Mac Inside & Out · macOS Basics for Switchers · Lesson 1 of 5

Finder and Spotlight

Find any file on a Mac with Finder, Spotlight and Quick Look.

Meet the Finder

Finder is the Mac app that shows your files and folders. It is always open, and its icon is the blue smiling face at the left end of the Dock. The Dock is the row of app icons along the bottom of the screen.

On Windows, the same job is done by File Explorer.

Each Finder window has a sidebar, the list of places down its left side. You will usually see:

• Recents, the files you opened lately.
• Applications, where your apps live.
• Desktop, Documents and Downloads, just like on Windows.
• iCloud Drive, files stored online in your Apple account so they show up on your other Apple devices.

To make a new folder, press Shift+Command+N in a Finder window. You can also Control-click an empty spot and choose New Folder.

On Windows, the address bar at the top shows where you are. Finder hides that by default. Two ways to see it:

• Hold Command and click the folder name at the top of the window. A list of the folders above it drops down.
• Turn on the path bar, a strip along the bottom showing the full route to the folder. Choose View, then Show Path Bar, or press Option+Command+P.

You can double-click any folder in the path bar to jump straight to it.

Spotlight is the Mac's search tool. Press Command+Space, start typing, and it finds files, apps and settings. Press Return to open the top result. On Windows, this is like typing in the Start menu.

On the practice computer, use Spotlight to find "Budget", show where the file lives, and make a new folder. Then select a photo and press the Space bar to peek at it.

Peek without opening: Quick Look

Quick Look lets you see inside a file without opening an app. Click a file once to select it, then press the Space bar. A preview pops up. Press Space again to close it.

It works on photos, PDFs, documents and even videos. It is a fast way to check you have the right file before you send it to someone.

You can also see more than one at a time. Select several photos, press Space, and use the arrow keys to step through them.

Some small habits that make Finder easier:

• Change the view. The buttons at the top of the window switch between icons, a list, columns and a gallery. Column view is handy because it shows each folder beside the one above it.
• Open a file by double-clicking it, just like on Windows.
• Rename a file by selecting it and pressing Return. Type the new name and press Return again. On Windows, Enter opens a file. On a Mac, Return renames it, which surprises many switchers.
• Search in Finder with the magnifying glass at the top right, if you only want to search one folder.

Spotlight is good for more than files. Type an app name like "Calculator" to open it. Type a setting like "Wi-Fi" to jump to it. You can even type a sum like 24*7 and see the answer.

If Spotlight shows the right file, hold Command and press Return. Finder opens the folder where that file lives.