myriad of tasks.
johncoltrane 2y ago
> launching a terminal at a location Right-click on directory > Services > New Terminal at Folder. > viewing or copying a files path Right-click on directory or file and press Option > Copy "<filename>" as path name. > navigating a deep file system Not sure what you mean. > column width in the column view Option + click & Drag. Or do you want them to adjust to files/folders name length? > searching for files What's wrong with Command + F? > finding file info Do you want more than what is shown by Command + I or in the "details" column?
- matthew-wegner 2y ago
  > Right-click on directory > Services > New Terminal at Folder. Note that you can also bind a hotkey to this! And in general in macOS, you can a bind to a hotkey to any menu item in any application. Search "keyboard shortcuts" in settings, then under Services -> Files and Folders.
  - kernel-panics 2y ago
    To add to this: cdf: aliased to cd "$(pfd)" Doesn't really open a new Terminal, but usually, that's not what I want to happen anyway.
    - evanb 2y ago
      pfd is not standard and is doing all the work---what is it?
  - kmt-lnh 2y ago
    except Excel's ribbon menu items. As far as I know there's no method to hotkey those like ALT+[<letter>] on windows. Same for Outlook's categorize email function.
    - johncoltrane 2y ago
      Those are not "menu items" as generally understood in macOS.
traceroute66 2y ago
> searching for files Erm, what ? I use Mac, Windows, Linux and BSD daily. Of all four, searching for files on a Mac is a dream. Apple Spotlight is and always has been lightyears ahead of whatever garbage Microsoft use on Windows. And don't get me started on the inconvenience of searching for files on Linux or BSD, I mean, for starters you have to download a non-default tool like `fd` if you want to search at any reasonable speed.
- eviks 2y ago
  This just tells me you've never used they only file search dream - Everything search, unfortunately Windows only. Spotlight has never come close to that
  - KineticLensman 2y ago
    > Everything I was going to say Everything was awesome as a file searcher except for its non-easily searchable name. But when I checked in a raw Edge instance it was in fact the first result. Ho hum. It's produced by Voidtools in case YMMV: https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/ https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/
- rubslopes 2y ago
  I agree with OP, searching for files is awful. Many times it doesn't find a file I know it is inside a subdirectory of where I am right now. Things got much better when I moved from Spotlight to Raycast.
- setopt 2y ago
  > Apple Spotlight is and always has been lightyears ahead of whatever garbage Microsoft use on Windows. I certainly agree on that, and I also find it more convenient than the desktop search options I’ve tried on Linux (there I usually drop to the command line to search). But despite really wanting to like Spotlight, e.g. its integration with Apple Mail with email previews is great, I find it unusable for heavy work. I’ve tried customizing it to disable lots of search backends that I don’t need, but still for reasons I don’t understand, it sometimes takes 5+ seconds to process my search results before showing anything, and even the average search often takes a second and is not well-sorted. In comparison, Alfred is always instant at searching on my computer, and I really prefer how you can explicitly tell it what you are searching for (e.g. `'filename`, `in file contents`, `=math`, etc.) whereas Spotlight tries to guess this and often guesses wrong. It’s also easier to customize if you want to integrate e.g. specific web searches in it. I’ve tried Raycast since lots of people praise it, but I still find Alfred to have a nicer and more responsive interface, but perhaps it’s just what I’m used to.
kps 2y ago
At least it has a column view.

where-group-by 2y ago

- Awkward sorting by name (mixing folders and files), unless you change the default - Does not snap files to a grid by default on icon view, leaving some folders looking like a mess - Not possible to figure out what's the exact path of the open folder - I just want a full path in the header/title bar. Or let me copy the full path without having to open "get info"

wlesieutre 2y ago
Sounds like you want "Show Path Bar" (in the View menu), though it lives at the bottom of the window not in the header. The sorting by name criticism is a weird one to me though. You want it to not sort by name when you tell it to sort by name, and instead sort by file vs folder and then within those two groups sort by name?
- where-group-by 2y ago
  I should have paid more attention to the menu bar. Show Path Bar helps with my needs. For sorting I want it to sort like File Explorer or Dophin. So folders on top (sorted by name), then files (sorted by name). It works if I change Settings > Advanced > Keep folders on top.
ttepasse 2y ago
> I just want a full path in the header/title bar Apart from the Path bar in the bottom, there is also an old school title bar method: defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool true killall Finder ("false" for reversing it.) It doesn’t work for great for tabs, though, because tabs are short and paths are long. > Or let me copy the full path … There are some alternative fun and old methods: * If you're hovering over the title bar of a finder window there is a little folder icon, the so-called proxy icon which gives access to the current folder. One can drag and drop it and it moves the folder. Dragging a folder or the proxy icon on the Dock icon of Terminal or iTerm opens a new window with the working directory directly set to the folder. But dragged into a text field you're getting the text path. Right click gives you a dropdown for navigation in the current folders path. The proxy icon was stable in Finder until recently, now you need to hover. But you can re-activate the permanent display of the proxy icon under System Settings → Accessibility → Display, I think. * MacOS has, since the Next days, the concept of Services. Services are little actions which the System and (good) Apps can provide to do something with with something. Services are found in the context menu or the App menu. If you're right clicking on a folder (sadly not the proxy icon), there are Service Actions by Terminal and iTerm for opening a window or tab for a selected folder. * AppleScript: tell application "Finder" if exists window 1 then set currentDir to POSIX path of ((target of front Finder window) as text) else set currentDir to POSIX path of (path to desktop folder) end if set the clipboard to currentDir end tell It works in Script Editor at least. I'm not an AppleScript expert. But you can use AppleScript everywhere in MacOS. The Script-Menu, as an own App, as an Automator action or a Shortcut, you can give those hotkeys, possible use them in Alfred or Raycast, etc. Apart from the syntax it will be a sad day, if Apple retires the AppleScript architecture.

butlike 2y ago

It never seems to receive focus when I'm expecting it to