Basic Window Components
Title Bar
In OS X, the title bar of a window has several uses.
If the window name is dark and the pinstripes appear, then that is the active window. Windows in the background appear dimmed and have a darker tint (actually a translucent look) to the title bar. The easiest way to tell the difference between an active or inactive window is to look at the left top - if the buttons are colored red, yellow, and green, then the window is active.
Use the pinstriped area of the title bar to move your windows to a different location. Note that the other three edges of the window cannot be used to move windows the same way as in OS 9.
To view the Folder Hierarchy menu, hold down the COMMAND key and click on the name of the window in the title bar. A pop-up menu displays the pathway to your window's location. You can use this menu to select an item. When you do so, the corresponding window appears.
The COMMAND key will also let you drag the title bar of a window that is not active without making it active. Any of the buttons on a background window will function as well.
Double-click in the pinstriped area of the title bar and the window is minimized (sent to the Dock). If you hold down the OPTION key as you double-click all open Finder windows will close at once.
The three buttons on the top left portion of a window perform the following tasks:
- The left red button closes a window. The keyboard equivalent is COMMAND/W.
- The middle yellow button minimizes (or hides) the window. A genie effect occurs as the window is sent to the Dock. The keyboard equivalent is COMMAND/M.
- The green button is the Zoom button and will make a Finder window just large enough to display all of its icons, or if the monitor is not large enough, as many icons as possible. A second click will restore the window to the previous size.
The Folder Proxy icon is located in the middle of the title bar and displays the window's name to the right of an icon. You can use this icon to copy or move the folder to a different location. When you click on the icon, hold down the mouse button until the icon darkens, at which point you will be able to drag it. If you want to copy the contents of the folder, hold down the OPTION key as you drag.
You can also use the Folder Proxy icon to add items to your Dock, or to copy the contents to an external device such as a zip disk or network server.
The SCROLL BARS and SCROLL ARROWS on the bottom and right portion of the window work the same as they did in OS 9, but there is also an added 'Jump to here' feature in OS X. If turned on in the System Preferences General pane, when you click in the scroll bar area, the window or document will scroll to that spot. For example, if you are working at the beginning of a 30 page word processing document and want to go to the end, click the bottom portion of the right hand scroll bar, and you will move to the last page of the document.
This Window Acts Differently!
In OS 9, when you double-clicked on a folder in a window, a new window opened and displayed the contents of the folder. In OS X, when you double-click a folder, a new window does not open, rather the contents of the existing window is replaced with the contents of the new folder. If you want to back track to the original folder, click on the BACK button on the left portion of the toolbar.
If you want to copy or move a file from one folder to another, you will probably want to open a second window. You can do so using the FILE menu, NEW FOLDER WINDOW command, or the keyboard equivalent COMMAND/N.
Another way to open a second window is to hold down the COMMAND key and then double-click on a folder.
By default, when you use the NEW FOLDER WINDOW command at the Desktop, the COMPUTER window appears, which may or may not be helpful at times. You can change this default using the FINDER PREFERENCES. Go to the FILE menu, and select FINDER PREFERENCES.
The SHOW THESE ITEMS ON THE DESKTOP section in the top portion of the dialog box allows you to toggle on and off the items which appear on your desktop.
The second portion allows you to choose the contents of a new Finder window — either your Home folder or the Computer.
You can also control whether or not a new window is opened when you double-click on a folder, and whether the view stays the same. Additionally, you can turn off the empty Trash warning. A check in the box indicates that a feature is on, and no check means that feature is off.
The TOOLBAR DISCLOSURE button, the white button on the top right of a window, toggles the toolbar on and off, and also makes your windows behave as they did in OS 9 — when you double-click a folder inside the window, a new window opens rather than the contents of the existing window being replaced
You can display files and folders in a Finder window in any one of three ways: by icon, in a list, or in the new column view. To change the way a window is displayed, use the ICON, LIST, and COLUMN buttons on the toolbar.
You have control over some features when you are in ICON or LIST view. With a window open and active, go to the VIEW menu and select SHOW VIEW OPTIONS.
Icon View Options
Here you can change the size of you icons with the little slider.
In the Icon Arrangement portion you can choose between none (the default) , snap to grid, or arranged by name, date, size, or kind (use the drop-down list to select the desired sort option for Keep arranged by).
In the lower portion you can change the color of the background of you window, or even use a picture. In the top portion you can make the change affect just one window, or make it a global change for all of your windows.
List View Options
Here you can determine which columns display in your list. Especially note that you can add the COMMENTS column. Some OS X users add the Comments to their list view and use the comments much like the Label feature in OS 9.
The USE RELATIVE DATES feature will display dates but substitute the word Yesterday or Today where appropriate. The CALCULATE ALL SIZES option displays the amount of disk space that each file uses. Use this option only when necessary since it can take a long time for your Mac to determine the size of each file.
The bottom portion allows you to switch between 2 icon sizes for your lists.
And again, in the top portion you can make the change affect just one window, or make it a global change for all of your windows.
Some other nifty features of List view:
- You can rearrange all the columns except for the Name column. To do so, click and hold down the mouse button on the column header and drag it horizontally.
- You can adjust the column width. To do that, place your cursor on the dividing line between two columns. When the cursor changes to horizontal arrows, click and hold down the mouse button, then drag the column to the desired size. This changes the column to the left of your cursor location.
- If a column is too narrow to view an entire file name, OS X displays a shortened file name with and ellipsis (...) in the middle. You can view the entire file name by pointing at the file name and waiting a moment or so. A yellow box appears with the full file name. If you do not want to wait for the yellow box to appear, hold down the OPTION key as you point at a file name.
Something new and different — Column View
In Column view you get a list view which is divided into multiple panes. When you click on a folder in the first pane, its contents are displayed in the second pane. Each time you click on a folder in one pane, the contents of that folder are displayed in the pane to the right. Each time you click in a pane, you are moving deeper into the folder hierarchy.
Sometimes, you will not be able to view all of the panes at one time because the window is not large enough and the panes move out of view. If this happens use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the window, or press SHIFT/TAB, to scroll to the left pane.
The columns can be made wider or narrower using the small handles at the bottom of each column. When you use one of these handles, you change the width of ALL the columns. If you want to change the width of only one column, hold down the OPTION key as you drag to the desired size.
Column view is handy for viewing the path you are taking to get to a particular file, and is always viewed alphabetically. For example, you cannot sort by date or kind as you can in List view.
The number of columns that you can view is dependant on the width of your window. Use the Resize button to make your window larger, or smaller, and view more, or less, panes.
Written by Teresa Hagan
Here are links to more OS X tutorials:
Mac OS X Basics
The Folder Structure & Moving Things Around
The Dock
The Finder Toolbar
OS X System Preferences