The Sidebar gives you quick access to the folders and other items you use most. Take the time to set up the sidebar and you’ll save time as you work. Sidebar options allow you to save your customized Sidebars and open them easily afterwards.
By default, the sidebar is divided into several Groups or sections: Shared, Devices, Favorites, Recent Documents, Recent Folders, Search For and Tags.
| Shared | Shows network devices |
| Devices | Shows available devices and volumes |
| Favourites | Includes items you use most frequently, such as AirDrop (starting from version 10), the Applications folder, your Documents folder and the Downloads folder. You can add other folders by dragging them into the Favourites section. Rearrange folders by dragging them up and down. |
| Recent Documents | Shows the 10 most recent documents you opened from within Path Finder |
| Recent Folders | Shows the 10 most recent folders you accessed in Path Finder |
| Search for | Smart Search folders in this section allow you to quickly access files added Today, Yesterday, Past Week as well as different document types – All Documents, All PDF Documents, etc. |
| Tags | Shows you all files on your computer tagged by a certain color |
You can reorder Sidebar sections easily by grabbing the title and dragging it up or down:
Customizing the Sidebar:
- Hover the mouse over the Sidebar word
- Click on the small wheel at the left
- Check or uncheck the options in the Preference pane which appears
Available Sidebar options:
| Assign to pane | This option describes the behaviour in Dual Pane. Choose wether the sidebar toggles file browsing of the left pane, both panes simultanously or the right pane. |
| Lock Module | This option prevents you from accidentally removing Sidebar from its place. |
| Hide Header | Hides the word “Sidebar”. To unhide the header hover the mouse over the header while holding the Option ⌥ key |
| Groups | Switches on/off different sections of the Sidebar |
| Favorites | Clickable button: shows/hides AirDrop and iCloud Drive in Favorites |
| Devices | Clickable button: shows/hides available devices and volumes |
| Searches | Clickable button: shows/hides search categories in the “Search” section |
| Icon Size | Changes size of the sidebar icons |
| Use color icons | Switches on retro 3D look of the icons from older versions of macOS |
| Color options | Changes visual appearance |
| Settings | Clickable button: saves different Sidebar options under a name. You can then switch between different saved Sidebars by clicking on the “Settings” button. |
Dual Pane with two sidebars
It is possible to attach a Sidebar to each pane in Dual Pane mode. You can assign each Sidebar to toggle its own pane in Sidebar preferences (see above).
Watch video: