Chapter 1. Building the Finder of Your Dreams

In This Chapter

  • Choosing a view mode

  • Modifying the toolbar

  • Searching for files from the toolbar

  • Searching for files with the Find command

  • Changing view options

  • Changing Finder preferences

The Finder is the heart of Mac OS X — and we all know how heart surgeons like to tinker, don't we? (Ouch. Start again.)

The Finder is the heart of Mac OS X, and as you might expect, it's highly configurable. You can customize the Finder to present icons, or you can peruse folders with a column view that can pack much more information on-screen at one time. Some folks prefer the default Finder toolbar, and others like to customize it with the applications and features that they use most often.

Decisions like these can help you transform Snow Leopard into Your Personal Operating System — and every Mac OS X power user worth the title will take the time to apply these changes because an operating system that presents visual information the way that you want to see it is easier and more efficient to use.

No need for a hammer or saw — when you're building the Finder of your dreams, the only tool that you need is your finger!

Will That Be Icons or Lists or Columns ...or Even a Flow?

The default appearance of a window in Mac OS X uses the familiar large-format icons that have been a hallmark of the Macintosh operating system since Day One — but there's no reason you have to use them. (In fact, most Mac OS X power users I know consider the icon view mode rather inefficient ...

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