Files and folders in Finder

Everything you keep on a Mac is a file: a photo, a note, a picture of your app's screen. Files are kept in a folder, and a folder can hold other folders. The app that shows them is the Finder.

Open a Finder window

Click the blue and white smiling face at the left end of the Dock. A window opens. If nothing opens, press Command + N while Finder is the front app.

Down the left side is the sidebar. The places you will use most:

• Desktop: what is on your screen behind the windows.
• Documents: a good home for long-term files.
• Downloads: where the browser puts files from the internet.
• Applications: your apps.

The main area shows what is inside the place you clicked. Folders are blue. Files show a small picture of their contents. Double-click a folder to go into it. Click the < arrow at the top-left of the window to go back.

Make the Binder folder

This folder is for practice. In Part 4 you will make the real one for your app.

1. Click Desktop in the sidebar.
2. Control-click an empty spot in the main area: hold Control and click. A menu appears.
3. Click New Folder. A blue folder appears, named "untitled folder", with the name highlighted.
4. Type Binder. The old name is replaced as you type.
5. Press Return. The folder is now called Binder. It also appears on your Desktop.

Rename, move, delete

• Rename: click the folder once to select it, press Return, type the new name, press Return.
• Move: drag a file onto a folder and let go. It goes inside.
• Delete: drag a file onto the Trash, the bin icon at the right end of the Dock. Or select it and press Command + Delete. The file waits in the Trash until you empty it, so a mistake can be undone.

Practice

1. Double-click the Binder folder. It opens, empty.
2. Click the < arrow to go back to Desktop.
3. Rename the folder to Binder practice, then rename it back to Binder.