by Tom Nelson
The Finder is the operating system’s default file manager for viewing and working with the Mac’s filing system. It allows us to easily see and work with the hierarchical organizational structure inherent in our Macs. To help us easily find, access, and organize our files, the Finder offers four different methods of viewing the filing system.
In these two guides, we’re going to look at each of the four viewing options: Icon, List, Column, and Cover Flow; the viewing options that are available for each view, and some of the quirks and characteristics of each.
We’ll start with Icon and List view, two of the most often used views. In Customizing Finder Views: Part 2, we’ll look at the ins and outs of Column and Cover Flow views.
Icon View
To set the current Finder window to display items as icons, select Icon from the window’s toolbar; it’s the first button in the View section of the toolbar. You can also select View, As Icons from the Finder menu bar.
You can select Icon view directly from the toolbar using the Icon view button outlined in red. Screen shot © Coyote Moon, Inc.
Icon view is the default Finder view, and is characterized by the use of icons to represent the items contained within a folder, usually files and other folders although other item types could be present, such as various types of links.
The icons can be plain default images supplied by the operating system, or custom icons created by an app developer or the end user to bring a bit of color and style to the desktop.
Coyote Moon, Inc. 