DON’T LIKE LABELS? TRY COMMENTS INSTEAD

DON’T LIKE LABELS? TRY COMMENTS INSTEAD

If you’re not a big fan of labels (color-coding files and folders by adding a ring of color around their name), you might want to try adding a comment instead. A comment is like your own personal note added to a file or folder. These comments are visible in Finder windows set to List view. To add a comment to a file, just click on the file you want to add a comment to, and then press Command-I. The Info window appears. Click on the right-facing gray triangle to the left of the word Comments to reveal a field for entering your personal notes. Just click in this field and start typing. When you’re done, close the window. To see your comments when in List view, you first have to change a preference setting to make the Comments column visible. Make sure you’re viewing your window in List view, and then press Command-J to bring up the View Options dialog. In the section called Show Columns, turn on the checkbox for Comments. If you want every window in List view to show comments, make sure you check the All Windows button at the top of the dialog.

ADDING A PHOTO AS YOUR WINDOW’S BACKGROUND

As long as your Finder window is in Icon view, you can add a photo as its background. You do this by going under the View menu, under Show View Options, and in the Background section (at the bottom of the dialog), choose Picture. Click on the Select button and the standard Open/Save dialog appears, where you can choose which image you’d like to have as the background of your window. Click Ok and that image then appears. Note: This works only when viewing the window in Icon view. If you change to List view, the image is no longer visible.

REARRANGING THE HEADERS IN LIST VIEW

Just click directly on the header named Size and drag it horizontally along the bar until it appears right after Name. You can do the same with the other headers-move them where you want them. There’s only one you can’t move-the Name header. It’s stuck in the first position.

SPEED TIP: NAVIGATING WITHOUT THE MOUSE

If you’re looking for a faster way to navigate within Finder windows while you’re in icon view, try navigating using just your keyboard. Just as in previous versions of the Mac OS, you can use the Arrow keys on your keyboard to move from icon to icon., but you can also look inside folders by holding the Command key and pressing the Down Arrow key on your keyboard. To go back up a level, press Command-Up Arrow.

JUMPING RIGHT TO THE FILE YOU WANT

Just as in previous versions of the Mac OS, if you’re in a Finder window and type in the first letter of the name of the file you want-it jumps to that file. Well, if that’s the only file that starts with that letter. If there are more than one file with the same first letter, try typing the first two letters.) Also, once you select a file, if it’s not the one you want, you can jump to the next file (alphabetically) by pressing the Tab key. (Note: The Tab key shortcut doesn’t work in Column view. Use the Down Arrow key instead.)