Using the Path Bar in Mac OS X

When browsing through your files and folders in Finder, it is easy to get lost and not know where you are or what directory you are browsing. If you have several folders of the same name in different locations on your Mac, it is quite confusing when you do not know the path of the folder you are in. With the path bar enabled, you will always know where the file or folder selected is located.

The path bar is a slim strip near the bottom of your Finder window. To enable the path bar, first open a Finder window. This is done by double-clicking on your Macintosh hard drive icon from the desktop. Next, go to the View menu and choose Show Path Bar. The Show Path Bar option is grayed out if a Finder window is not open.

The left most end of the path bar is the top level, which will always show the drive (also known as the volume) where the window’s contents are located. This maybe your Mac hard drive, a network drive, iDisk or an external storage device. The top level is followed by arrows pointing to subfolders that show the path of the currently selected item. You can move up the hierarchy by clicking on a folder along the path bar. You can also use the path bar to move files to other locations in the hierarchy - just click and drag a file to a folder along the path bar.

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