Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Lion Edition

The Finder Toolbar

At the top of every Finder window is a small set of function icons, all in a gradient-gray row (Figure 2-19). The first time you run Mac OS X, you’ll find only these icons on the toolbar:

• Back (◂), Forward (▸). The Finder works something like a Web browser. Only a single window remains open as you navigate the various folders on your hard drive.

  The Back button (◂) returns you to whichever folder you were just looking at. (Instead of clicking ◂, you can also press -[, or choose Go→Back—particularly handy if the toolbar is hidden, as described below.)

  The Forward button (▸) springs to life only after you’ve used the Back button. Clicking it (or pressing -]) returns you to the window you just backed out of.

• View controls. The four tiny buttons next to the ◂ button switch the current window into icon, list, column, or Cover Flow view, respectively. And remember, if the toolbar is hidden, you can get by with the equivalent commands in the View menu at the top of the screen—or by pressing -1 for icon view, -2 for list view, -3 for column view, or -4 for Cover Flow view.

• Quick Look. ...