Path Finder (originally SNAX) is a

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...

file browser 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 ...

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 introduces additional functionality similar to that found in Windows's

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 f ...

, the defunct

Norton Commander Norton Commander (NC) is a discontinued prototypical orthodox file manager (OFM), written by John Socha and released by Peter Norton Computing (later acquired in 1990 by the Symantec corporation). NC provides a text-based user interface for ...

, and other third-party file browsers developed for a variety of platforms.

Features

Primarily a

navigational 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 ...

, Path Finder also features support for configuration as a correct

orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

, or

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 ...

. Most operations can take place in a single window, although more windows or tabs can be opened. The interface can further be customized by enabling or disabling various panels and/or their corresponding functionality. Some of Path Finder's features not found in the Finder include its namesake persistent

breadcrumb navigation A breadcrumb or breadcrumb trail is a graphical control element used as a navigational aid in user interfaces and on web pages. It allows users to keep track and maintain awareness of their locations within programs, documents, or websites. The ...

, shelf (called Drop Stack), transparent

archive file In computing, an archive file is a computer file that is composed of one or more files along with metadata. Archive files are used to collect multiple data files together into a single file for easier portability and storage, or simply to compre ...

browsing, manipulating hidden files, root access, full ACL GUI, batch operations, folder comparison and synchronization,

terminal emulator A terminal emulator, or terminal application, is a computer program that emulates a video terminal within some other display architecture. Though typically synonymous with a shell or text terminal, the term ''terminal'' covers all remote term ...

hex editor A hex editor (or ''binary file editor'' or ''byte editor'') is a computer program that allows for manipulation of the fundamental binary data that constitutes a computer file. The name 'hex' comes from 'hexadecimal', a standard numerical format f ...

, active process viewer, and application launcher. Path Finder can optionally use the same keyboard shortcut to open folders as Windows Explorer, instead of the default . It also supports an optional dual-pane UI. Several features were first present in Cocoatech's Path Finder, an later adopted in Apple's Finder, including tabs (added in

OS X Mavericks OS X Mavericks (version 10.9) is the 10th major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. OS X Mavericks was announced on June 10, 2013, at WWDC 2013, and was released on October 22, 2013, wo ...

) and an option to keep folders above files.

Reception

In his 2005 review of

Mac OS X Tiger Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4) is the 5th major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Mac computers. Tiger was released to the public on April 29, 2005 for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. Some ...

, '' Ars Technica'' columnist John Siracusa commented that Path Finder "absolutely ''embarrasses'' the Mac OS X Finder", and called Path Finder 4 "the Final Cut Pro of file management" and a "file browsing tour de force".

References

External links

* File managers Utilities for macOS {{mac-software-stub

Features

Reception

See also

References

External links