Finder Productivity: Customizing the Sidebar
Posted by Chuck on April 27th, 2006
Many Mac users still use the Classic Finder windows rather than the full Mac OS X style. That’s fine if you are a beginner or desperately need simplicity. But you are a Weapon of Mac Production and want all the productivity options you can get. The OS X view gives you those options with the power to manage files and folders quickly and easily.
Many Mac users still use the “Classic” Finder windows rather than the full Mac OS X style. That’s fine if you are a beginner or desperately need simplicity:
(click for full size view)
Here’s what the stock Sidebar looks like in Tiger:
(click for full size view)
Adding or deleting items from the Sidebar is simple - drag and drop items on the Sidebar to add them, drag them out and they disappear in a little puff of digital smoke. Rearranging is as you would expect - click and drag the item to the position of order you desire.
Here’s what my Sidebar looks like right now:
(click for full size view)
In the top section of the Sidebar, I have all the options turned on, so I am seeing my Mac, any mounted hard drives, my iDisk, my network and any connected servers, and any removable media, such as CDs, DVDs and mounted disc images.
All the project folders have custom icons so the Sidebar can be resized to show just the icon . That maximizes my desktop space and the info that can be displayed in the window while retaining full functionality. (Now you can see the real usefulness of custom icons - only a glance shows me what I need to know.)
If I do need to see the names, a click and drag on the divider opens the Sidebar wider, as shown, but also notice the corresponding loss of information that can be displayed.
(click for full size view)
The Sidebar will accept pretty much anything you want to put there – files, folders, applications, URLs, etc. I tend to keep mainly folders in the Sidebar because it makes both accessing and placement of frequently used files convenient.
Like most of my productivity environment, the content of my Sidebar is under constant review and is subject to change. Old projects are completed, new ones are added and priorities change. The more frequently used folders tend to migrate to the top, less frequently used folders move down and if something isn’t used in a week or two and I notice it, it’s gone. Documents, Downloads and the mysterious Black Hole are by far the most frequently accessed, so they have a permanent place right at the top.
If you were paying attention to our article on customizing the Dock, you’ll notice that some items live in both places. Why the redundancy? As computer screens increase in size and resolution it can be handy to have something like, say, your Documents folder in two places so that drag and drops take less mouse mileage. You’ll probably laugh at that if you’re using an iBook, but if you are fortunate enough to enjoy a 30″ Cinema Display then you know what I mean.
Resetting The Sidebar
If you start dragging things out the lower portion of the Sidebar, you can easily replace them simply by dragging them right back in. But what if you move something out of the top portion and decide it was a mistake? There isn’t exactly an icon for your Network that you can easliy locate.
This is the perfect time to remind you that the Finder is actually an application (a special application, but an application none the less), and just like any other application, the Finder has Preferences. Choosing Finder -> Preferences will give you this dialog, and the opportunity to change or restore your Sidebar settings:
As with all MacProductivity articles, take these ideas, implement them, throw away what doesn’t work for you, and let me know what you discover that others might benefit from at chuck@macproductivity.com.