OS X Finder tutorial and customizations (Part 6)
Written by: hexley on Tuesday January 22nd 2008, 6:05 am
Filed under: Finder, OS X 10.5
Only two menu’s left in the Finder. We will get to the icons at the top right of the Finder soon enough, for now, relish in the fact that there are only two more little menu’s that you will need to learn about.
The “Go” menu controls what Finder windows you can go to. You will find there are folders and places on your Macintosh that you frequent. Apple has made this a simple process. Whether you need to jump to your Applicaitons folder, or access System Utilities, the Go menu helps you get to these folders and locations.
Back
“Back” works just like in a browser, and takes you back to the previous view you were in. This works in all view modes, unless you have set your Finder preferences to “Always open folders in a new window”. If you are partial to list view, icon view, or cover flow, you will never be able to use this feature with your Finder preferences set this way.
If you use your Finder more like a Windows file browser, this will make you feel right at home. There are also forward and backward arrows at the top left of Finder windows that will perform the same thing.
Forward
“Forward”, same rules as Back, only it takes you forward. You of course will have had to just previously gone back in order for it to work, but it should be rather familiar to you.
Enclosing Folder
The “Enclosing Folder” is a handy, interesting, and useful menu item. For example, if you have a file selected, and want to jump up to the folder it is sitting in, simply select Enclosing Folder. The same holds true for folders as well.
In many regards it works the same as the back feature, with the exception of it tends to work everywhere. You can be in list view, or icon view, and it will always take you to the enclosing folder, or as some call it, the parent folder.
Computer, Home, Desktop, Network, iDisk, Applications, and Utilities are all shortcuts to well known folders on your computer. Let’s discuss each one in detail.
Computer
“Computer” will take you to a folder that at the very least, lists your main hard drive. It can also list secondary drives, and other attached media. In a way, it is a virtual area. I am not aware that the Computer menu item is any particular folder on your computer, but more a listing of items attached to your computer. Even network items show up in this area. I find it rare that I ever need to use this menu item.
Home
“Home”, or your Home folder is probably one of the most used areas you will visit on your computer. Your Home folder contains all your personal files. To be more specific, it contains folders for you to organize your personal files in. You will see folders for Music, Documents, Movies and much more.
At this point, put things where you feel they should logically be, with the exception of staying away from the “Library” folder. The Library folder holds special files for making your account work, at this time, it is off limits until you have learned how to use this folder.
Desktop
The “Desktop” is a folder, though many do not think if it as one. All the items you see sitting on your computer screen reside on the Desktop. However, the Desktop is also a folder. If you put an item on the Desktop, it will also reside in your Home folder, in the Desktop Folder.
It should be made clear; there are not two files in two locations. The Desktop folder holds the files, the Desktop view, you see on your main screen, is just a different view of that Desktop folder.
At times, your Desktop can be so cluttered you cannot find anything. Try looking in your Desktop folder. Sort by name, and you should be able to locate the file much easier.
Network
The “Network” menu will open a window that shows you all computers connected to your network. As you understand more about networking, you will learn how to access other computers connected to your same network. Generally you will need a login and password in order to gain access. For now, know this menu is here, and this is how you can remotely share files with other users.
iDisk
The “iDisk” menu is how you can access Apples iDisk feature. You need a .mac account in order to use this menu item. Of course, this costs money, and to be honest, as a new user, I am not sure there is much reason for you buying into this.
When we hit our tutorial on iDisk, you can weigh in on the features that are to your liking and if you think there is value in them.
Applications
The “Applications” menu will bring up your applications folder. This is where all your programs are that let you get work done. You should store any applications you download and intend to keep in this folder.
You should not try to rearrange this folder. Some people will want to put certain applications into certain other folders for organization. At this time, leaving your applications in the order they are in will help Apple know where they are, so they can update them with their software update tools.
Utilities
The “Utilities” menu takes you to a folder inside the Applications folder called Utilities. If you are setting up an Airport wireless network, there is a tool in here for that. If you need to perform some hard drive testing, there is a tool in the Utilities folder for that as well.
For the most part, these are special tools. Nothing to be afraid of, feel free to test them out and play around with them. We will go over the more popular ones and exactly what they do and what value they are to you.
Recent Folders
The “Recent Folders” menu item shows you a list of folders you have most often visited. You can even control how many folders are listed in this menu item. This is done in the System Preferences, which is an upcoming tutorial as well.
For now, the default amount of folders is probably more than enough to get you around.
Go to Folder
“Go to Folder” is a semi advanced menu item. In OS X there are a number of hidden folders. If you were to type in an exact path to such a hidden folder, this menu will bring you to that hidden folder.
For example, you can type in /tmp and it will bring you the hidden temporary items folder of OS X. It is not to say you cannot use it to get to known non-hidden folders, however it is generally reserved for digging around where the finder will not directly let you go.
Connect to Server
The “Connect to Server” menu item brings up a window in which you can enter in a server address, and connect to it. If you wanted to connect to a Windows machine at work, while at home, this is where you would do it.
Connect to Server is relatively advanced for this point in the game. You can do a lot with it. On the other hand, it falls short on many fronts as well. Just make a mental note, if you ever do need to remotely connect to someone else, this is where it will be done. Getting it all working is more than just entering in a server name or address into the window that pops up.
Our next tutorial will cover the last remaining menu called “Window”. From there, I am not sure what is next. Toying with the idea of a Safari multi post tutorial. Browsing on the web seems one of the most often done actions on a computer, I have a feeling many can benefit from knowing every single in and out of your built in web browser.
it is not quite true that the “Back” and “Forward” button only work in column view. it also works in all the other views
Comment by Michael 02.03.08 @ 9:15 am@Michael
I should really clarify this, and I will do so now, it actually depends on your settings. I prefer to have finder windows always open in a new window, which means that almost all the time, I never get a back or forward button.
As a note to our readers, I am going to edit the post to clarify this, which may make Michael’s reply seem out of no where, but in fact, he was spot on. Thanks Michael.
Comment by Scott Haneda 02.03.08 @ 9:25 am“You can even control how many folders are listed in this menu item. This is done in the System Preferences, which is an upcoming tutorial as well.”
No, it cannot be. Set the number to zero and prove me wrong.
Comment by kkerekes 07.28.08 @ 6:41 pm
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