11 ms·

What's crap about Finder?

rrr_oh_man 1y ago
It's slow and doesn't... find stuff.
oneeyedpigeon 1y ago
For me, the keyboard (in)accessibility is the biggest issue. On Windows I got used to navigating Explorer completely with the keyboard — this was a LONG time ago, I have no idea of the current state. On macOS, it's just impossible (or, at the very least (but I doubt), impractical). Other issues: - the fact that you cannot cut and paste files - dragging files from one folder to another can be unreliable/error-prone, particularly in tree view
- nullbyte808 1y ago
  I lost track of how many times ive lost data to cut.
- rouvax 1y ago
  > - the fact that you cannot cut and paste files Back in time I also complained about this, but do you know that if you copy (CMD+C) then do CMD+ALT+V, then copy&paste becomes cut&paste ?
  - elcritch 1y ago
    Also cmd-up arrow and cmd-down arrow to go up and down folders. You can also click on the title to get a list view of the current folder and its parents.
  - oneeyedpigeon 1y ago
    Thanks for the tip. It's not as convenient as CMD+X, CMD+V, but I might see if I can commit it to memory.
    - _jcrossley 1y ago
      I have a hard time remembering this. But there’s also right-click, then Option to show secondary options (Copy becomes Move)
sippeangelo 1y ago
Every time I need to browse to a specific path I have to google it, because there is no path input anywhere. (It's Shift+Cmd+G of course)
- reaperducer 1y ago
  It's in the menu bar under "Go…" or something similar. (I'm not on a desktop right now, so I can't be precise.)
- IgorPartola 1y ago
  If you use the terminal at all just cd to your directory of choose and then do open .
- cameldrv 1y ago
  They also screwed up cmd-shift-g a few versions ago where if you type, say, /Users/me/Documents, it puts you in /Users/me. Now you have to put in /Users/me/Documents/ if you actually want that folder. Then of course the autocomplete wasn’t changed as well, so if you start typing and then cursor down to the completion and hit enter, it doesn’t fill in the slash, so it goes to the parent folder. You have to cursor down, press tab, so it fills in the trailing slash, then hit enter. It’s theoretically a small annoyance, but it gets me a few times a week since I had muscle memory for the old, correct way. I’ve filed several radars over the years and never heard back. It’s one of those things that makes me want to get a job at Apple, fix the bug, and quit. Incidentally, this was one of the nice little things that made me switch to the Mac many years ago. There wasn’t any way to my knowledge that you could switch to a path in windows by typing it out from inside explorer.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
reaperducer 1y ago
Most of the time when someone on HN complains about Finder, it's not a Finder problem. It's that the user doesn't know how to do what they want, and other people respond with the answer. Finder has its problems. But the overarching problem is that Apple has done a poor job of discoverability and letting people know how to do things. It's counterintuitive, because in most of Apple's macOS programs there are multiple ways to do the same thing. For example, there are close to a dozen ways to eject/unmount a disk/volume, but I still run into people who say they can't figure out how to do it.
- Melatonic 1y ago
  I think the problem is that Finder searches too much stuff by default. The same problem is true of modern windows search, iOS search, and Android. First thing I do on all of them is have it only search local stuff. If I want to do a damn web search I'll open my browser of choice and use Kagi. On iOS I restrict it even further to only show local apps and settings. Massively improves the speed, latency, etc etc.
  - reaperducer 1y ago
    You're describing Spotlight. Finder is the file manager.
MattSayar 1y ago
I cannot right-click and create a new file. The "Recents" doesn't contain files I've recently interacted with, and I'm still not sure what qualifies a file to be listed in Recents.

It's slow and doesn't... find stuff.

For me, the keyboard (in)accessibility is the biggest issue. On Windows I got used to navigating Explorer completely with the keyboard — this was a LONG time ago, I have no idea of the current state. On macOS, it's just impossible (or, at the very least (but I doubt), impractical). Other issues: - the fact that you cannot cut and paste files - dragging files from one folder to another can be unreliable/error-prone, particularly in tree view

nullbyte808 1y ago
I lost track of how many times ive lost data to cut.
rouvax 1y ago
> - the fact that you cannot cut and paste files Back in time I also complained about this, but do you know that if you copy (CMD+C) then do CMD+ALT+V, then copy&paste becomes cut&paste ?
- elcritch 1y ago
  Also cmd-up arrow and cmd-down arrow to go up and down folders. You can also click on the title to get a list view of the current folder and its parents.
- oneeyedpigeon 1y ago
  Thanks for the tip. It's not as convenient as CMD+X, CMD+V, but I might see if I can commit it to memory.
  - _jcrossley 1y ago
    I have a hard time remembering this. But there’s also right-click, then Option to show secondary options (Copy becomes Move)

sippeangelo 1y ago

Every time I need to browse to a specific path I have to google it, because there is no path input anywhere. (It's Shift+Cmd+G of course)

reaperducer 1y ago
It's in the menu bar under "Go…" or something similar. (I'm not on a desktop right now, so I can't be precise.)
IgorPartola 1y ago
If you use the terminal at all just cd to your directory of choose and then do open .
cameldrv 1y ago
They also screwed up cmd-shift-g a few versions ago where if you type, say, /Users/me/Documents, it puts you in /Users/me. Now you have to put in /Users/me/Documents/ if you actually want that folder. Then of course the autocomplete wasn’t changed as well, so if you start typing and then cursor down to the completion and hit enter, it doesn’t fill in the slash, so it goes to the parent folder. You have to cursor down, press tab, so it fills in the trailing slash, then hit enter. It’s theoretically a small annoyance, but it gets me a few times a week since I had muscle memory for the old, correct way. I’ve filed several radars over the years and never heard back. It’s one of those things that makes me want to get a job at Apple, fix the bug, and quit. Incidentally, this was one of the nice little things that made me switch to the Mac many years ago. There wasn’t any way to my knowledge that you could switch to a path in windows by typing it out from inside explorer.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]

reaperducer 1y ago

Most of the time when someone on HN complains about Finder, it's not a Finder problem. It's that the user doesn't know how to do what they want, and other people respond with the answer. Finder has its problems. But the overarching problem is that Apple has done a poor job of discoverability and letting people know how to do things. It's counterintuitive, because in most of Apple's macOS programs there are multiple ways to do the same thing. For example, there are close to a dozen ways to eject/unmount a disk/volume, but I still run into people who say they can't figure out how to do it.

Melatonic 1y ago
I think the problem is that Finder searches too much stuff by default. The same problem is true of modern windows search, iOS search, and Android. First thing I do on all of them is have it only search local stuff. If I want to do a damn web search I'll open my browser of choice and use Kagi. On iOS I restrict it even further to only show local apps and settings. Massively improves the speed, latency, etc etc.
- reaperducer 1y ago
  You're describing Spotlight. Finder is the file manager.

MattSayar 1y ago

I cannot right-click and create a new file. The "Recents" doesn't contain files I've recently interacted with, and I'm still not sure what qualifies a file to be listed in Recents.