What exactly is so bad about Finder? I've never had any issues with it.
A workaround for this (especially if you have a terminal always open) is to drag the file/folder you want to operate on into an open terminal window, which will paste in its path.
(There is a system setting to always show this in the title bar without hovering, which was the old default behavior before Big Sur if I recall correctly. I’m a bit annoyed that it’s now hidden away by default.)
Right-click on directory > Services > New Terminal at Folder.
> viewing or copying a files path
Right-click on directory or file and press Option > Copy "<filename>" as path name.
> navigating a deep file system
Not sure what you mean.
> column width in the column view
Option + click & Drag. Or do you want them to adjust to files/folders name length?
> searching for files
What's wrong with Command + F?
> finding file info
Do you want more than what is shown by Command + I or in the "details" column?
Note that you can also bind a hotkey to this! And in general in macOS, you can a bind to a hotkey to any menu item in any application.
Search "keyboard shortcuts" in settings, then under Services -> Files and Folders.
cdf: aliased to cd "$(pfd)"
Doesn't really open a new Terminal, but usually, that's not what I want to happen anyway.
Erm, what ?
I use Mac, Windows, Linux and BSD daily.
Of all four, searching for files on a Mac is a dream.
Apple Spotlight is and always has been lightyears ahead of whatever garbage Microsoft use on Windows.
And don't get me started on the inconvenience of searching for files on Linux or BSD, I mean, for starters you have to download a non-default tool like `fd` if you want to search at any reasonable speed.
I was going to say Everything was awesome as a file searcher except for its non-easily searchable name.
But when I checked in a raw Edge instance it was in fact the first result. Ho hum.
It's produced by Voidtools in case YMMV: https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/
Things got much better when I moved from Spotlight to Raycast.
I certainly agree on that, and I also find it more convenient than the desktop search options I’ve tried on Linux (there I usually drop to the command line to search).
But despite really wanting to like Spotlight, e.g. its integration with Apple Mail with email previews is great, I find it unusable for heavy work. I’ve tried customizing it to disable lots of search backends that I don’t need, but still for reasons I don’t understand, it sometimes takes 5+ seconds to process my search results before showing anything, and even the average search often takes a second and is not well-sorted.
In comparison, Alfred is always instant at searching on my computer, and I really prefer how you can explicitly tell it what you are searching for (e.g. `'filename`, `in file contents`, `=math`, etc.) whereas Spotlight tries to guess this and often guesses wrong. It’s also easier to customize if you want to integrate e.g. specific web searches in it.
I’ve tried Raycast since lots of people praise it, but I still find Alfred to have a nicer and more responsive interface, but perhaps it’s just what I’m used to.
I haven't come across issues with ordering, but my use cases are usually pretty simple, so that might be down to a difference in our workflows.
Searching on my SMB network share doesn't work. At all. It's not just that Spotlight won't index it. It's that you can't even search by filename within the current folder you're viewing.
- Does not snap files to a grid by default on icon view, leaving some folders looking like a mess
- Not possible to figure out what's the exact path of the open folder - I just want a full path in the header/title bar. Or let me copy the full path without having to open "get info"
The sorting by name criticism is a weird one to me though. You want it to not sort by name when you tell it to sort by name, and instead sort by file vs folder and then within those two groups sort by name?
For sorting I want it to sort like File Explorer or Dophin. So folders on top (sorted by name), then files (sorted by name). It works if I change Settings > Advanced > Keep folders on top.
Apart from the Path bar in the bottom, there is also an old school title bar method:
defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool true
killall Finder
It doesn’t work for great for tabs, though, because tabs are short and paths are long.
> Or let me copy the full path …
There are some alternative fun and old methods:
* If you're hovering over the title bar of a finder window there is a little folder icon, the so-called proxy icon which gives access to the current folder. One can drag and drop it and it moves the folder. Dragging a folder or the proxy icon on the Dock icon of Terminal or iTerm opens a new window with the working directory directly set to the folder. But dragged into a text field you're getting the text path. Right click gives you a dropdown for navigation in the current folders path.
The proxy icon was stable in Finder until recently, now you need to hover. But you can re-activate the permanent display of the proxy icon under System Settings → Accessibility → Display, I think.
* MacOS has, since the Next days, the concept of Services. Services are little actions which the System and (good) Apps can provide to do something with with something. Services are found in the context menu or the App menu. If you're right clicking on a folder (sadly not the proxy icon), there are Service Actions by Terminal and iTerm for opening a window or tab for a selected folder.
* AppleScript:
tell application "Finder"
if exists window 1 then
set currentDir to POSIX path of ((target of front Finder window) as text)
else
set currentDir to POSIX path of (path to desktop folder)
end if
set the clipboard to currentDir
end tell
But you can use AppleScript everywhere in MacOS. The Script-Menu, as an own App, as an Automator action or a Shortcut, you can give those hotkeys, possible use them in Alfred or Raycast, etc.
Apart from the syntax it will be a sad day, if Apple retires the AppleScript architecture.
The modern equivalent is "Run Shell Script" in Shortcuts or maybe Automator. Shortcuts has the advantage that you can use your shortcut directly in Quick Actions in Finder's context menu.
I played around a minute and created this but I'm not a Shortcuts expert.
https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/5898ff4c3f2e49ff8ec6bff4013...
One insane caveat: For this to work you'll need to grant Finder Full Disc Access in System Settings → Security. Yes, it sounds insane. It is. But it works.
I’d support this being an option in the View menu or View Options palette, but I think I would lose my mind if this behavior were made default with no way to turn it off.