Finder Tabs

Finder tabs allow you to have more than one file view in a single Finder window. Each tab can contain the view of a different folder or location. Each tab can also use a different view mode. You can drag and drop files between tabs. You can also move tabs between windows and combine windows full of tabs. Full screen mode for Finder windows allows you to focus on your files in a single screen.

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Video Transcript: Hi this is Gary with MacMost.com. Let's take a look at using Finder Window Tabs.
So I'm using Mac OS 10.9. We're going to look at Finder Tabs.
You have a typical Finder window here and it works just as is has in previous version of Mac OS X except now you can open up Tabs. You can do this in many different ways. For instance you can do File/New Tab here or Command T. You can see I have two tabs here. They are both looking at the same things. Let's have this one look at something else. We'll dig down into Home Docs here. Now we can see this is looking at Documents and this is looking at Home Docs.
I can also change what Finder view I am using. So I can us say List View for this, Icon view for this. You can see, back and forth. Just like having two completely separate Finder windows except they are both here, combined into one, and I can use these tabs. Just click on them to go back and forth. Of course I can click on the X to close a tab. In addition to File menu or Command T I can use the plus button to open up a new tab. So I can dig down in like that. So now I have three tabs open and I can have them in three different modes as well.
You can interact between these tabs very easily. For instance if I wanted to move something from this Home Docs folder into My Videos I can do so by simply grabbing and dragging over to the tab. It will then shift to this tab and I can drop it into it. So it is very easy to copy things back and forth even though you only have one Finder window open.
You can still have a new Finder window. You can still have more than one and drag and drop between them. Just doing it in Tabs uses less screen real estate.
Another way to open up a new tab is to hold down the Command key and double click on a Folder. You can see it opens that up as a new tab there as well. So there is a lot you can do.
You can also move Tabs between Finder windows. So I can create a new Finder window here and I can drag this tab, I click on it and drag it over to this window here. You can see it puts that tab there.
To close a Tab of course you can use the X button here even if it is not the tab that is opened. You can also use Command W which is how you closed a Finder window before. Now you can use shift Command W to close the entire window including all the tabs and just Command W to close the current tab. So I can do it like that. Of course if it is the last tab then the window will in fact be closed.
You also have the option to go full screen with the Finder window now which makes sense since we have tabs. So I'm going to use the full screen button here and it will expand, fill the screen, and now I can go back and forth between these tabs, open up new ones, navigate to them. So you can kind of get this full screen productivity boost here. You can use Mission Control to move between screens of course. So you can one space in Mission Control dedicated to the Finder and all your files and even Applications, things like that and then be working in other apps on other screens.
So just a few more tips here in managing Tabs. Under the Window menu you have a few things like Show Previous Tab, Show Next Tab. You can see the keyboard shortcut is Control Tab, not Command Tab, so I can Control Tab between these. If I have another window here and say I've got two tabs in it, with the current tab I can Move Tab to New Window and it will break it out like that. I can also merge all of the Finder windows. I've got three tabs here and one tab. If I wanted to merge them all into one I can hit Merge All Windows to bring them all together.

Comments: 4 Responses to “Finder Tabs”

Rob

11 years ago

Superb! Your information, tips, and approach are really good--clear, easy to listen to, and excellent step by step directions. You also skip the typical background music, which makes the video much easier to each and learn from. (Wish you would lose the opening and ending irritating track, or, if you must have one, make it less droning!)

In any event, great job! May convince me to upgrade to Mavericks!

Darrell

Thanks for another very useful video. I've come to value and trust what you put out. If I see something in Macsurfer from Macmost it quickly gets checked out. Good work and much appreciated!

Cheryle

You make it easy to understand. I appreciate your tips.

Mel

Absolutely love seeing your videos. I am constantly learning new things about my mac! Keep up the info!

Comments Closed.

Finder Tabs

Comments: 4 Responses to “Finder Tabs”

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