Chapter 2: Discovering the Finder

In This Chapter

Learning the Finder basics

Working with clicks, taps, and gestures

Using handwriting recognition and dictation

Understanding the desktop

Using menus

Working with the Dock

Working with Exposé, Spaces, and Mission Control

When the Mac has started up and you have been through the login processes, you are taken to the OS X desktop, where you can begin to use your computer. It's the Mac desktop and the associated controls that most people think of when they think of OS X. But what you're really seeing and interacting with is the Finder, the part of OS X that manages your interactions with disks, folders, and files (both documents and applications).

The desktop is the screen with icons, folders, and windows. By default, the desktop has no icons on it. But most people configure the Finder to display the startup disk and other connected disks along the right side of the desktop, using the Finder's Preferences dialog box, as explained in the “Adjusting Finder Preferences” section in Chapter 3.

At the bottom of the desktop, you see the Dock. This horizontal bar contains icons that represent quick shortcuts to applications and files. At the top of the screen is a menu bar that changes depending on the application in use, but by default is the Finder's menu bar. (The Finder is the application that you use to manage the Mac itself, letting you work with files and folders.)

The Finder has several major components that you interact with routinely, ...

Get OS X Mountain Lion Bible now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.