7 macOS Finder Tips & Tricks You NEED TO KNOW!

From finding tips to becoming Finder Pro

#1. Prevent Accidental File Deletion 🗑️

Know what?

I regularly clear my Downloads folder of clutter using ⌘ + A + delete (select all and delete) with zero worry of deleting important ones.

Wondering how?

I “lock 🔒” important ones so they won’t be accidentally deleted.

Here’s how you do that too.

• Use ⌘ + I on a file (or right-click < ‘Get Info’)
• Check ‘Locked’ ☑️, close.

Now, try deleting it. And you’ll see this ⬇️

Or try deleting a pool of locked and non-locked files. This will appear ⬇️

Now check ‘Apply to All’ ☑️ and click ‘Skip’ to stop deletion of locked files and only delete files that aren’t locked.

Simple! This’s how I blindly attempt to delete all files without the fear of losing important ones.

Bonus features

Refer to the #6 of the given articles to know the tricks.

• Permanently delete files → (instead of sending them to Trash and deleting again)

• Finder hotkey to empty bin →

#2. Create Templates 📑

Many apps offer built-in template-creation feature — it lets you create a type of file (like report, ppt) and reuse it as the starting point for a new file, always.

Ex: MS Word saves template files as .dotx.

Nifty feature, but I think I know a way to access templates that’s easier than using the built-in feature.

Do this.

• Create a regular file (not a template file) with your preferred edits and save it somewhere.
• Use ⌘ + I on it (or right-click < ‘Get Info’).
• Check ‘Stationery pad’ ☑️, close.

Now open it, but what’s opened is a new duplicate copy in the same folder instead of the original file.

Ex: If your original file is ‘Doc’, everytime you open it, you’re actually opening Doc copy, Doc copy 2, Doc copy 3, …

You can now edit a copy as you want, and save it. Isn’t this easier?

Notes:

• The original file will always be preserved as original.
• To edit the original file, uncheck ‘Stationary pad’, open, edit, close, and check ‘Stationary pad’ ☑️ to make it template again.

#3. Merge folders with the same name 🗂️

Say you have two folders, both named ‘Movies’ — One on Desktop, one on External Drive.

You wanna merge them and have all your movies into one single folder.

What’d you do? Select and drag all movies in Drive into ‘Movies’ on Desktop, right?

But I know an easier way.

Simply drag the ‘Movies’ folder from Drive to Desktop. (It’s duplicate)

Now, click ‘Merge’. Oh.. Where’s Merge?

Sorry, hold ⌥ while you drag the folder and you’ll see Merge.

*Cough*

Click ‘Merge’ to get all your movies to the folder in the destination.

#4. Batch rename files 🚚

Let’s admit, we all once needed to add specific text or add index to every file’s name in a folder.

But it’s difficult to rename all the 2577+ files sitting for hours before our MacHines, right?

But luckily, Finder’s got a built-in feature to batch rename files. To use it, select all the preferred files < right-click, < ‘Rename…’.

Now, you can

• Add specific text before or after all file names,
• Find and replace a specific text in all file names, or
• Format the file names to add indexes, counters, or dates.

So nifty, right?

#5. Quick Look files of a Dock Folder 👀

Do you know Quick Look? It’s a way to preview files by selecting them and hitting spacebar. This saves time by not fully opening them with an actual app.

I’ve written about it in #4 of this article. →

But ever thought how you’d preview files of a dock folder?

They’re like this right →

If you click on them, they’ll actually open instead of getting selected. Then how’d you ‘Quick Look’ them?

Simple, just hover the pointer on a file, and hit spacebar.

#6. Always Open (a file) With…

(Giving example for .docx files, but this trick works for any kind of file.)

There could be tonnes of .docx files on your Mac that (obviously) open with MS Word.

But say you wanna open one particular file (maybe your ebook draft) always with Apple Pages.

So instead of doing right-click < Open With < Pages everytime you wanna open it, try this one-off process:

• Use ⌘ + I on it (or right-click < ‘Get Info’).
• Click ‘> Open with’ < Choose an app < Close.

From now, the file will always open with the app you’ve chosen, and this won’t apply to all other .docx files — unless you’ve clicked ‘Change All…’.

Cool? Cool.

#7. Search files from anywhere 🔍

Spotlight is hands-down the best way to search for anything — wherever you are on your Mac.

But when it comes to searching for files, Finder’s search has better UX and capabilities (I think).

So just as you use ⌘ + space to trigger Spotlight, use ⌥ + ⌘ + space to trigger Finder search — anywhere on your Mac!

For more a’macOS’zing tricks, read these.

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