The following section contains information on getting familiar with Macintosh Explorer and its hierarchal navigation methods. It will get you familiar with basic instructions on how to navigate your computers as well as how to copy and move files and get or set file information.
Macintosh Explorer provides a variety of ways to rename files and folders. The quickest way to rename a file or folder is to select it in the file list and press the return key. Enter the new name and press the return key again.
You can also rename files and folder within the information dialog (Command-I) or by using the batch file changer to modify the names of multiple files and folders at once.
When using the Finder, you can get access to many file or folder attributes by opening the respected items info dialog. Macintosh Explorer provides the same functionality except its info dialog provides the ability to get and set additional file information.
You can get and set modification times as well as extended file and folder flags and attributes. The info dialog also provides the ability to create aliases pointing to the respected file in your favorites folder or Desktop folder. You can also choose to reveal the file in the Finder or open a file within any selected application. Furthermore, Macintosh Explorer always you to move the file to the trash or permanently delete it right from within the get info dialog.
To get file information for files or folders, select the items you want to get info for and goto File->Get Info (Command-I)
Like a web browser, Macintosh Explorer stores the past folders that you have visited within that browser window. If you need to refer back to a past folder to copy an item to it or quickly return to a folder without having to navigate through countless directories, you can use Macintosh Explorer's Back and Forward navigation buttons.
The back button will go back through past folders that have been visited. Each time you go back, the current folder is added to the forward list. When you press the forward button, you can return to the folder that you were at before pressing the back button.
You can also get a list of the last 10 folder's visited from the Go menu. You can select an folder listed to quickly jump to that folder within Macintosh Explorer.
Macintosh Explorer provides drag and drop abilities much like the Finder. The benefit to using Macintosh Explorer's drag and drop is that it gives you access to multiple folders in a single window in a single list. Unlike the Finder, which only allows you to see one folder's contents in each window, Macintosh Explorer's hierarchal file browsing interface gives you access to multiple folders and their contents within a single browser window.
Macintosh Explorer provides the same functionality as the Finder when copying, moving and making alias files with drag and drop. Hold Option to copy the currently dragged items, option-command to make an alias and no keys to move the file.
Furthermore, Macintosh Explorer provides spring loading folders. What this means is that when you hold the dragged items over a certain folder within the browser list for a certain period of time, the folder will spring open allowing you to drop the dragged items within one of the folder's contents. The length of time that it takes a folder to spring open is customizable in the preferences.
On Mac OS X, you must move the dragged item over the current row to have it spring open. This prevents you from accidently springing open a folder while deciding where you are going to drop the files into.
Like a text editor, Macintosh Explorer always you to cut, copy and paste files just like you would cut, copy and paste text within a word processor. This allows you to get the files you want to copy or move in one folder, and then later decide where to put them. It removes the need to have to drag the files while you are deciding where they should go. It also allows you to copy files and folders to multiple places without having to return to the original files each time.
Select the files and folders you want to copy or move and either cut or paste them using the respected menu commands under the Edit menu or the corresponding key commands. Find the destination folder(s) and select Edit->Paste (Command-V).
If you have ever wanted to reduce window clutter as well as be able to quickly jump to various directories without having to open countless windows, Macintosh Explorer's all new tabbed browsing feature is exactly what you need.
Tabbed browsing is enabled by default and can be enabled or disabled globally in the preferences under the view tab or on a per window basis by selecting Show Tab Bar from under the View menu
When tabs are enabled you can open a new tab by going to the file menu and selected New Tab (Command-T) or by control clicking a folder and selecting 'Open in New Tab'. You can switch between tabs by clicking the desired tab within the tab bar. Tabs can be closed by selecting Close Tab from the File menu or by clicking the close button within each individual tabs.
It is very common to misplace certain documents requiring you to search your entire computer to locate it. It is even possible to misplace certain files within specific folders in which case you would only want to search those specific locations. Macintosh Explorer provides the ability to quickly and easily search all local drives, your home directory, only the current selection, or everywhere on your computer (on OS 9 you can only search the entire computer). Every Explorer window contains a search files which will search the specified locations for any file that contains the string you enter in the search field. Your search results are displayed in the Filter File window which is automatically opened when the search begins.