The Finder is the default
file manager
A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage files and folders. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files include creating, opening (e.g. viewing, playing, editing or pr ...
and
graphical user interface
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard o ...
used on all
Macintosh operating systems. Described in its "About" window as "The Macintosh Desktop Experience", it is responsible for the launching of other applications, and for the overall user management of files, disks, and network volumes. It was introduced with the first Macintosh computer, and also exists as part of
GS/OS on the
Apple IIGS. It was rewritten completely with the release of Mac OS X in 2001.
In a tradition dating back to the
Classic Mac OS
Mac OS (originally System Software; retronym: Classic Mac OS) is the series of operating systems developed for the Macintosh family of personal computers by Apple Computer from 1984 to 2001, starting with System 1 and ending with Mac OS 9. The ...
of the 1980s and 1990s, the Finder icon is the smiling screen of a computer, known as the
Happy Mac
The classic Macintosh startup sequence includes hardware tests which may trigger the startup chime, Happy Mac, Sad Mac, and Chimes of Death. On Macs running macOS Big Sur or later the startup sound is enabled by default, but can be disabled by ...
logo.
Features
The Finder uses a view of the
file system
In computing, file system or filesystem (often abbreviated to fs) is a method and data structure that the operating system uses to control how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one larg ...
that is rendered using a
desktop metaphor
In computing, the desktop metaphor is an interface metaphor which is a set of unifying concepts used by graphical user interfaces to help users interact more easily with the computer. The desktop metaphor treats the computer monitor as if it is t ...
; that is, the files and
folders are represented as appropriate icons. It uses a similar interface to Apple's
Safari browser, where the user can click on a folder to move to it and move between locations using "back" and "forward" arrow buttons. Like Safari, the Finder uses tabs to allow the user to view multiple folders; these tabs can be pulled off the window to make them separate windows. There is a "favorites" sidebar of commonly used and important folders on the left of the Finder window.
The classic Mac OS Finder uses a spatial metaphor quite different from the more browser-like approach of the modern macOS Finder. In the classic Finder, opening a new folder opens the location in a new window: Finder windows are 'locked' so that they would only ever display the contents of one folder. It also allows extensive customization, with the user being able to give folders custom icons matching their content. This approach emphasizes the different locations of files within the operating system, but navigating to a folder nested inside multiple other folders fills the desktop with a large number of windows that the user may not wish to have open.
These must then be closed individually. Holding down the
option key
The Option key, , is a modifier key present on Apple keyboards. It is located between the Control key and Command key on a typical Mac keyboard. There are two Option keys on modern (as of 2020) Mac desktop and notebook keyboards, one on each sid ...
when opening a folder would also close its parent, but this trick was not
discoverable and remained under the purview of
power user
A power user is a user of computers, software and other electronic devices, who uses advanced features of computer hardware, operating systems, programs, or websites which are not used by the average user. A power user might not have extensive tec ...
s.
The modern Finder uses macOS graphics APIs to display previews of a range of files, such as images, applications and PDF files. The Quick Look feature allows users to quickly examine documents and images in more detail from the finder by pressing the space bar without opening them in a separate application. The user can choose how to view files, with options such as large icons showing previews of files, a list with details such as date of last creation or modification, a Gallery View (replacing the previous
Cover flow in
macOS Mojave
macOS Mojave ( ; version 10.14) is the fifteenth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop operating system for Macintosh computers. Mojave was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 4, 2018, and was released to the ...
), and a "
column view" influenced by macOS's direct ancestor
NeXTSTEP
NeXTSTEP is a discontinued object-oriented, multitasking operating system based on the Mach kernel and the UNIX-derived BSD. It was developed by NeXT Computer in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was initially used for its range of proprieta ...
.
The modern Finder displays some aspects of the file system outside its windows. Mounted external volumes and
disk image
A disk image, in computing, is a computer file containing the contents and structure of a disk volume or of an entire data storage device, such as a hard disk drive, tape drive, floppy disk, optical disc, or USB flash drive. A disk image is us ...
files can be displayed on the desktop. There is a trash can on the
Dock in macOS, to which files can be dragged to mark them for deletion, and to which drives can be dragged for ejection. When a volume icon is being dragged, the Trash icon in the Dock changes to an eject icon in order to indicate this functionality. Finder can
record files to
optical media
In computing and optical disc recording technologies, an optical disc (OD) is a flat, usually circular disc that encodes binary data ( bits) in the form of pits and lands on a special material, often aluminum, on one of its flat surfaces ...
on the sidebar.
From Yosemite onwards, the Finder is updated to include a refreshed user interface with updated typography and translucency, along with a new icon. Functionally, it also contains official support for extensions, allowing synchronization and cloud storage applications such as
Dropbox
Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, U.S. that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and Client (computing), client software. Dropb ...
to display sync status labels inside the Finder display.
macOS Big Sur
macOS Big Sur (version 11) is the seventeenth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s operating system for Macintosh computers. It was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 22, 2020, and was released to the public ...
introduces a complete graphical redesign of the Finder, along with the rest of the user interface, sporting the removal of the brushed metal interface elements, a full height sidebar and all new iconography. Big Sur also slightly modifies the Finder icon with rounded corners.
Reception
Stewart Alsop II in 1988 said "It is testimony to either the luck or vision of the original designers" of Finder that "the interface has been able to survive tremendous evolution without much essential damage" from 1984. He praised its
spatial file manager
In computing, a spatial file manager is a file manager that uses a spatial metaphor to represent files and folders as if they were real physical objects.
Concepts
The base requirements of a spatial file manager are:
# Each folder is represe ...
as "probably a more complete definition of a PC-based universe than any" competitor, with users able to seamlessly use floppies, local and remote hard disks, and large and small file servers. Alsop said that even if Apple had stolen Xerox's technology for Finder, it was now very different. While criticizing the lack of a right mouse button and
MultiFinder
MultiFinder is an extension for the Apple Macintosh's classic Mac OS, introduced on August 11, 1987 and included with System Software 5. It adds cooperative multitasking of several applications at once – a great improvement over the previou ...
's clumsiness, he concluded that "Apple remains the king of user interfaces. Finder is the only interface with 1.5 million people sitting in front of it daily. Apple is spending tremendous amounts of money on both development and basic research to remain the leader".
Introducing Mac OS X in 2000,
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a ...
criticized the original Finder, saying that it "generates a ton of windows, and you get to be the janitor."
''
Ars Technica
''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sci ...
'' columnist John Siracusa has been a long-standing defender of the spatial interface of the classic Mac OS Finder and a critic of the new design.
Daring Fireball
John Gruber (born 1973) is a technology blogger, UI designer, and one of the inventors of the Markdown markup language.
History
Gruber is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his Bachelor of Science in computer science from Drexel Uni ...
blog author
John Gruber
John Gruber (born 1973) is a technology blogger, UI designer, and one of the inventors of the Markdown markup language.
History
Gruber is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his Bachelor of Science in computer science from Drexel Univ ...
has voiced similar criticisms. In a 2005 interview he said that the Finder in version 10.3 of Mac OS X had become "worse than in 10.0" and that "the fundamental problem with the OS X Finder is that it's trying to support two opposing paradigms at once – the
browser metaphor ... and the spatial metaphor from the original Mac Finder ... and it ends up doing neither one very well." Reviewing the same version of Mac OS X, Siracusa comments that the Finder "provides exactly the same self-destructive combination of spatial and browser-style features as all of its Mac OS X predecessors".
Finder replacements
Third-party
Third party may refer to:
Business
* Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller
* Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party
* Third-party insurance, such as a Ve ...
macOS software developers offer Finder replacements that run as stand-alone applications, such as
ForkLift,
Path Finder
Path Finder (originally SNAX) is a Macintosh file browser developed by Cocoatech. First released in 2001 simultaneously with the public release of Mac OS X 10.0 (Cheetah), it replicates or integrates most of the features of the Finder, but in ...
,
Xfile
Xfile is a file manager developed by Rixstep, built as a Finder replacement for the Mac OS X operating system. Its features are mostly congruent with those accessible by generic Unix systems.
Some examples of the more advanced features are a c ...
, and
XtraFinder. These replacements are shareware or freeware and aim to include and supersede the functionality of the Finder. After
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger the UNIX command line file management tools understand
resource fork The resource fork is a fork or section of a file on Apple's classic Mac OS operating system, which was also carried over to the modern macOS for compatibility, used to store structured data along with the unstructured data stored within the data f ...
s and can be used for management of Mac files.
Timeline
There are minor differences between Finder versions and Classic OS to System 7. From System 6 onward, the version numbers are unified.
Since the introduction of Mac OS X, the largest rewrite of the Finder was with the 2009 release of
Mac OS X 10.6
Mac OS X Snow Leopard (version 10.6) is the seventh major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers.
Snow Leopard was publicly unveiled on June 8, 2009 at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. ...
, into the
Cocoa API
Cocoa is Apple's native object-oriented application programming interface (API) for its desktop operating system macOS.
Cocoa consists of the Foundation Kit, Application Kit, and Core Data frameworks, as included by the Cocoa.h header file, and ...
, though little change was visible to the user.
See also
*
Spatial file manager
In computing, a spatial file manager is a file manager that uses a spatial metaphor to represent files and folders as if they were real physical objects.
Concepts
The base requirements of a spatial file manager are:
# Each folder is represe ...
*
Miller columns
Miller columns (also known as cascading lists) are a browsing/visualization technique that can be applied to tree structures. The columns allow multiple levels of the hierarchy to be open at once, and provide a visual representation of the curren ...
*
List of file managers
*
Comparison of file managers
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of notable file managers.
General information
, -
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, rowspan="2" , Jeffery C. Johnson
,
, 1985-04-01
, DOS
,
, 1992
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, r ...
*
File Explorer
File Explorer, previously known as Windows Explorer, is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface for accessing the file ...
References
External links
Apple Macintosh before System 7Ars Technica: About the Finder...Ars Technica: Review of OS X 10.3nbsp;– discussing the lack of fundamental changes to the Finder
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finder (Software)
1984 software
File managers
Macintosh operating systems
Macintosh operating systems user interface