Macintosh Finder
Encyclopedia
The Finder is the default file manager
used on Mac OS
and Mac OS X
operating system
s; it is responsible for the overall user-management of files, disks, network volumes and the launching of other applications. As such, the Finder acts like the shell on other operating systems, but using a graphical user interface
, and is described in its 'About' window as The Macintosh Desktop Experience. It was introduced with the very first Macintosh computer, and also existed as part of GS/OS
on the Apple IIGS
. It underwent a complete rewrite with Apple's switch to a UNIX
-based OS in Mac OS X
.
The Finder is the first application a user interacts with after logging into a Mac, and as such it is responsible for the general look and feel of the machine. It is distinct from the system's underlying GUI
and desktop environment
, which are provided by HIToolbox
and Quartz Compositor
on OS X and by QuickDraw
and the Macintosh Toolbox
on prior OS versions. One could compare it to Windows Explorer
in Microsoft Windows
, the Tracker
in BeOS
, Nautilus
in GNOME
, and Dolphin
or the file management aspect of Konqueror
in KDE
.
The Finder maintains a view of the file system
that is rendered using a desktop metaphor
– that is, the files and folders are represented as appropriate icons, volumes are displayed on the desktop, and there is a trash can (on the Dock in OS X, on the desktop in previous versions) to which files can be dragged to mark them for deletion. Part of the system core services in OS X, the Finder.app application bundle is located at /System/Library/CoreServices/.
) always included a blank folder at the root level of every disk. A new blank folder would be created whenever that folder was renamed and used. Folders could not be placed inside of folders in Finder up to version 4.1. The folders were maintained only by Finder, and were not stored by the file system. As such, no two files could have the same name on a drive; folders were absent in application "open" dialogs (instead there would be simply a list of all files); and all folder information would be lost after rebuilding the desktop, dumping all files into the root level of the drive.
Finder also provided a "trash folder": the only way to delete a file was to first drag it to the trash folder, then empty the folder. However, the trash folder was also an illusion, and was not reflected on disk. The list of files in the trash was held only in memory. Finder therefore emptied the trash before it terminated, including before running any other application. If a crash intervened in the process, items that had been in the trash went back in their original home.
The original Finder was also the cause of much early user frustration due to slow speed of file copying, which would lead to dozens of disk-swaps on the single-drive original Macintosh, which was caused by a bug in the original Finder where if you drag the floppy disk icon somewhere else on the desktop, then pick it up and drag it to another floppy to copy it, it would result in more disk swaps than needed because the Finder forgot to free memory before copying. http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Disk_Swappers_Elbow.txt Though much of this problem could be attributed to the small amount of memory available on the Macintosh 128K
, Apple attempted to address the issue with Finder 1.1g in May 1984.
Finder 1.xx supported System 1.0 (.97) through 1.x only.
) in September 1985, as part of Finder 5.0 which was introduced along with the Mac's first hard drive, the Hard Disk 20
. Nested folders were no longer an illusion, but rather a reflection of the data organization on the disk. Finder 5.0 also added several cosmetic changes to the look of the system's icons. More importantly, Finder 5.1 officially introduced the 800K double sided disk, doubling the previously supported disk capacity. Finder 5.4 added support for file system permissions
in January 1987, as part of the AppleShare
release.
Finder 5.x would support System 2.1 through 4.1.
, which allowed cooperative multitasking. MultiFinder was activated with a "set startup" dialog box whose setting took effect with the next restart. System Software 6.0.x came with Finder 6.1.x and introduced a much-improved version of MultiFinder, among other enhancements. From System 6 forward, the Finder would always match the macro System version number, thus alleviating much of the confusion caused by often significantly different System and Finder versions.
The original Mac OS Finder featured a "universal Desktop," which showed the union of the contents of the invisible "Desktop Folder" on the root level of every mounted disk in System 7. This meant that files dragged from a disk to the Desktop did not always copy to the Mac's hard drive, and would disappear when the disk in question was later ejected.
A "Put Away" command premiered in System 6 which allowed users to drag icons from anywhere on their computer to the Desktop, use the file from the Desktop, and then scoot the file back to its original location with a single command.
Finder 6 also provided support for the industry standard 1.44MB floppy disk, almost doubling the previous 800K disk capacity. More importantly this new SuperDrive continued to provide support for the earlier single-sided MFS and 800K disks as well as supporting ProDOS
and popular MS-DOS
formats.
In 1991 Apple released System 7
, a significant rewrite of their operating system. Like every other component of the OS, the Finder received a major overhaul and it was completely rewritten using the C++
programming language. MultiFinder was now always active. Finder windows were colorized, and the list view was expanded to include "disclosure triangles" which allowed the user to drill down further into the file system without opening more windows. The Finder's trash icon took on a more refined appearance, and the Color feature in System 6 (on color Macintoshes only), which allowed the user to assign a color shade to files, was extended to let users assign a label. These labels had a user-definable name and color. The Finder's new search function could also locate files based on their labels. The trash folder was at last a real folder, meaning it wasn't emptied after each restart.
Finder 7.0 unveiled an "alias
" functionality which allowed files to be represented in multiple locations by simple pointer files. Starting in System 7, the Put Away command could also be used as an alternate means to unmount floppy disks and CD-ROMs. It differed from the Eject command in that it didn't leave a 'ghost icon' on the desktop. This icon was intended to facilitate copying floppy disks on single-drive machines but the capability was seldom used with the advent of hard drives and was later removed. Though the Macintosh System itself would undergo major changes in the intervening years, the Finder remained relatively unchanged until the release of Mac OS 8
in 1997.
Finder 8.1, released in early 1998, introduced support for the more efficient HFS+
file system.
, including the Finder, in December 2001 with Mac OS 9.2.2.
Finder was not an update of the previous Finder, but was a complete re-write that borrowed concepts from the NeXTSTEP
file manager. As such, it was a major departure from the original Finder and was poorly received by many longtime Macintosh users. The original Mac OS X Finder was a Carbon
application built on top of Metrowerks
' PowerPlant
framework. It was later rewritten to use the modern HIToolbox framework built into Mac OS X.
Mac OS X 10.0 ("Cheetah") lacked many features found in its Classic predecessor. The universal Desktop was gone, replaced by a Desktop that presented only the contents of the user's own Desktop folder. Support for Labels, and almost any form of metadata, was gone, as were pop up windows, desktop printers, the "Put Away" command and spring-loaded folders. In Finder 10.0 the Trash was also removed from the Desktop and was no longer part of the Finder, having instead been integrated into the system's Dock.
Finder 10.0 also eschewed the classic Finder's "spatial
" orientation, in which each location on the hard drive opened in its own window, and only one window, in favor of a NeXTSTEP
-style browser system.
Finder 10.0 introduced a highly-customizable toolbar which could be displayed at the top of every Finder window, and the NeXT
-derived Column View
, which displayed the hierarchy of the file system in a series of left-to-right panes. Users were also able to specify which, if any, of the mounted disks on their system appeared on the Desktop.
Mac OS X 10.1
("Puma") brought CD burning capability to Finder 10.1. This feature had been added to the classic Mac OS with version 9.1.
adding an FTP file system
, so that a remote FTP server's directory hierarchy could look like a local directory hierarchy.
Just as with Finder 1.0, the Mac OS X Finder continues to show a view of the user's filesystem that is partly illusion. For example, when running a Unix shell
, the file names are displayed as POSIX-style paths, even if the underlying file system is actually HFS. Unix files cannot contain the "/" character in a file name; because Macintosh users had historically been able to use "/" (but not ":") in a file name on an HFS file system, the Finder swaps over these two characters — a user types a name Input/Output which is converted to a POSIX name of Input:Output. The only characters not permitted in a filename at the Finder level are colon
s. In addition, the Finder will not let the user enter certain control character
s (like the line break) even if the file system supports them. The Finder and shells both provide full Unicode
filename support.
The Mac OS X Finder is implemented in C++
, which is in contrast to most of Apple's OS X applications which are implemented in Objective-C
.
("Panther") introduced a somewhat upgraded version of the Finder which restored several classic features while also introducing an updated, but not radically different, GUI.
Finder 10.3 took on a Brushed Metal
appearance similar to that of Apple's iTunes
jukebox application (before version 5, which took on a Polished Metal look), or Address Book before Mac OS X Tiger. As with previous Finders introduced since Mac OS X 10.0, users could customize a toolbar at the top of the Finder window. This included a search pane, allowing for live searching of any selected folder or volume. A new panel to the left of the Finder window, called the Sidebar, allowed almost any item to be dropped in for quick access. Importantly, this customisation would appear in open and save dialogs within other applications. The Sidebar also listed and allowed the ejection of mounted removable storage. Colored labels and the ability to search by Type and Creator metadata, features in Mac OS 9 that were lost and much missed by Mac users, were restored in Finder 10.3.
By clicking the small "show/hide toolbar" button on the right of a window's title bar, not only could a window's toolbar be hidden, but the window also removed its sidebar and switched into an Aqua-themed look and "spatial" behavior. The animation for the toolbar disappeared due to the sidebar as well.
("Tiger") introduces further changes to the Finder, including a slideshow feature (similar to that of Windows Explorer
). This allows pictures to be viewed in series fullscreen directly from the Finder. Spotlight
, a concept introduced in 10.4, features prominently throughout the revamped OS: The classic command-F Finder keyboard shortcut now shows a criterion-based search. These criteria searches can be saved as smart folder
s which display the live-updating results of the search. Two other methods of search exist: the Spotlight menu item and the Spotlight windows. These can be accessed system-wide and some have speculated that data organization and the "desktop metaphor" are going to be phased out by the high-speed search functions in Mac OS X
, thus rendering Finder redundant. However, others have commented on the delays experienced when using Spotlight, even on newer Macs.
Updated in Leopard
, the Finder features a UI similar to iTunes
7, which includes Cover Flow and a groupped navigation sidebar (with Devices, Places and Search for bookmarks). Other features include better integration with Spotlight
, a new feature called Quick Look
which allows one to see what's inside a file without opening it, and a Path Bar that can be turned on. Like most applications in Leopard, it uses the new unified theme, doing away with the brushed metal look from previous versions of Mac OS X.
Several functions have also been phased out. The ability to set arbitrary search locations via an "Others..." button in the Finder has been removed.
Finder 10.5.6, released on the unibody MacBook and MacBook Pros, added additional support for the extended multi-touch
gestures introduced.
, the Finder was rewritten using the Cocoa API but remained the same with only a few minor new features.
Apple has implemented AirDrop in Finder which allows computers with WiFi to share files directly without being on the same network.
Finder now has a "All My Files" in the Favorites which displays the users files grouped in catagories. Users have the ability to swipe through the files if they have the Magic Trackpad using two finger swipes to left or right.
However, several key features are missing in 10.7 Lion in term of multi-touch functionalities when using the Magic Trackpad. The ability to pinch zoom and out has been removed. No replacement has been added at this point.
Also, unlike many other applications in Lion, except when in QuickLook, Finder does not have the ability to be viewed in fullscreen.
and Xfile
. These replacements are shareware and aim to provide the same functionality as the Finder as well as additional features which the Finder does not include.
columnist John Siracusa has been a vocal critic of the versions of the Finder found in Mac OS X. One of his strongest complaints is that some of the options and default behaviours of Finder violate the concept of "spatial interface
" that existed in previous versions. Daring Fireball
blogger John Gruber
has voiced similar criticisms, saying in a 2005 interview that he felt the Finder had become worse since version 10.0 and that "the fundamental problem with the Mac OS X Finder is that it's trying to support two opposing paradigms at once – the browser metaphor... and the spatial metaphor
from the original Mac Finder... and it ends up doing neither one very well." Various reviewers note that starting with OS X v10.3 the Finder can be switched by user preference into a completely spatial mode. However, Siracusa is still critical, saying that it "provides exactly the same self-destructive combination of spatial and browser-style features as all of its Mac OS X predecessors". Siracusa, a web developer, has been called on to submit a prototype of what he thinks would be a better Finder, to supplement his article on the topic, but has declined to do so, saying "I'm a programmer, but not a Mac OS X programmer."
File manager
A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to work with file systems. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files are: create, open, edit, view, print, play, rename, move, copy, delete, search/find, and modify file attributes, properties...
used on Mac OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
and Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s; it is responsible for the overall user-management of files, disks, network volumes and the launching of other applications. As such, the Finder acts like the shell on other operating systems, but using a graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
, and is described in its 'About' window as The Macintosh Desktop Experience. It was introduced with the very first Macintosh computer, and also existed as part of GS/OS
GS/OS
GS/OS is an operating environment developed by Apple Computer for its Apple IIGS personal computer that uses the ProDOS filing system. It provides facilities for accessing the file system, controlling input/output devices, loading and running program files, and a system allowing programs to handle...
on the Apple IIGS
Apple IIGS
The Apple , the fifth and most powerful model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer. The "GS" in the name stands for Graphics and Sound, referring to its enhanced graphics and sound capabilities, both of which greatly surpassed previous models of the line...
. It underwent a complete rewrite with Apple's switch to a UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
-based OS in Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
.
The Finder is the first application a user interacts with after logging into a Mac, and as such it is responsible for the general look and feel of the machine. It is distinct from the system's underlying GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
and desktop environment
Desktop environment
In graphical computing, a desktop environment commonly refers to a style of graphical user interface derived from the desktop metaphor that is seen on most modern personal computers. These GUIs help the user in easily accessing, configuring, and modifying many important and frequently accessed...
, which are provided by HIToolbox
Carbon (API)
Carbon is one of Apple Inc.'s procedural application programming interfaces for the Macintosh operating system. It provides C programming language access to Macintosh system services...
and Quartz Compositor
Quartz Compositor
Quartz Compositor is the windowing system in Mac OS X. It is responsible for presenting and maintaining rasterized, rendered graphics from the rest of the Core Graphics framework and other renderers in the Quartz technologies family...
on OS X and by QuickDraw
QuickDraw
QuickDraw is the 2D graphics library and associated Application Programming Interface which is a core part of the classic Apple Macintosh operating system. It was initially written by Bill Atkinson and Andy Hertzfeld. QuickDraw still exists as part of the libraries of Mac OS X, but has been...
and the Macintosh Toolbox
Macintosh Toolbox
The Macintosh Toolbox is a set of application programming interfaces with a particular access mechanism. They implement many of the high-level features of the Mac OS. The Toolbox consists of a number of "managers," software components such as QuickDraw, responsible for drawing onscreen graphics,...
on prior OS versions. One could compare it to Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer
This article is about the Windows file system browser. For the similarly named web browser, see Internet ExplorerWindows Explorer is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface...
in Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, the Tracker
OpenTracker
OpenTracker is the open source version of the Tracker file manager for BeOS-compatible operating systems.Be Inc. developed the original Tracker for their operating system, BeOS. In 2000, prior to selling all of their assets to Palm, Inc., Be Inc. open-sourced some of their software, including Tracker...
in BeOS
BeOS
BeOS is an operating system for personal computers which began development by Be Inc. in 1991. It was first written to run on BeBox hardware. BeOS was optimized for digital media work and was written to take advantage of modern hardware facilities such as symmetric multiprocessing by utilizing...
, Nautilus
Nautilus (file manager)
Nautilus is the official file manager for the GNOME desktop. The name is a play on words, evoking the shell of a nautilus to represent an operating system shell. Nautilus replaced Midnight Commander in GNOME 1.4 and was the default from version 2.0 onwards....
in GNOME
GNOME
GNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...
, and Dolphin
Dolphin (software)
Dolphin is a free and open source software file manager for and part of the KDE Software Compilation. It is the default file manager in the current version, KDE Software Compilation 4, and can be optionally installed on K Desktop Environment 3...
or the file management aspect of Konqueror
Konqueror
Not to be confused with the Conqueror web browser.Konqueror is a web browser and file manager that provides file-viewer functionality for file systems such as local files, files on a remote ftp server and files in a disk image. It is a core part of the KDE desktop environment...
in KDE
KDE
KDE is an international free software community producing an integrated set of cross-platform applications designed to run on Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X systems...
.
The Finder maintains a view of the file system
File system
A file system is a means to organize data expected to be retained after a program terminates by providing procedures to store, retrieve and update data, as well as manage the available space on the device which contain it. A file system organizes data in an efficient manner and is tuned to the...
that is rendered using a desktop metaphor
Desktop metaphor
The desktop metaphor is an interface metaphor which is a set of unifying concepts used by graphical user interfaces to help users more easily interact with the computer. The desktop metaphor treats the monitor of a computer as if it is the user's desktop, upon which objects such as documents and...
– that is, the files and folders are represented as appropriate icons, volumes are displayed on the desktop, and there is a trash can (on the Dock in OS X, on the desktop in previous versions) to which files can be dragged to mark them for deletion. Part of the system core services in OS X, the Finder.app application bundle is located at /System/Library/CoreServices/.
Finder 1.0 to 4.1
The original Finder, used with the MFS (Macintosh File SystemMacintosh File System
Macintosh File System is a volume format created by Apple Computer for storing files on 400K floppy disks. MFS was introduced with the Macintosh 128K in January 1984....
) always included a blank folder at the root level of every disk. A new blank folder would be created whenever that folder was renamed and used. Folders could not be placed inside of folders in Finder up to version 4.1. The folders were maintained only by Finder, and were not stored by the file system. As such, no two files could have the same name on a drive; folders were absent in application "open" dialogs (instead there would be simply a list of all files); and all folder information would be lost after rebuilding the desktop, dumping all files into the root level of the drive.
Finder also provided a "trash folder": the only way to delete a file was to first drag it to the trash folder, then empty the folder. However, the trash folder was also an illusion, and was not reflected on disk. The list of files in the trash was held only in memory. Finder therefore emptied the trash before it terminated, including before running any other application. If a crash intervened in the process, items that had been in the trash went back in their original home.
The original Finder was also the cause of much early user frustration due to slow speed of file copying, which would lead to dozens of disk-swaps on the single-drive original Macintosh, which was caused by a bug in the original Finder where if you drag the floppy disk icon somewhere else on the desktop, then pick it up and drag it to another floppy to copy it, it would result in more disk swaps than needed because the Finder forgot to free memory before copying. http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Disk_Swappers_Elbow.txt Though much of this problem could be attributed to the small amount of memory available on the Macintosh 128K
Macintosh 128K
The Macintosh 128K machine, released as the "Apple Macintosh", was the original Apple Macintosh personal computer. Its beige case contained a monitor and came with a keyboard and mouse. An indentation in the top of the case made it easier for the computer to be lifted and carried. It had a selling...
, Apple attempted to address the issue with Finder 1.1g in May 1984.
Finder 1.xx supported System 1.0 (.97) through 1.x only.
Finder 4.x
It was Finder 4.1 in April 1985 that really improved the speed of the Finder and added new features, including the "New Folder" command and a "Shut Down" command in the "Special" menu, which also provided access to the "MiniFinder". MiniFinder was a simplified interface that held often-used applications and documents and launched them much more quickly. As this was a single-tasking OS, "switching between applications" meant copying data from the first application to the clipboard, then exiting the application, starting another, and pasting. MiniFinder was intended to streamline this process. Finder 4.x would support System 1.x through 2.0 only.Finder 5.x
Apple replaced the MFS with the HFS (Hierarchical File SystemHierarchical File System
Hierarchical File System is a file system developed by Apple Inc. for use in computer systems running Mac OS. Originally designed for use on floppy and hard disks, it can also be found on read-only media such as CD-ROMs...
) in September 1985, as part of Finder 5.0 which was introduced along with the Mac's first hard drive, the Hard Disk 20
Hard Disk 20
The Macintosh Hard Disk 20 was the first hard drive developed by Apple Computer specifically for use with the Macintosh 512K. Introduced on September 17, 1985, it was part of Apple's long awaited solution toward completing the Macintosh Office announced in January 1985...
. Nested folders were no longer an illusion, but rather a reflection of the data organization on the disk. Finder 5.0 also added several cosmetic changes to the look of the system's icons. More importantly, Finder 5.1 officially introduced the 800K double sided disk, doubling the previously supported disk capacity. Finder 5.4 added support for file system permissions
File system permissions
Most current file systems have methods of administering permissions or access rights to specific users and groups of users. These systems control the ability of the users to view or make changes to the contents of the filesystem....
in January 1987, as part of the AppleShare
AppleShare
AppleShare was a product from Apple Computer which implemented various network services. Its main purpose was acting as a file server, using the AFP protocol...
release.
Finder 5.x would support System 2.1 through 4.1.
Finder Software 6.x
Early versions of the Finder would shut down whenever another program was launched, due to the single-tasking nature of the original Mac OS. The first official Macintosh unified System Software 5.x version came with Finder 6.0 and the new MultiFinderMultiFinder
MultiFinder was the name of an extension software for the Apple Macintosh, introduced on August 11, 1987 and included with System Software 5. It added the ability to co-operatively multitask between several applications at once – a great improvement over the previous systems, which could only...
, which allowed cooperative multitasking. MultiFinder was activated with a "set startup" dialog box whose setting took effect with the next restart. System Software 6.0.x came with Finder 6.1.x and introduced a much-improved version of MultiFinder, among other enhancements. From System 6 forward, the Finder would always match the macro System version number, thus alleviating much of the confusion caused by often significantly different System and Finder versions.
The original Mac OS Finder featured a "universal Desktop," which showed the union of the contents of the invisible "Desktop Folder" on the root level of every mounted disk in System 7. This meant that files dragged from a disk to the Desktop did not always copy to the Mac's hard drive, and would disappear when the disk in question was later ejected.
A "Put Away" command premiered in System 6 which allowed users to drag icons from anywhere on their computer to the Desktop, use the file from the Desktop, and then scoot the file back to its original location with a single command.
Finder 6 also provided support for the industry standard 1.44MB floppy disk, almost doubling the previous 800K disk capacity. More importantly this new SuperDrive continued to provide support for the earlier single-sided MFS and 800K disks as well as supporting ProDOS
ProDOS
ProDOS was the name of two similar operating systems for the Apple II series of personal computers. The original ProDOS, renamed ProDOS 8 in version 1.2, was the last official operating system usable by all Apple II series computers, and was distributed from 1983 to 1993...
and popular MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
formats.
Finder 7.0 to 9.2
System 7 (Macintosh)
System 7 is a single-user graphical user interface-based operating system for Macintosh computers. It was introduced on May 13, 1991 by Apple Computer. It succeeded System 6, and was the main Macintosh operating system until it was succeeded by Mac OS 8 in 1997...
, a significant rewrite of their operating system. Like every other component of the OS, the Finder received a major overhaul and it was completely rewritten using the C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
programming language. MultiFinder was now always active. Finder windows were colorized, and the list view was expanded to include "disclosure triangles" which allowed the user to drill down further into the file system without opening more windows. The Finder's trash icon took on a more refined appearance, and the Color feature in System 6 (on color Macintoshes only), which allowed the user to assign a color shade to files, was extended to let users assign a label. These labels had a user-definable name and color. The Finder's new search function could also locate files based on their labels. The trash folder was at last a real folder, meaning it wasn't emptied after each restart.
Alias (Mac OS)
In Mac OS System 7 and later, an alias is a small file that represents another object in a local, remote, or removable file system and provides a dynamic link to it; the target object may be moved, and the alias will still link to it...
" functionality which allowed files to be represented in multiple locations by simple pointer files. Starting in System 7, the Put Away command could also be used as an alternate means to unmount floppy disks and CD-ROMs. It differed from the Eject command in that it didn't leave a 'ghost icon' on the desktop. This icon was intended to facilitate copying floppy disks on single-drive machines but the capability was seldom used with the advent of hard drives and was later removed. Though the Macintosh System itself would undergo major changes in the intervening years, the Finder remained relatively unchanged until the release of Mac OS 8
Mac OS 8
Mac OS 8 is an operating system that was released by Apple Computer on July 26, 1997. It represented the largest overhaul of the Mac OS since the release of System 7, some six years previously. It puts more emphasis on color than previous operating systems...
in 1997.
Finder 8.x
Finder 8.0 was the first version to be multithreaded. For the first time copying a file or emptying the trash did not block other uses of the Finder. Like the rest of the system, Finder 8.0 took on a metallic platinum appearance. It also featured several new features, including Pop Up windows, which appeared as tabs on the bottom of the Mac's screen until clicked on, at which point they displayed their contents. "Spring-loaded folders" were also introduced in Finder 8.0, which allowed a user to drag and drop files deep into the system's folder hierarchy with a simple drill-down mechanism. A file could be dragged onto a folder icon and, if the user paused with the mouse button held down instead of "dropping" right away, the folder's window would open, allowing the process to be repeated. When the file was finally dropped, the intermediate folders would close once again.Finder 8.1, released in early 1998, introduced support for the more efficient HFS+
HFS Plus
HFS Plus or HFS+ is a file system developed by Apple Inc. to replace their Hierarchical File System as the primary file system used in Macintosh computers . It is also one of the formats used by the iPod digital music player...
file system.
Finder 9.x
Finder 9, released in October 1999, introduced support for Multiple Users, Software Update, and the Classic Support Mode. Other features of Finder 9 were large (>2GB) file support, Encryption, Keychains, USB Printer Sharing, and CD Burning in 9.1. Finder 9 was the last major update to the classic Mac OS Finder. Apple stopped work on Mac OS 9Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9 is the final major release of Apple's Mac OS before the launch of Mac OS X. Introduced on October 23, 1999, Apple positioned it as "The Best Internet Operating System Ever," highlighting Sherlock 2's Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple's free online services known as...
, including the Finder, in December 2001 with Mac OS 9.2.2.
Finder 10.0 to 10.2.8
The Mac OS XMac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
Finder was not an update of the previous Finder, but was a complete re-write that borrowed concepts from the NeXTSTEP
NEXTSTEP
NeXTSTEP was the object-oriented, multitasking operating system developed by NeXT Computer to run on its range of proprietary workstation computers, such as the NeXTcube...
file manager. As such, it was a major departure from the original Finder and was poorly received by many longtime Macintosh users. The original Mac OS X Finder was a Carbon
Carbon (API)
Carbon is one of Apple Inc.'s procedural application programming interfaces for the Macintosh operating system. It provides C programming language access to Macintosh system services...
application built on top of Metrowerks
Metrowerks
Metrowerks was a company that developed software development tools for various desktop, handheld, embedded, and gaming platforms. Its flagship product, CodeWarrior, comprised an IDE, compilers, linkers, debuggers, libraries, and related tools...
' PowerPlant
PowerPlant
PowerPlant is an object-oriented GUI toolkit, application framework and set of class libraries for Mac OS, created by Metrowerks. The framework was fairly popular at the height of the Classic Mac OS era, and was primarily used with CodeWarrior...
framework. It was later rewritten to use the modern HIToolbox framework built into Mac OS X.
Mac OS X 10.0 ("Cheetah") lacked many features found in its Classic predecessor. The universal Desktop was gone, replaced by a Desktop that presented only the contents of the user's own Desktop folder. Support for Labels, and almost any form of metadata, was gone, as were pop up windows, desktop printers, the "Put Away" command and spring-loaded folders. In Finder 10.0 the Trash was also removed from the Desktop and was no longer part of the Finder, having instead been integrated into the system's Dock.
Finder 10.0 also eschewed the classic Finder's "spatial
Spatial file manager
In computing, a spatial file manager is a file manager that uses a spatial metaphor to represent files and folders as if they are real physical objects.-Concepts:The base requirements of a spatial file manager are:...
" orientation, in which each location on the hard drive opened in its own window, and only one window, in favor of a NeXTSTEP
NEXTSTEP
NeXTSTEP was the object-oriented, multitasking operating system developed by NeXT Computer to run on its range of proprietary workstation computers, such as the NeXTcube...
-style browser system.
Finder 10.0 introduced a highly-customizable toolbar which could be displayed at the top of every Finder window, and the NeXT
NeXT
Next, Inc. was an American computer company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that developed and manufactured a series of computer workstations intended for the higher education and business markets...
-derived Column View
Miller Columns
Miller columns are a browsing/visualization technique that can be applied to tree structures. The columns allow multiple levels of the hierarchy to be open at once, and provide a visual representation of the current location. It is closely related to techniques used earlier in the Smalltalk...
, which displayed the hierarchy of the file system in a series of left-to-right panes. Users were also able to specify which, if any, of the mounted disks on their system appeared on the Desktop.
Mac OS X 10.1
Mac OS X v10.1
Mac OS X version 10.1, code named "Puma", is the second major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system. It superseded Mac OS X v10.0 and preceded Mac OS X v10.2. Version 10.1 was released on 25 September 2001 as a 'free update' to version 10.0...
("Puma") brought CD burning capability to Finder 10.1. This feature had been added to the classic Mac OS with version 9.1.
Finder 10.2.x
Finder 10.2 ("Jaguar") reintroduced spring-loaded folders, but they did not feature all of the functions of their Finder 8.0 predecessors. This version also added the ability to browse and download from, but not upload to, FTP servers from the Finder, by virtue of the underlying operating systemDarwin (operating system)
Darwin is an open source POSIX-compliant computer operating system released by Apple Inc. in 2000. It is composed of code developed by Apple, as well as code derived from NeXTSTEP, BSD, and other free software projects....
adding an FTP file system
FTPFS
FTPFS refers to file systems that support access to a File Transfer Protocol server through standard file system application programming interfaces ....
, so that a remote FTP server's directory hierarchy could look like a local directory hierarchy.
Just as with Finder 1.0, the Mac OS X Finder continues to show a view of the user's filesystem that is partly illusion. For example, when running a Unix shell
Unix shell
A Unix shell is a command-line interpreter or shell that provides a traditional user interface for the Unix operating system and for Unix-like systems...
, the file names are displayed as POSIX-style paths, even if the underlying file system is actually HFS. Unix files cannot contain the "/" character in a file name; because Macintosh users had historically been able to use "/" (but not ":") in a file name on an HFS file system, the Finder swaps over these two characters — a user types a name Input/Output which is converted to a POSIX name of Input:Output. The only characters not permitted in a filename at the Finder level are colon
Colon (punctuation)
The colon is a punctuation mark consisting of two equally sized dots centered on the same vertical line.-Usage:A colon informs the reader that what follows the mark proves, explains, or lists elements of what preceded the mark....
s. In addition, the Finder will not let the user enter certain control character
Control character
In computing and telecommunication, a control character or non-printing character is a code point in a character set, that does not in itself represent a written symbol.It is in-band signaling in the context of character encoding....
s (like the line break) even if the file system supports them. The Finder and shells both provide full Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
filename support.
The Mac OS X Finder is implemented in C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
, which is in contrast to most of Apple's OS X applications which are implemented in Objective-C
Objective-C
Objective-C is a reflective, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language.Today, it is used primarily on Apple's Mac OS X and iOS: two environments derived from the OpenStep standard, though not compliant with it...
.
Finder 10.3
Mac OS X v10.3Mac OS X v10.3
Mac OS X Panther is the fourth major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system. It followed Mac OS X v10.2 "Jaguar" and preceded Mac OS X Tiger...
("Panther") introduced a somewhat upgraded version of the Finder which restored several classic features while also introducing an updated, but not radically different, GUI.
Finder 10.3 took on a Brushed Metal
Brushed metal (interface)
Brushed metal is a discontinued graphical user interface design used in Apple Computer's Mac OS X operating system for Macintosh computers. The first of Apple's applications to sport this look was the QuickTime Player released as part of QuickTime 4.0 in 1999.Apple's Human Interface Guidelines...
appearance similar to that of Apple's iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
jukebox application (before version 5, which took on a Polished Metal look), or Address Book before Mac OS X Tiger. As with previous Finders introduced since Mac OS X 10.0, users could customize a toolbar at the top of the Finder window. This included a search pane, allowing for live searching of any selected folder or volume. A new panel to the left of the Finder window, called the Sidebar, allowed almost any item to be dropped in for quick access. Importantly, this customisation would appear in open and save dialogs within other applications. The Sidebar also listed and allowed the ejection of mounted removable storage. Colored labels and the ability to search by Type and Creator metadata, features in Mac OS 9 that were lost and much missed by Mac users, were restored in Finder 10.3.
By clicking the small "show/hide toolbar" button on the right of a window's title bar, not only could a window's toolbar be hidden, but the window also removed its sidebar and switched into an Aqua-themed look and "spatial" behavior. The animation for the toolbar disappeared due to the sidebar as well.
Finder 10.4
Mac OS X v10.4Mac OS X v10.4
Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger is the fifth major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Tiger was released to the public on 29 April 2005 for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X Panther , which had been released 18 months earlier...
("Tiger") introduces further changes to the Finder, including a slideshow feature (similar to that of Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer
This article is about the Windows file system browser. For the similarly named web browser, see Internet ExplorerWindows Explorer is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface...
). This allows pictures to be viewed in series fullscreen directly from the Finder. Spotlight
Spotlight (software)
Spotlight is a system-wide desktop search feature of Apple's Mac OS X operating system. Spotlight is a selection-based search system, which creates a virtual index of all items and files on the system. It is designed to allow the user to quickly locate a wide variety of items on the computer,...
, a concept introduced in 10.4, features prominently throughout the revamped OS: The classic command-F Finder keyboard shortcut now shows a criterion-based search. These criteria searches can be saved as smart folder
Virtual folder
In computing, a virtual folder generally denotes an organizing principle for files that is not dependent on location in a hierarchical directory tree...
s which display the live-updating results of the search. Two other methods of search exist: the Spotlight menu item and the Spotlight windows. These can be accessed system-wide and some have speculated that data organization and the "desktop metaphor" are going to be phased out by the high-speed search functions in Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, thus rendering Finder redundant. However, others have commented on the delays experienced when using Spotlight, even on newer Macs.
Finder 10.5
Mac OS X v10.5
Mac OS X Leopard is the sixth major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Leopard was released on 26 October 2007 as the successor of Tiger , and is available in two variants: a desktop version suitable for personal computers, and a...
, the Finder features a UI similar to iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
7, which includes Cover Flow and a groupped navigation sidebar (with Devices, Places and Search for bookmarks). Other features include better integration with Spotlight
Spotlight (software)
Spotlight is a system-wide desktop search feature of Apple's Mac OS X operating system. Spotlight is a selection-based search system, which creates a virtual index of all items and files on the system. It is designed to allow the user to quickly locate a wide variety of items on the computer,...
, a new feature called Quick Look
Quick Look
Quick Look is a quick preview feature developed by Apple which was introduced in their operating system, Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard". It was announced and demonstrated at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference 2007.-Overview:...
which allows one to see what's inside a file without opening it, and a Path Bar that can be turned on. Like most applications in Leopard, it uses the new unified theme, doing away with the brushed metal look from previous versions of Mac OS X.
Several functions have also been phased out. The ability to set arbitrary search locations via an "Others..." button in the Finder has been removed.
Finder 10.5.6, released on the unibody MacBook and MacBook Pros, added additional support for the extended multi-touch
Multi-touch
In computing, multi-touch refers to a touch sensing surface's ability to recognize the presence of two or more points of contact with the surface...
gestures introduced.
Finder 10.6
Updated in Snow LeopardMac OS X v10.6
Mac OS X Snow Leopard is the seventh major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers.Snow Leopard was publicly unveiled on June 8, 2009 at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference...
, the Finder was rewritten using the Cocoa API but remained the same with only a few minor new features.
Finder 10.7
Another update in Lion, now the Finder is redesigned. The Navigation Bar is updated with new sections, and a new order appearance.Apple has implemented AirDrop in Finder which allows computers with WiFi to share files directly without being on the same network.
Finder now has a "All My Files" in the Favorites which displays the users files grouped in catagories. Users have the ability to swipe through the files if they have the Magic Trackpad using two finger swipes to left or right.
However, several key features are missing in 10.7 Lion in term of multi-touch functionalities when using the Magic Trackpad. The ability to pinch zoom and out has been removed. No replacement has been added at this point.
Also, unlike many other applications in Lion, except when in QuickLook, Finder does not have the ability to be viewed in fullscreen.
Finder replacements
Third party OS X software developers offer Finder replacements which run as standalone applications such as Path FinderPath Finder
Path Finder is a Macintosh file browser developed by Cocoatech. First released simultaneously with the public release of Mac OS X...
and Xfile
Xfile
Xfile is a file manager developed by Rixstep, built as a Finder replacement for the Mac OS X operating system. Its features are mostly congruent with those accessible by generic Unix systems....
. These replacements are shareware and aim to provide the same functionality as the Finder as well as additional features which the Finder does not include.
Criticism
Ars TechnicaArs Technica
Ars Technica is a technology news and information website created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Ars Technica is known for its features, long articles that go...
columnist John Siracusa has been a vocal critic of the versions of the Finder found in Mac OS X. One of his strongest complaints is that some of the options and default behaviours of Finder violate the concept of "spatial interface
Spatial file manager
In computing, a spatial file manager is a file manager that uses a spatial metaphor to represent files and folders as if they are real physical objects.-Concepts:The base requirements of a spatial file manager are:...
" that existed in previous versions. Daring Fireball
Daring Fireball
Daring Fireball is the web site of John Gruber, an Apple enthusiast and writer. Daring Fireball hosts Gruber's opinions in the form of a blog, and also some of Gruber's software...
blogger John Gruber
John Gruber
John Gruber is a writer from the greater Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area of the USA. Gruber received his Bachelor of Science in computer science from Drexel University. He worked for Bare Bones Software from 2000 to 2002 and Joyent from 2005 to 2006...
has voiced similar criticisms, saying in a 2005 interview that he felt the Finder had become worse since version 10.0 and that "the fundamental problem with the Mac OS X Finder is that it's trying to support two opposing paradigms at once – the browser metaphor... and the spatial metaphor
Spatial file manager
In computing, a spatial file manager is a file manager that uses a spatial metaphor to represent files and folders as if they are real physical objects.-Concepts:The base requirements of a spatial file manager are:...
from the original Mac Finder... and it ends up doing neither one very well." Various reviewers note that starting with OS X v10.3 the Finder can be switched by user preference into a completely spatial mode. However, Siracusa is still critical, saying that it "provides exactly the same self-destructive combination of spatial and browser-style features as all of its Mac OS X predecessors". Siracusa, a web developer, has been called on to submit a prototype of what he thinks would be a better Finder, to supplement his article on the topic, but has declined to do so, saying "I'm a programmer, but not a Mac OS X programmer."
Timeline
Note differences between Finder versions and Classic OS to System 7. From System 6 onward the version numbers are unified. OS X therefore shows a combined System & Finder.See also
- Spatial file managerSpatial file managerIn computing, a spatial file manager is a file manager that uses a spatial metaphor to represent files and folders as if they are real physical objects.-Concepts:The base requirements of a spatial file manager are:...
- Miller ColumnsMiller ColumnsMiller columns are a browsing/visualization technique that can be applied to tree structures. The columns allow multiple levels of the hierarchy to be open at once, and provide a visual representation of the current location. It is closely related to techniques used earlier in the Smalltalk...
- List of file managers
- Comparison of file managersComparison of file managersThe following tables compare general and technical information for a number of notable file managers.-General information:Basic general information about the managers: creator/company etc.-Cross-platform file managers:...
- Windows ExplorerWindows ExplorerThis article is about the Windows file system browser. For the similarly named web browser, see Internet ExplorerWindows Explorer is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface...
External links
- Apple's website
- Apple Macintosh before System 7
- 10.5 "Leopard" Finder Site
- Ars Technica: About the Finder...
- Ars Technica: Review of Mac OS X 10.3 – discussing the lack of fundamental changes to the Finder