Holding down the Option key while clicking the red close button on one of the open windows will close all windows of the same app, in your case Finder.
The keys to learning many such tricks is to open the menu bar and then holding down the various modifier keys to see how some menus change. You can spend hours this way finding new ways going through your apps. Though, the longer the app or its developer has been around, the more you'll find. With Apple applying more iOS behaviors and looks to the Mac (SwiftUI, ugh!), it also dumbs it down often enough.
So, spread the word so that this doesn't get forgotten!
E.g., it used to be possible in many apps that you could trigger the buttons in a modal dialog window with Option + first letter of button title. It's become a lost art nowadays. Windows still does it.
where is this rant coming from? I'm just sayin' that Mac OS could be a bit more friendly teaching users good habits. The hysteria is uncalled for, buddy
Option exists in nearly every menu. For example, option + Save will invoke Save As.
It dated way back from when Mac Mouse has only one button. But was repurposed when they have right click.
Source: Mac user for 25 years.
The “option” modifier has always been for “all” like clicking the disclosure triangle to show the content of a folder and option-clicking will also show content of all subfolders (same for closing) even layers and sublayers in Figma, Photoshop, Affinity work this way.
Or you’re just not familiar with Macs. Because option + anything = something useful with macOS. I guess I just like reading manuals of stuff I paid $2k for.
TIL this! You have just saved me so much time as I always accidentally open a bunch of Finder items then have to individually close them all which is super tiresome.
I’ve owned Macs for 20 years and shoulda thought off that. Kinda like holding down alt (?) or option when selecting Restart to skip that whole countdown. Talk about “just take the picture” lol
FWIW, on a Mac, the key is called Option. Alt is a Windows thing, and the “alt” label found on the Option key on some Mac keyboards is a compatibility/interoperability affordance.
`cmd-option-i` for multiple items grouped together in Get Info
`cmd-w` to close the currently focused window
`cmd-opt-w` to close all windows of the same app
Also, Finder has a very useful menu option under Window named "Merge All Windows", that will take all Finder windows open and merge them into one window with tabs. It doesn't have a keyboard shortcut, but you can [add one in System Preferences.](https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/create-keyboard-shortcuts-for-apps-mchlp2271/mac)
Big thing is, just got to think to check them. I've been on macOS for nearly 20 years now but I grew up on Windows and did IT for Windows at work since then so sometimes I still don't think the "MacOS way".
why in all that is computing is this (TIL about it) cmd-option-i not the default? Who would ever want seperate info windows on all $verymany items/directories selected?
It shouldn’t be the optional function though. Who has ever highlighted 20 folders and said “I want to know the size of each of these folders individually”? The default behavior should be to give you the total.
Fair argument to be made either way, I guess what trips people up (including me) is that Windows defaults to the summarising behaviour so I initially assumed macOS would as well
Yes, in fact, when you go to any field that has shortcuts, and press option, you see new shortcuts. You can also press option + brightness or option + sound to toggle the respective settings. Option + click control center clock toggles do not disturb
Select multiple folders or files, then hold down the Option (Alt) key while choosing File > Get Info (or press Command-Option-I) to view the Inspector window for all of the selected items.
Likewise, hold down the Option (Alt) key while choosing File > Close (or press Command-option-w) to close all open windows.
You might also appreciate that in list view, under the size column, it will tell you the size of the folder. You can see how much space a whole bunch of folders take up at a glance. Windows doesn't do that without tweaks and a performance hit or using a third party solution.
Also, you can sort with the folders on top like windows (it's in Finder settings, under Keep Folders on Top) if you choose.
Right, yes, I forgot to mention that it's a checkbox you need to tick. As others have mentioned, it's cmd-j when you have a window open (in Finder's Show View Options, and not in its settings).
You can also find the checkbox for “calculate all sizes” in the command+J finder options. By default the finder doesn’t give you folder sizes in list view, but you can turn it on.
Alt=option
Option-get info gets you a single summarized info of all selected (it’s a floating window and it shows the info of everything selected so you can select more or unselect. Same as option-command-i
Option-close will close all windows for the current application. Same as option-command-w.
If you use column view in Finder (cmd-3 or View->as Columsn) and enable the preview (cmd+shift+P or View->Show Preview), Finder automatically shows the total file size of your selection.
You can make it remember on a per-folder basis by enabling "Always open in column view" and "Browse in column view" in the view options (cmd-j). It *should* work recursively so if you set it on e.g. the Documents folder, all subfolders will also use column view. But if it's already stored custom view settings for subfolders then those will override it. There's a [Terminal command ](https://superuser.com/questions/360738/reset-view-preferences-for-all-mac-folders)to fix that if you notice it's a problem.
There’s a default setting in View Options:
Open a Finder window by clicking the Finder icon in the Dock
Select the folder you want to customize
Choose View > Show View Options or press Command-J
In the View Options dialog box, set the parameters for the view type
Click the Use as Defaults button near the bottom of the dialog box
Command-Option-I with multiple items selected will give you a single Get Info window with a concatenated view with the size of all the items.
Pressing Command-Option-W instead of Command-W closes all Finder windows, this includes the Get Info windows.
for next time, Shift Cmd I will open a single instance for available common info. For example, I had like 650 of 800 files that were 'locked' and needed to be unlocked in order to delete them. So I selected all the files, hit shift cmd I, and was able to de-select a single box for permission. It won't give you all the info like with a single file, just common things.
Last week I closed all of those instance boxes manually haha because I hit get info like you.
edit: I was off by a key - see below for correct answer
Thanks for the reply! But I just tried your tip (is that an i or an L?) and something different happens. With an Shift Cmd i the iCloud folder opens. If I press Shift Cmd L nothing happens.
Yeah it's an I (eye). Looks like I was off by a key according to the reply below.
[https://support.apple.com/en-us/102650](https://support.apple.com/en-us/102650) that link might come in handy since I was an unreliable source! Better to have it straight from apple.
It’s cmd+alt/option+i (as in “the **alt**ernative **option** to the get info a.k.a cmd+i”).
Cmd+shift+… on Finder is the shortcut for specific folder (you can see them on “Go” menu).
I haven’t seen it mentioned yet, but a combination of modifiers gives you Show Inspector instead of Get Info. That not only gives you a summary, but it follows your selection.
Also, you can change the keyboard shortcuts for these commands in systems settings. Whichever menu ends up with basic command I is the one that will be shown when you click the menu bar. I don’t think I currently have it remapped, but when I use the info window a bunch I end up setting the default to the inspector.
another tip: you can click the file menu and leave it up on the screen while you play with the modifier keys to see how the commands change.
This is the way. Remapping CMD-I to "Show Inspector" (instead of the default "Get Info") is one of the first things I do when setting up a new Mac. Inspector is \*\*way\*\* more useful than Info.
That's actually a rather clever idea. Never occurred to me you could do that. I'll stick with the default as it's almost 20 years of muscle memory using ⌘ + ⌥ + I and I still use Get Info sometimes. But great trick nonetheless!
I like the inspector so much I remapped it to command+i. I’m mobile but this describes how to change keyboard shortcuts:
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/mac-help/mchlp2271/mac
If you change Show Inspector you may also have to change Hide Inspector. I don’t think it does so automatically. And you might want to change Get Info to whatever Show Inspector was for completion.
Something else that occurred to me is you could give Get Summary Info a keyboard shortcut of command-enter if you liked to match bringing up a property sheet for the selection on Windows.
Oooh thank you, gorgeous looking app! also, is there an app that can test a disk's speed that can be downloaded without the Mac App store? The popular BlackMagic one everyone is using is only available in the MAS.
So to get total size, once you've chosen the multiple files, hold control and click. You'll see instead of "get info" it changes to "summary info". You can let go of control and hold it again to see how that works.
Control click is equivalent to a windows right click. If you have a trackpad, a two finger click will do the same thing. If you have a mouse with two buttons a right click will offer "summary info". If you have neither, control click gets you there.
Force quit finder, that should close all your pop ups. There are a lot of ways to do the query, the method you pick would depend on your scope (local drives only, smb shares, hidden files included or the excluded etc). Since I don’t know what you are looking for exactly I’d recommend d Beyond Compare by scootersoftware.com. I’ve used it for years and it allows filtering, including & excluding files etc
Option is the power-user key. When in doubt, try it. In this case it's command-option. So you are taking a known command aka CMD-I and power it up by adding option.
This works for a surprising number of things in proper MacOS apps. Aka Apps from Apple (pre-2015 ish when people at Apple actually understood the importance of conistency in concepts) and quality apps that actually read and understood the Apple Human Interface Guidelines that go back to the 1980s.
As an ex pc guy myself and one who still uses a PC at work and sometimes at home, macos is SUPER annoying... but everything works as advertised. The annoying part about macos is just design decisions. Unlike Windows where I like the design decisions but things just don't always work or there are features completely missing. Apathy bothers me more than questionable design choice. For that, I am invested in and use **macos**. lol
In Windows you can bruteforce your way to make the OS behave as you like with registry edits, service.msc, gpedit, etc. In MacOS it seems it's Apple's way or the highway. One can't even disable the "press any key to boot the macbook" feature, or remove the Finder icon from the dock.
Finder is my biggest gripe with macOS. I don’t even want to talk about it and it amazes me how Apple cult members think it’s “fine” or just recommend using some paid janky FTP file browser alternative. Window management was my second gripe but seems that Apple decided to fix that with the upcoming update. We’ll see. Honestly, if Microsoft wasn’t so lame, Apple would not exist.
This is my Windows Explorer setup with the explorer extension Qttabbar. https://i.imgur.com/S7YBFPt.gif. I agree with you about Finder. I'm taking my time testing Finder alternatives, so far I've tested Path Finder and Qspace, but the Finder icon on the dock is mockin me I wanna nuke it and have a total Finder replacement even during file save/open dialogs.
Very very nice. Never heard of Qttabbar. I'll take a look next time I'm on my PC.
Since Apple finally implemented native window snapping, after complaints for a decade, I think next macos they may finally have some meaningful user interface/ feature updates for finder. But I doubt there will be a way to get rid of that Finder icon or bypass it opening up for file management dialogues. One of my biggest issues with finder is that the preview pane shows a small thumbnail of PDF files... it does not fill the full preview pane like it does in file explorer. Essentially, when you maximize the preview pane, you still cannot read text in the PDF file.. which is what the preview is for... to avoid having to open the file. Apple cult members will say 'just hit the space bar to open quick look' ... obviously then have never had to sift through hundreds of pdf files. This is what I mean by poor design choices... but it's still better than Windows where stock new install there is no PDF editor and usually windows explorer will not show a PDF preview in the preview pane unles you install a PDF handler. Edge won't do it. So you are stuck between shitty design (mac) vs absent features (windows).
Answers:
1. Hold down option key and click the red "close window" button.
2. Hold down option key and select "show inspector" from contextual pop up menu.
Best!
A commenter suggested Column View in Finder via CMD+3
That would be my suggestion too, but I'd add that List View with CMD+1 is great too.
For the full experience when in List View or Column View or even Icon View, I would use the shortcut CMD+J to view the options for those specific views and perhaps set a default view for each.
macOS has CMD+J settings in various apps. the Music app and Finder at least.
CMD+comma too will yield exciting? options.
will these settings be reset when you reboot or will they be remembered when one visits the folder again after some time? In Windows there is a limit to how many folder view customizations are remembered.
Switch to list mit with cmd-3. Press Cmd-J to show the view options, then check the box at the bottom for showing folder sizes. Wait a bit and the sizes will appear for all folders in the window.
Yes. MacOS generally has no "apply" concept like Windows does. Usually, any change to settings is immediate and persistent. Apps that behave differently do not conform well to macOS standards.
Also, these cmd-J setting are for the currently opened folder window (and not for selected items in the folder). To apply to every folder, use the same names button. There is no way to choose several folders and apply the setting only to them, though.
thank you! I'm looking for a keyboard hotkey cheatsheet sticker to put beside the trackpad like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/SYNERLOGIC-Catalina-Reference-Keyboard-Shortcut-black/dp/B08T62WL88
It's pretty much a right of passage for new mac owners to at some point have dozens of Get Info windows covering their screen thinking it works the way Windows does. LOL. It happened to me when I switched over a few years ago.
Right click a bunch of folders then hold the option key as others have mentioned.
LOL yeah, in the screenshot I posted, I right clicked on the Finder icon in the dock thinking I could KILL it like how one can restart explorer.exe in Windows to make them all go away
I've been Mac user since forever and know most of these shortcuts but here and there I find something new because there's plenty of commands one can have inside menus.
Just wanted to say few words for others who need to use Windows here and there.
Alt + Enter on selected item invokes the Properties dialog.
Ctrl + W works even on Windows I suppose as a concession for Mac users.
CMD+OPTION+i is for opening a properties window of the selected items.
CMD+W to close each window, I’m not sure if there’s a shortcut to close all of them at once.
The amount of times I’ve accidentally done this to check the total amount of space and it opens up 40+ info windows that I then have to manually close down feeling like a complete idiot…(and no, I’m never smart enough to force quit finder in that situation either)
welcome to macos, the super user friendly OS where you have to memorize a phone book worth of key combinations and finger gestures to achieve things that take two clicks in windows
Au contraire, for the most part you only have to remember to look for actions in the menus, and on somewhat rare occasion, hold the option key to see variants of the options shown. I think MS Windows and phone apps have taught people never to look in an app’s menus.
If this wasn’t your experience @cimocw with the apps you tried to use, or how you tried to use them, then I’m sorry that happened to you.
A majority of Mac apps don’t clutter their window’s with buttons that expose all their functionality, even though these days it’s more common for a majority of their features to be exposed like this. Or a combination of buttons and right/control-click contextual menus. (It’s somewhat uncommon that something can _only_ be done with an in-window button but not in the menu bar, though maybe that’s a growing trend. I, for one, file bug reports when I notice this in an app)
In any case, scanning through menus is still useful for finding what an app can do most of the time. And being an easy target at the top of the screen vs a tricky target in a narrow region of a window, menus on macOS are easy to access. Massive screens betray this ease somewhat, mouse acceleration can be adjusted as appropriate.
There’s often keyboard shortcuts for menu items and, in truth, you _don’t_ have to work hard to remember them because there’s a reminder every time you use the menu.
I had this issue recently, the mac people at my office told me to create a folder, put all the folders in there and then get the info for the new folder. Sounds dumb but that was their solution.
Not sure if it’s what you’re trying to do without looking at screen captures, but if I’m understanding you correctly, I ended up finding this much easier to do in Finder after being used to Windows. With Windows I have to have multiple windows open when I’m dragging files and folders around. But with finders’s ability to have multiple tabs, I can drag things from one tab to another, which is much faster for me to organize, especially when I have other additional Finder ( or explore ) windows open.
With windows I got used to using a single window, using copy and paste keyboard shortcuts to move or copy files. It is very quick and efficient and how I would like to do it on the mac too. With the mac, it sounds like these tabs might be the missing link, I will check it out. Thanks.
I just read in another Reddit thread that it’s easy to do files(s) cut and move with keystrokes on the Mac, which I didn’t know until today. Not sure about copy and paste though.
There was a good explanation about why Apple chose to do the way they did (not the same as how windows does it) — I’ll try and find that.
Meanwhile, it’s
command C to copy a file ( or files), and command option V to move them to the new location.
Cmd-C -> Cmd-Opt-V
I see that you DO have multiple tabs within a single Explorer window. I didn’t know windows could do that. I’ll have to try it… Is it Control T perhaps, to add a new tab to an existing explorer window?
And you are making good use of Windows snapping together. I forget what that’s called. The macOS is only just now trying to catch up with that. If I recall correctly, prior to the latest macOS ( Sequoia ) people were using a third-party app called rectangle to provide this functionality.
It's an extension for the actual Windows explorer.exe called QTTABBAR. Yes you can configure the keyboard shortcuts, there's quite an extensive set of options you can play with: https://i.imgur.com/hpl9JYq.png
I wish something like this existed for MacOS, where you just use the builtin Finder but "enhanced." I know about Default Folder X, which I intend to try sometime.
That looks pretty cool! If I was going to spend more time with windows, I would definitely get it.
I don’t know if there’s anything sufficiently similar to that extension for Finder, but I’m sure somebody could code it. As you say, it would be much better if Apple did that.
My biggest dissatisfaction with the macOS is that I want a more capable virtual desktop/ workspaces system. Something where I can keep all of my separate apps & files relating to a single project ,what’s open, where the positions of windows are positioned, on which monitors, applications, all relevant to a specific project. Then I could save and close that workspace, and open another project with all of its applications and windows and browser, tabs, etc.
Linux Ubuntu works closer to that than anything else I’ve seen (workspaces). Spaces on the Mac, while loved by some, really sucks for what I want it to do.
Holding down the Option key while clicking the red close button on one of the open windows will close all windows of the same app, in your case Finder.
the answer is almost always Option.
To both of his questions.
This is the correct notion.
The correct option*
I don't believe there is another option, other than Option.
That would be the ALTernative
I Command you to stop - that's something we both can agree on.
Now you’re just being controlling.
I’m about to shift things into gear here…
I’ve used macs for twenty years and I never knew that. I would have just spammed command+W. Thanks!
“⌘⌥ W”
My life is changed.
Lol I am constantly met with new shortcuts when I hold down the option key. I love how they've named the key, it is literally "more options"
Alt key is the same, just indicates alternatives.
That’s great but what if I want alternative options?
Then hold them both down!
The keys to learning many such tricks is to open the menu bar and then holding down the various modifier keys to see how some menus change. You can spend hours this way finding new ways going through your apps. Though, the longer the app or its developer has been around, the more you'll find. With Apple applying more iOS behaviors and looks to the Mac (SwiftUI, ugh!), it also dumbs it down often enough. So, spread the word so that this doesn't get forgotten!
E.g., it used to be possible in many apps that you could trigger the buttons in a modal dialog window with Option + first letter of button title. It's become a lost art nowadays. Windows still does it.
Same! TIL
Thirded
I was going to suggest \`killall Finder\` lol
Haha that’s what I’ve been doing until I read this.
the "beauty" of Mac Os. doesn't advise shit
I’m sure there’s plenty about windows I don’t know. And volumes about Linux.
don't sweeten this pill, plz
[удалено]
where is this rant coming from? I'm just sayin' that Mac OS could be a bit more friendly teaching users good habits. The hysteria is uncalled for, buddy
Mmhmm.
Woah, I gotta remember this. Thanks!
cmd-option-W also works
and hitting the yellow with option down minimises all the windows
[удалено]
Option exists in nearly every menu. For example, option + Save will invoke Save As. It dated way back from when Mac Mouse has only one button. But was repurposed when they have right click. Source: Mac user for 25 years.
The “option” modifier has always been for “all” like clicking the disclosure triangle to show the content of a folder and option-clicking will also show content of all subfolders (same for closing) even layers and sublayers in Figma, Photoshop, Affinity work this way.
Or you’re just not familiar with Macs. Because option + anything = something useful with macOS. I guess I just like reading manuals of stuff I paid $2k for.
You mean like a laptop with 8gb of ram?
Hey, he can always bend over and pay another $1000 for an extra 8GB
TIL this! You have just saved me so much time as I always accidentally open a bunch of Finder items then have to individually close them all which is super tiresome.
I’ve owned Macs for 20 years and shoulda thought off that. Kinda like holding down alt (?) or option when selecting Restart to skip that whole countdown. Talk about “just take the picture” lol
FWIW, on a Mac, the key is called Option. Alt is a Windows thing, and the “alt” label found on the Option key on some Mac keyboards is a compatibility/interoperability affordance.
Now to remember that next time I need it.
Holy shit. I’ve used Mac’s for decades and I never new this. Bless your soul.
This is game changing information! I've had a Mac since 2004 and didn't know this
This. LOL The first time I did that I almost fell out of my chair with “WTF”
i’m saving this comment so i can forget it later
Learning new stuff everyday
I didn’t know about this, but Command + W will close the window. Otherwise, the easier option is Option and red close button as suggested.
TIL. I would have mashed CMD-W a bunch of times.
This is the pro tip of the day! I never knew this, and I'm glad I do now!
Wow. TIL. I was going to recommend terminal, \`killall Finder\`
thanks for information ;)
i just knew this lmao
This is the first day of the rest of my life knowing this.
Nice. That’s a new one for me. Thanks !
This used to work for opening/closing folders in list view too although I don’t think it does anymore
`cmd-option-i` for multiple items grouped together in Get Info `cmd-w` to close the currently focused window `cmd-opt-w` to close all windows of the same app
Also, Finder has a very useful menu option under Window named "Merge All Windows", that will take all Finder windows open and merge them into one window with tabs. It doesn't have a keyboard shortcut, but you can [add one in System Preferences.](https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/create-keyboard-shortcuts-for-apps-mchlp2271/mac)
I use that all the time, super good option.
Oh wow, never noticed that!
This, I learnt this just recently and I feel so much better when using Finder
I just recently learned about cmd-opt-v to move a pasted file instead of copying. Game changer. Option truly is the answer to everything it seems.
I actually think that this actually makes macOS shortcuts easier to learn than Windows's
Big thing is, just got to think to check them. I've been on macOS for nearly 20 years now but I grew up on Windows and did IT for Windows at work since then so sometimes I still don't think the "MacOS way".
Woah. First command is nice
Wish I knew this earlier
Wow. TIL. Thank you!
why in all that is computing is this (TIL about it) cmd-option-i not the default? Who would ever want seperate info windows on all $verymany items/directories selected?
⌘+option+i
So intuitive
Indeed. Option is generally the button to press for multiple selection.
For an 'optional' function.
It shouldn’t be the optional function though. Who has ever highlighted 20 folders and said “I want to know the size of each of these folders individually”? The default behavior should be to give you the total.
Well, when I select multiple items, I usually want to compare them rather than see the sum. So, for me the default behaviour makes sense.
Fair argument to be made either way, I guess what trips people up (including me) is that Windows defaults to the summarising behaviour so I initially assumed macOS would as well
I've seen that assumption a lot. Usually expressed by people who have switched to macOS from Windows.
Yes, in fact, when you go to any field that has shortcuts, and press option, you see new shortcuts. You can also press option + brightness or option + sound to toggle the respective settings. Option + click control center clock toggles do not disturb
Never knew this! Thanks!
It is arcane knowledge passed down from the ancients.
Did the High Council grant this knowledge transfer … /s
Select multiple folders or files, then hold down the Option (Alt) key while choosing File > Get Info (or press Command-Option-I) to view the Inspector window for all of the selected items. Likewise, hold down the Option (Alt) key while choosing File > Close (or press Command-option-w) to close all open windows.
You might also appreciate that in list view, under the size column, it will tell you the size of the folder. You can see how much space a whole bunch of folders take up at a glance. Windows doesn't do that without tweaks and a performance hit or using a third party solution. Also, you can sort with the folders on top like windows (it's in Finder settings, under Keep Folders on Top) if you choose.
I didn't realise this was an option! Turns out I needed to turn on "calculate all sizes"! NEAT!
Right, yes, I forgot to mention that it's a checkbox you need to tick. As others have mentioned, it's cmd-j when you have a window open (in Finder's Show View Options, and not in its settings).
Relating to sorting folders, is there a way to make Finder always auto arrange icons in a folder? Sometimes there be gaps on there
CMD + J in Finder and then you can set to snap to grid. You can also right click on a blank space and press clean up it snaps into place.
Fantastic, I appreciate you!
You can also find the checkbox for “calculate all sizes” in the command+J finder options. By default the finder doesn’t give you folder sizes in list view, but you can turn it on.
There's also "Sort By". Clean up will sort things now, but if you use Sort By, the folder will automatically rearrange things in order.
I also turn on the status bar in Finder. It will show the size of the folder you are in at the bottom of the window.
Alt=option Option-get info gets you a single summarized info of all selected (it’s a floating window and it shows the info of everything selected so you can select more or unselect. Same as option-command-i Option-close will close all windows for the current application. Same as option-command-w.
Thank you! will keep this tip in mind!
FYI, option + cmd + i will open a single get info window for multiple selected items.
If you use column view in Finder (cmd-3 or View->as Columsn) and enable the preview (cmd+shift+P or View->Show Preview), Finder automatically shows the total file size of your selection.
will it remember it everytime I visit the folder? is there a way to make it systemwide for all folders?
You can make it remember on a per-folder basis by enabling "Always open in column view" and "Browse in column view" in the view options (cmd-j). It *should* work recursively so if you set it on e.g. the Documents folder, all subfolders will also use column view. But if it's already stored custom view settings for subfolders then those will override it. There's a [Terminal command ](https://superuser.com/questions/360738/reset-view-preferences-for-all-mac-folders)to fix that if you notice it's a problem.
There’s a default setting in View Options: Open a Finder window by clicking the Finder icon in the Dock Select the folder you want to customize Choose View > Show View Options or press Command-J In the View Options dialog box, set the parameters for the view type Click the Use as Defaults button near the bottom of the dialog box
Command W is also nice trick
Command-Option-I with multiple items selected will give you a single Get Info window with a concatenated view with the size of all the items. Pressing Command-Option-W instead of Command-W closes all Finder windows, this includes the Get Info windows.
Solid comment dude
Thanks!
for next time, Shift Cmd I will open a single instance for available common info. For example, I had like 650 of 800 files that were 'locked' and needed to be unlocked in order to delete them. So I selected all the files, hit shift cmd I, and was able to de-select a single box for permission. It won't give you all the info like with a single file, just common things. Last week I closed all of those instance boxes manually haha because I hit get info like you. edit: I was off by a key - see below for correct answer
Thanks for the reply! But I just tried your tip (is that an i or an L?) and something different happens. With an Shift Cmd i the iCloud folder opens. If I press Shift Cmd L nothing happens.
It's Cmd-Option-I.
Yeah it's an I (eye). Looks like I was off by a key according to the reply below. [https://support.apple.com/en-us/102650](https://support.apple.com/en-us/102650) that link might come in handy since I was an unreliable source! Better to have it straight from apple.
It’s cmd+alt/option+i (as in “the **alt**ernative **option** to the get info a.k.a cmd+i”). Cmd+shift+… on Finder is the shortcut for specific folder (you can see them on “Go” menu).
These chords are one of the delightful archaisms of macOS. They make me feel like I’m on WP6 again.
terminal -> cd -> du -d 1 -h
Or, shorter - in terminal du -d 1 -h
I usually use either "ducks" or "duchess" - "ducks" -> `du -cks` - "duchess" -> `du -chs`
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck… 🦆
how do you remember these sorta commands?
I’m a FreeBSD admin for 18 years so far, and that’s ‘the basics’
I haven’t seen it mentioned yet, but a combination of modifiers gives you Show Inspector instead of Get Info. That not only gives you a summary, but it follows your selection. Also, you can change the keyboard shortcuts for these commands in systems settings. Whichever menu ends up with basic command I is the one that will be shown when you click the menu bar. I don’t think I currently have it remapped, but when I use the info window a bunch I end up setting the default to the inspector. another tip: you can click the file menu and leave it up on the screen while you play with the modifier keys to see how the commands change.
This is the way. Remapping CMD-I to "Show Inspector" (instead of the default "Get Info") is one of the first things I do when setting up a new Mac. Inspector is \*\*way\*\* more useful than Info.
That's actually a rather clever idea. Never occurred to me you could do that. I'll stick with the default as it's almost 20 years of muscle memory using ⌘ + ⌥ + I and I still use Get Info sometimes. But great trick nonetheless!
I dont understand the second paragraph, can you please elaborate?
I like the inspector so much I remapped it to command+i. I’m mobile but this describes how to change keyboard shortcuts: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/mac-help/mchlp2271/mac If you change Show Inspector you may also have to change Hide Inspector. I don’t think it does so automatically. And you might want to change Get Info to whatever Show Inspector was for completion.
Will try this tomorrow! Thank you!
Something else that occurred to me is you could give Get Summary Info a keyboard shortcut of command-enter if you liked to match bringing up a property sheet for the selection on Windows.
If you’re trying to examine / compare folder sizes, the app Daisy Disk is invaluable for figuring out what’s eating up drive space.
Oooh thank you, gorgeous looking app! also, is there an app that can test a disk's speed that can be downloaded without the Mac App store? The popular BlackMagic one everyone is using is only available in the MAS.
So to get total size, once you've chosen the multiple files, hold control and click. You'll see instead of "get info" it changes to "summary info". You can let go of control and hold it again to see how that works.
the usage of control or command confuses me, what's the thinking there?
Control click is equivalent to a windows right click. If you have a trackpad, a two finger click will do the same thing. If you have a mouse with two buttons a right click will offer "summary info". If you have neither, control click gets you there.
Apple + Option + W
Force quit finder, that should close all your pop ups. There are a lot of ways to do the query, the method you pick would depend on your scope (local drives only, smb shares, hidden files included or the excluded etc). Since I don’t know what you are looking for exactly I’d recommend d Beyond Compare by scootersoftware.com. I’ve used it for years and it allows filtering, including & excluding files etc
Command-option-w typically closes all windows in the current application (at the very least in Finder) - no need to force-quit Finder
Option is the power-user key. When in doubt, try it. In this case it's command-option. So you are taking a known command aka CMD-I and power it up by adding option. This works for a surprising number of things in proper MacOS apps. Aka Apps from Apple (pre-2015 ish when people at Apple actually understood the importance of conistency in concepts) and quality apps that actually read and understood the Apple Human Interface Guidelines that go back to the 1980s.
When in doubt, try doing it again but with Option held down. Unlocks SO MUCH
Option for all…
Bigger question: are you going to remain an “ex PC guy” ?
We'll see! If MacOS gets a bad update like W11 did with that Recall thing Im fucked... Linux?
As an ex pc guy myself and one who still uses a PC at work and sometimes at home, macos is SUPER annoying... but everything works as advertised. The annoying part about macos is just design decisions. Unlike Windows where I like the design decisions but things just don't always work or there are features completely missing. Apathy bothers me more than questionable design choice. For that, I am invested in and use **macos**. lol
In Windows you can bruteforce your way to make the OS behave as you like with registry edits, service.msc, gpedit, etc. In MacOS it seems it's Apple's way or the highway. One can't even disable the "press any key to boot the macbook" feature, or remove the Finder icon from the dock.
Finder is my biggest gripe with macOS. I don’t even want to talk about it and it amazes me how Apple cult members think it’s “fine” or just recommend using some paid janky FTP file browser alternative. Window management was my second gripe but seems that Apple decided to fix that with the upcoming update. We’ll see. Honestly, if Microsoft wasn’t so lame, Apple would not exist.
This is my Windows Explorer setup with the explorer extension Qttabbar. https://i.imgur.com/S7YBFPt.gif. I agree with you about Finder. I'm taking my time testing Finder alternatives, so far I've tested Path Finder and Qspace, but the Finder icon on the dock is mockin me I wanna nuke it and have a total Finder replacement even during file save/open dialogs.
Very very nice. Never heard of Qttabbar. I'll take a look next time I'm on my PC. Since Apple finally implemented native window snapping, after complaints for a decade, I think next macos they may finally have some meaningful user interface/ feature updates for finder. But I doubt there will be a way to get rid of that Finder icon or bypass it opening up for file management dialogues. One of my biggest issues with finder is that the preview pane shows a small thumbnail of PDF files... it does not fill the full preview pane like it does in file explorer. Essentially, when you maximize the preview pane, you still cannot read text in the PDF file.. which is what the preview is for... to avoid having to open the file. Apple cult members will say 'just hit the space bar to open quick look' ... obviously then have never had to sift through hundreds of pdf files. This is what I mean by poor design choices... but it's still better than Windows where stock new install there is no PDF editor and usually windows explorer will not show a PDF preview in the preview pane unles you install a PDF handler. Edge won't do it. So you are stuck between shitty design (mac) vs absent features (windows).
Eighty shades of the option key. https://getenet.notion.site/Eighty-Shades-of-Option-Key-3c6e58feb5c848ee9d4c027f0b9d52e0
Answers: 1. Hold down option key and click the red "close window" button. 2. Hold down option key and select "show inspector" from contextual pop up menu. Best!
This video describes the process of creating a simple app to “close all the open applications by single click” https://youtu.be/HsP-p6BSujE
Du/ls etc ,bunch of commands for this in the terminal. Will make your life alot easier
For file in $(ls -d */);do sp=$(du -h $file);echo $file,&sp;done
Oops $sp
I wish i knew about option way back
Option-right-click the selection, then hit show inspector while holding down option. You'll get a single summary of the folders.
"Ex-PC", PC stands for personal computer, the term is also used for Apple computers.
A commenter suggested Column View in Finder via CMD+3 That would be my suggestion too, but I'd add that List View with CMD+1 is great too. For the full experience when in List View or Column View or even Icon View, I would use the shortcut CMD+J to view the options for those specific views and perhaps set a default view for each. macOS has CMD+J settings in various apps. the Music app and Finder at least. CMD+comma too will yield exciting? options.
will these settings be reset when you reboot or will they be remembered when one visits the folder again after some time? In Windows there is a limit to how many folder view customizations are remembered.
Switch to list mit with cmd-3. Press Cmd-J to show the view options, then check the box at the bottom for showing folder sizes. Wait a bit and the sizes will appear for all folders in the window.
will it remember the view and options everytime I visit the folder?
Yes. MacOS generally has no "apply" concept like Windows does. Usually, any change to settings is immediate and persistent. Apps that behave differently do not conform well to macOS standards.
This is good news! thank you for your reply, I appreciate it.
Also, these cmd-J setting are for the currently opened folder window (and not for selected items in the folder). To apply to every folder, use the same names button. There is no way to choose several folders and apply the setting only to them, though.
CMD + OPTION + I = Get Info for multiple files (showing Total Size of all selected items)
thank you! I'm looking for a keyboard hotkey cheatsheet sticker to put beside the trackpad like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/SYNERLOGIC-Catalina-Reference-Keyboard-Shortcut-black/dp/B08T62WL88
Cmd+w closes all + finder windows
is there a way to make Finder always open with a bunch of specific tabs?
If you forget the key combination, type "close all" into the Help menu and it'll find the option for you.
oooh this is helpful! thanks!
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
It's pretty much a right of passage for new mac owners to at some point have dozens of Get Info windows covering their screen thinking it works the way Windows does. LOL. It happened to me when I switched over a few years ago. Right click a bunch of folders then hold the option key as others have mentioned.
LOL yeah, in the screenshot I posted, I right clicked on the Finder icon in the dock thinking I could KILL it like how one can restart explorer.exe in Windows to make them all go away
You can click on the Apple logo on the top left and select FORCE QUIT. From there you can select FINDER and then RELAUNCH.
Space-bar. Will show the size of it collectively if multiple folders/files selected
Command option for the win
Apple key + q. Hold q
this caught me out many times. . o O (oh wait, 1253 windows)
I've been Mac user since forever and know most of these shortcuts but here and there I find something new because there's plenty of commands one can have inside menus. Just wanted to say few words for others who need to use Windows here and there. Alt + Enter on selected item invokes the Properties dialog. Ctrl + W works even on Windows I suppose as a concession for Mac users.
CMD+OPTION+i is for opening a properties window of the selected items. CMD+W to close each window, I’m not sure if there’s a shortcut to close all of them at once.
I usually run through them and hit command W to close each one as I review the contents. I'll have to try the other method mentioned.
To add on to what other have said, in general you can press the "option" button and more options will appear in the top menus.
du -h then directory name in terminal, example du -h documents Lists directory file sizes in human readable format
The amount of times I’ve accidentally done this to check the total amount of space and it opens up 40+ info windows that I then have to manually close down feeling like a complete idiot…(and no, I’m never smart enough to force quit finder in that situation either)
MacOS did away with typed commands, and replaced them with keyboard shortcuts which have no mouse driven alternative, it seems.
Show inspector and yeah as mentioned option click the close button
welcome to macos, the super user friendly OS where you have to memorize a phone book worth of key combinations and finger gestures to achieve things that take two clicks in windows
ikr
Au contraire, for the most part you only have to remember to look for actions in the menus, and on somewhat rare occasion, hold the option key to see variants of the options shown. I think MS Windows and phone apps have taught people never to look in an app’s menus. If this wasn’t your experience @cimocw with the apps you tried to use, or how you tried to use them, then I’m sorry that happened to you. A majority of Mac apps don’t clutter their window’s with buttons that expose all their functionality, even though these days it’s more common for a majority of their features to be exposed like this. Or a combination of buttons and right/control-click contextual menus. (It’s somewhat uncommon that something can _only_ be done with an in-window button but not in the menu bar, though maybe that’s a growing trend. I, for one, file bug reports when I notice this in an app) In any case, scanning through menus is still useful for finding what an app can do most of the time. And being an easy target at the top of the screen vs a tricky target in a narrow region of a window, menus on macOS are easy to access. Massive screens betray this ease somewhat, mouse acceleration can be adjusted as appropriate. There’s often keyboard shortcuts for menu items and, in truth, you _don’t_ have to work hard to remember them because there’s a reminder every time you use the menu.
I had this issue recently, the mac people at my office told me to create a folder, put all the folders in there and then get the info for the new folder. Sounds dumb but that was their solution.
It sounds dumb because it is dumb. There are better ways to do this. 😀
why move to a new folder instead of backing to the enclosing one?
what if there are 15 folders and I want to know the file size of 8 of them?
[удалено]
Not sure if it’s what you’re trying to do without looking at screen captures, but if I’m understanding you correctly, I ended up finding this much easier to do in Finder after being used to Windows. With Windows I have to have multiple windows open when I’m dragging files and folders around. But with finders’s ability to have multiple tabs, I can drag things from one tab to another, which is much faster for me to organize, especially when I have other additional Finder ( or explore ) windows open.
With windows I got used to using a single window, using copy and paste keyboard shortcuts to move or copy files. It is very quick and efficient and how I would like to do it on the mac too. With the mac, it sounds like these tabs might be the missing link, I will check it out. Thanks.
I just read in another Reddit thread that it’s easy to do files(s) cut and move with keystrokes on the Mac, which I didn’t know until today. Not sure about copy and paste though. There was a good explanation about why Apple chose to do the way they did (not the same as how windows does it) — I’ll try and find that. Meanwhile, it’s command C to copy a file ( or files), and command option V to move them to the new location. Cmd-C -> Cmd-Opt-V
This was my PC explorer setup https://i.imgur.com/S7YBFPt.gif
I see that you DO have multiple tabs within a single Explorer window. I didn’t know windows could do that. I’ll have to try it… Is it Control T perhaps, to add a new tab to an existing explorer window? And you are making good use of Windows snapping together. I forget what that’s called. The macOS is only just now trying to catch up with that. If I recall correctly, prior to the latest macOS ( Sequoia ) people were using a third-party app called rectangle to provide this functionality.
It's an extension for the actual Windows explorer.exe called QTTABBAR. Yes you can configure the keyboard shortcuts, there's quite an extensive set of options you can play with: https://i.imgur.com/hpl9JYq.png I wish something like this existed for MacOS, where you just use the builtin Finder but "enhanced." I know about Default Folder X, which I intend to try sometime.
That looks pretty cool! If I was going to spend more time with windows, I would definitely get it. I don’t know if there’s anything sufficiently similar to that extension for Finder, but I’m sure somebody could code it. As you say, it would be much better if Apple did that. My biggest dissatisfaction with the macOS is that I want a more capable virtual desktop/ workspaces system. Something where I can keep all of my separate apps & files relating to a single project ,what’s open, where the positions of windows are positioned, on which monitors, applications, all relevant to a specific project. Then I could save and close that workspace, and open another project with all of its applications and windows and browser, tabs, etc. Linux Ubuntu works closer to that than anything else I’ve seen (workspaces). Spaces on the Mac, while loved by some, really sucks for what I want it to do.