OS X Mountain Lion Bible

Summary

Windows are the onscreen containers for the folders and files stored on your Mac and on devices connected to it. The desktop is a special type of window that also displays the attached disks and network volumes. All these items—files, disks, and volumes—are represented as icons in the Finder windows and desktop, with the detail varying based on the specifics of the file, folder, disk, or volume.

Windows have standard elements you use to manage the windows themselves and get information on the files, folders, and disk contents they display: the title bar, scroll bar, resize handle, and status bar. When you have several windows open, the Finder differentiates the active window—the one in which any actions you take are applied—through several visual clues.

To work on items in the Finder, you first have to select them, and you can do so singly or in groups using a variety of techniques. After you've selected items, you can move, copy, delete, create an alias for, rename, compress, and lock items.

The Finder also lets you get the details on files, folders, and disks through the Info window and see the contents of many files via the Quick Look feature.

Folders have several unique controls, including the ability to update their contents based on criteria you define via the Spotlight search feature, run specified scripts when files are added to them (called folder actions), and collect aliases of items you want to record to optical media such as DVDs. Several special folders in ...