Learn all the tab tricks in Finder on macOS and work smarter

Apple introduced tabs to Finder windows several generations of macOS ago and they are useful when working with files and folders, but do you know all of the tab tricks and shortcuts?

It is very easy to forget tabs, but as with web browsers, once you start to use them you will not want to go back to working with separate windows. Tabs are mostly straightforward, although there are some features that work in non-obvious ways.

Set folders in Finder preferences

To see what I mean, open a finder window, then go to Finder, Preferences. On the General tab is the option Open folders in tabs instead of new windows. Tick it, then go to the Finder window and double click a folder to open it. Did it appear on a new tab? No, the new folder’s contents replaced the current Finder window contents just as it always did. Turning this option off also has no effect.

The feature does not work as you might expect and folders do not open in tabs.

Open a new tab

To open a folder in a new tab, hold down the Command key and double click it. A tab bar is displayed and the current folder and the new one appear on tabs.

If you turn the option off in preferences, Command+double clicking a folder opens it in a new window. So the preferences option only effects Command+double clicking.

Try this: Hold down Command and click two, three or more folders to select them. Keep pressing Command and double click one of the selected folders. They all open in new tabs.

Another way to open a new tab is to press Command+T or click the plus at the right side of the Finder tab bar. If only one folder is open, so only one tab, Shift+Command+T shows/hides the tab bar.

Move, close and save tabs

The order of tabs in a Finder window is easily rearranged. Just click and drag tabs left or right. A tab can be clicked and dragged out of the Finder window and dropped on the desktop to open it in a separate window.

If two Finder windows are open, a tab can be clicked and dragged from one window and dropped in the tab bar of another to move the tab from one window to another.

Ctrl+click a tab and a useful menu is displayed. You can open a new tab, close the one you clicked, or close all other tabs except this one. Tabs can be moved out into their own window.

If Command clicking a folder does something special, you might wonder whether other keys like Shift, Ctrl and Option do something. Shift and Ctrl don’t, but Option is has an interesting effect, although it is hard to imagine a scenario where it might be useful.

Hold down Option and double click a folder. This opens the folder, but without the history. This means that you cannot click the back arrow button to go back to the previous folder.

There is a brief flash as you Option+double click a folder and what appears to be happening is that the new folder is opened in a new Finder window, which therefore has no history, and the old Finder window is closed.

See the folder path in Finder

There are a couple of ways to see the path to a folder that is open in Finder. Select the tab you want and then Command+click the folder name in the title bar. It shows the folder's parent, grandparent and so on. Another way to see this information is to press Option+Command+P to add the path bar to the bottom of the window. It updates as you switch tabs to show the new location.

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