Mac OS X Lion Finder Windows
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
A Finder window is a basic, fundamental element of your Mac. When you open any folder or disk, including your hard disk, the Mac displays the contents of the folder in a Finder window. This chapter walks you through a number of short exercises so you'll feel comfortable using these windows.
I assume you did the exercises in Chapter 2 so that you know how to click, press, press-and-drag, and maybe even Option-drag!
The basic window
Below you see a Finder window, sometimes called a Desktop window, the kind you'll see when you open a folder or disk on the Desktop.
Later you'll work with a document window, the kind you'll see when you are using an application in which you create your work. The two types of windows are similar, but Finder windows have a few specific features.
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You can tell this is a Finder window because when you click on it, the menu bar across the top of the monitor, just to the right of the apple, shows the word "Finder." The Finder is the software that runs the Desktop, so all of the windows on the Desktop are considered Finder windows. Don't let that confuse you—just think of the Desktop and the Finder as the same thing, for all practical purposes.
The items inside a Finder window might be shown as icons, as a list, or in columns, as explained on the following pages.