Overview: The OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Finder

October 31st, 2007 by Ross McKillop |  Print This Post

This overview will describe some of the changes that have appeared in the new (Leopard) version of OS X’s file manager, Finder. And I’ve intentionally left out the “Cover Flow” stuff, as its already been talked about to death.

1. So here it is (screenshot below) - Finder. At first glance I think it would be safe to say, it’s not drastically different from previous versions.


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2. First lets take a look at the preferences. Select Finder from your menu bar, and then Preferences… from the drop-down list. The General tab allows you to - get this - change some of the general preferences.



3. Skipping over the Labels tab (no changes) - select Sidebar. From here you can select what’s displayed in the Finder sidebar. New in Finders sidebar are smart folders (the Search For section). Smart folders are saved Spotlight searches - and can be added and removed from the sidebar via drag-and-drop.


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4. The Advanced tab remains very similar to Tigers settings, but now you can disable the warning when changing a files extension.



5. Exit out of the Preferences, switch to column view, and right-click (ctrl-click) in an empty area of the Finder. Select Show View Options.



6. And the (few) column view options will be displayed.



7. Select Icon View (don’t close the column view options window)



8. One of the rather long awaited changes to Finder is the spacing between icons. Notice how spaced apart the icons are by default (see screenshot below).


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9. In the icon view settings, use the slider in the Grid spacing section to shrink the spacing.



10. And now less screen space is wasted. Excellent.


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11. You can also change the background..



12. .. to a color ..


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13. .. or image ..


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14. Select Show item info.



15. And information about files/folders will be displayed for each icon.



16. Here’s a (slightly) confusing setting/option. If you select Always open in icon view (or whatever view you prefer) - that specific folder will always open with your preferred view. Not every folder, just that one.



17. When you click Set as Default, any changes you make to a specific view - like a colored background in icon view - will be applied to every folder when you view it in icon view.



18. And though I said I’d ignore the Cover Flow view stuff, below is a screenshot of its options. They’re the same as List view options.



19. So what did I miss about the new Finder that you’ve found and/or appreciate?