Using the Redesigned Mac Finder Go To Folder Function

Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Today let's take a look at the recently redesigned Go To Folder function in the Mac Finder. 

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So the Go to Folder function isn't new but in macOS Monterey it gets a facelift. Now if you're in a Finder window like this and use Go, Go To Folder or as most people would do Shift Command G, it actually brings up this new window here with rounded edges. It doesn't come out of the Title Bar and it grays out the rest of the Finder window. This is a control that you're going to use to redirect this Finder Window to a different folder. So it makes sense that it basically freezes the window and is awaiting your instructions. 

The way you use Go To Folder is now you basically type the path to a folder and it will take that Finder Window to that location. So, for instance, if we wanted to go to the Applications Folder we could type /applications and you could see how it autocompletes. I'll just use Tab to finish the autocompletion. Then Return and it jumps to the Applications Folder.

But you don't always have to type out the entire path. For instance I'm already in the Documents Folder. If I simply want to go down into the Personal Folder that's there I could simply start typing that and you could see that it takes just a few letters for it to figure out how to autocomplete the rest. Then I could tap the Tab key to do that. Then sometimes you have to hit a slash afterwards. Sometimes it will autocomplete that as well. In this case you have to have a slash because there were two possible things this could have been. But now that I've hit the slash it's going to look down inside that folder and give me some suggestions. I can actually use the arrow keys and then Return to jump into one of those folders.  Or I can simply start typing and it will allow me to autocomplete. Now notice there are two competing folders in here that begin with C. So if I press Tab it will capitalize the C to show it understands it's one of these two. But it won't autocomplete it. But then if I keep pressing Tab, usually then it will autocomplete it with the first one. But now I can jump directly from Documents into the Personal folder and into Cars in one step. Now that I've recently gone to the Cars folder if I simply start typing Cars you can see how it selects that one right away. It's a recent folder I've been to and it's the only one that could possibly match what I'm typing so far. So I can easily get there. 

Now if you want to start at the top level you could use slash and that will give you access either to your hard drive's main level or one of the folders in it like Users, Applications, Library, or System. But if you start typing, like I'll start typing Users, I can Tab and you can see it will autocomplete that. So now I can go into Users. I can go into MacMost and the Tab will autocomplete it. Then perhaps into the Movies Folder and you could see Movies and Music both have M in them. So I have to Tab two more times for it to autocomplete to the first one. I could also simply just click on one of these and it will take me into that folder. 

Another place to start from is your Home Folder. To start from there use the Tilde character. That's the character on US keyboards that's just above the Tab key. You need to hold Shift to get it. Do Tilde and then slash then you're in your Home Folder. In here you could start typing one of the names of the subfolders or you could arrow down to one or you could simply click one in the list here and it will place that name in there and you could keep digging down. 

You can also get to iCloud Drive a variety of ways. I find that in a lot of cases if you simply type i it will recognize iCloud Drive here as the next step. Then Tab to autocomplete will autocomplete the full path all the way into your mobile documents folder into iCloud Drive. This is the actual path of iCloud Drive but you just know it as iCloud Drive and that's all you'll see here. Other times though you do need to start typing iCloud Drive to see this. But if you click on it it will autocomplete it to the end. Then once you're there you can type something else like D for Documents. Let's go down and doc to documents like that and Tab to autocomplete and then I'll go right to where I was in the first place. 

One of the cool things that Go To Folder does is it will forgive spelling mistakes. So, for instance, if I type Project and then slash and say I type Project Alpha but I misspell it you could see I missed a whole letter there yet it still kind of auto-completes to Project Alpha and selects this. So a Return even without that letter will actually get me to the right place. 

Another cool thing it does is it also allows you to go to Tags. So it's both Go To Folder and Go To Tags. Notice here on the left you can see I've got a Tag called Project Notes. So if I start typing Project you could see it's identifying a folder called Project but another thing it sees there is Project Notes. I can select that and Return and it goes to that Tag just as if I clicked it in the Finder sidebar.  So just like any Tag that you want look for it here or just press Return, since it's the only option, and you'll get all of the others tagged that way. 

Go To Folder isn't just in Finder windows. It's also in the Open and Saved dialogues. So in Open here I can do Shift Command G and you could see it comes up right here and I can use that to get to places like iCloud Drive, Documents and it will jump there. The same thing in Saved dialogue. Just a quick Shift, Command G and then I could do something like Tilde/ to go into my Home Folder. 

So it's a very useful utility especially if you like keeping your hands on the keyboard and try to minimize mouse and trackpad use. It does take a little knowhow because you have to understand at least the structure of your Home Folder or iCloud Drive folder, if not the structure of your entire drive to use it. So there are a lot of Mac users out there that will never use Go To Folder and there are other Mac users that will use it all the time to navigate everywhere in the Finder and in Open and Saved dialogues. 

Hope you found this useful. Thanks for watching.