The incoming Mac OS X Mavericks has a few features that we’re very excited about. One of them is the ability to have multiple tabs in one Finder window. Tabs work great on web browsers, and on the PC you can have tabbed browsing on Windows Explorer with Clover.
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However, if you cannot wait for Mavericks to officially launch (some time late October), try outXtraFinder for the time being. Not only can you start tabbing, there are also plenty of keyboard shortcuts that will turn you more productive.
Setting Up XtraFinder
First, download and install XtraFinder, supported on Mac OS X 10.6.8 to 10.9. Upon launching XtraFinder from your Applications folder, you will be greeted with lots of configurable options.
Some notable features are enabling Middle-click to open folder in new tab, backspace to go back, and show Go Up button in the toolbar that lets you go up one folder in the tree.
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You can also enable dual panel Finders to quickly move and compare files in 2 folders. (The keyboard shortcut is Command + U).
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XtraFinder Keyboard Shortcuts
XtraFinder also supports keyboard shortcuts that you can customize. If a shortcut is not something you would use, you can fully disable it so it doesn’t get in the way of your work. Otherwise, you can replace the same key combination to trigger another useful shortcut.
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Keyboard Shortcuts
Here are these default keyboard shortcuts.
Shortcuts Descriptions
Command + W Close current Finder tab.
Command + N Open new Finder window
Command + U Enable dual panel.
Command + Shift +T Re-open last Finder tab.
Command + Shift + W Close all Finder tabs.
Control + Tab Switch to next tab.
Control + Shift + W Switch to previous tab.
More XtraFinder Tips
Here are a few more tips to become an expert XtraFinder user.
Clicking
- Middle click on tab to close tab.
- Right click on tab to navigate folder tree.
- Double click on tab to enable/disable dual panel with following tab.
Dragging
- Dragging folders to tab bar opens it in new tab.
- Dragging folders or files to a tab moves it to the tab’s folder.
- Dragging tabs out of tab bar opens it in new Finder window.
- Dragging tabs from one Finder window to another merges it to the tab bar.
Conclusion
Navigating with keyboard shortcuts and tabs feels natural, especially when it’s the same keyboard combination we’re all used to when surfing on a web browser. It’ll be great to see XtraFinder with a bookmarks bar feature like what Clover offers Windows. However, while we wait to update to Mavericks, XtraFinder is the best temporary solution for a tabbed Finder for Mac.
