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Submission details

30 +36/-6 votes

Finder not "keyboard navigation" friendly

Submitted by hoopla_punta on August 22, 2008 to Annoyance, Usability

It seems that it is possible to navigate via keyboard. But it uses modifiers, so it's a little difficult.

There are some issues with keyboard navigation in Finder.
Level Navigation:
It is not possible to open lower levels in list or coverflow view.

Sidebar
It is not possible to bring focus to the sidebar

"Back" "Forward" any icon on the navigation bar for that matter.
NOt possible to go forward/backward or show path via keyboard.

Open in new window slow-mo
Shift-CMD-O opens the new folder in a window in slow-mo this should be corrected to be alt-cmd-o

Low

Medium

Not fixed

Discussion (7 comments)

abitgone wrote on August 22, 2008, 4:51pm

If you want to open a folder in a Finder window, use CMD-Down to open the folder. To go back up a level, use CMD-Up.

As for opening levels, and bear in mind that I can't confirm this as I'm not on my Mac at the moment, using the left/right arrow keys opens and closes folders respectively if you're in List view or CoverFlow.

Grey_Podder wrote on August 22, 2008, 4:57pm

Level Navigation: To open lower levels in List view, just press the right arrow key. For Cover Flow view, hold Shift before pressing the right arrow key.

Sidebar: You may be correct; I'm still looking.

Back Button: Cmd-[
Forward Button: Cmd-]
Icon View: Cmd-1
List View: Cmd-2
Column View: Cmd-3
Cover Flow View: Cmd-4
Quick Look: Spacebar or Cmd-Y

Most functions under the action button have shortcuts, too.
New Folder: Shift-Cmd-N
New Burn Folder: No shortcut, but you can create one in System Preferences>Keyboard & Mouse>Keyboard Shortcuts
Open: Cmd-O
Get Info: Cmd-I
Show View Options: Cmd-J
Show/Hide Path Bar: Again, no shortcut, but you can add a keyboard shortcut for any menu command in System Preferences as above.

I don't understand why Shift-Cmd-O should change to Alt-Cmd-O. Is Shift not the key normally held to perform an action in slow motion?

abitgone wrote on August 24, 2008, 7:40pm

Yes: Shift is the 'slow-mo' key - it should not be changed to Alt-Cmd-O.

hoopla_punta wrote on August 25, 2008, 1:42pm

well slomo is annoying

hoopla_punta wrote on August 25, 2008, 1:42pm

anyway apple should make the list of navigation shortcuts more accesible.

Grey_Podder wrote on August 25, 2008, 4:40pm

@hoopla_punta

"well slomo is annoying"
It's user-activated; if it annoys you, don't use it.

"anyway apple should make the list of navigation shortcuts more accesible."
I typed those keyboard shortcuts in my comment above mostly from looking at the Menu Bar. In Mac OS X applications, if you click File, Edit, etc., the key combination (if there is one) is to the right of the command in the drop-down menu. I'm struggling to think of a method that could be MORE accessible. I got the remaining commands from searching in the Finder's Help menu.

hoopla_punta wrote on September 10, 2008, 5:15pm

Changed problem description.

mojo2012 wrote on September 27, 2008, 10:03am

It's annoying that if there are more collumns in finder's "symbol view" you can't jump up to the next collumn. You can only go down until you are at the bottom, then you can go right and go up again. I want that if I'm at the bottom and I press down, the selection jumps the the topmost item in the next collumn.

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