Customizing Finder Toolbar

Homescreens & Office Setups
1

The recent MPU episode (#471: Menu Bars, Docks & Startup Apps, Oh My!) reminded me that one can customize the Finder Toolbar, allowing for another quick method to access most used apps, especially with drag-n-drop.

01
011470×214 109 KB

You can add any app, folder, or file to the Finder Toolbar:

Add a file or an app: Press and hold the Command key, then drag the item to the Finder toolbar until you see a green plus sign.
Remove an item: Press and hold the Command key, then drag the item out of the toolbar.
Rearrange the items in the toolbar: Press and hold the Command key, then drag an item to a new location.

And don’t forget to customize the sidebar too!

Great show, @macsparky and @ismh.

8 Likes
2

The recent MPU episode (#471: Menu Bars, Docks & Startup Apps, Oh My!) reminded me that one can customize the Finder Toolbar, allowing for another quick method to access most used apps, especially with drag-n-drop .

Great tip, @Cowpi. I’d almost forgotten about this one.

It’s worth noting that other things can be added to Finder’s toolbar using the same technique (⌘+drag), including files, folders, and smart folders.

1 Like
3

Oh my… I’ve been a Mac user for only 8 years and didn’t know this was a thing. Fantastic tip!

3 Likes
4

I use Alfred to launch apps.

1 Like
5

I think it’s not about launching apps from Finder but dragging files into the apps to action on them. For instance, Preview will always launch when I double clicked on PDF docs in Finder. But what if I want to use PDF Expert to edit this particular pdf file? I drag it and drop onto PDF Expert icon in Finder.

6

You can make PDF expert as the default app to open pdf files.

7

Sure, but in my case, I prefer Preview to be default. And when I want to edit, I drag and drop them into the PDF Expert icon in Finder.

8

I just learned this the other day too, what a cool feature. I don’t know how often I’m going to use it, but I love the way it looks to have Photoshop and Illustrator in that toolbar.

Anyone come up with any clever and intuitive uses for this?