Hi everyone,
I've been a Mac user for over 9 years, and I still find navigating the Finder with VoiceOver a bit challenging. I currently use the list view, which requires using VO + up/down arrows to open and close folders.
However, I've noticed some users mention using the column view, where they can apparently open/close folders with just the left and right arrows. This seems like it could be a more efficient option, especially when collaborating with someone sighted.
So, my question is this: for VoiceOver users, what's the preferred view option for navigating the Finder? If column view is generally recommended, could anyone suggest a good podcast or video tutorial that explains how to use it effectively with VoiceOver?
Thanks in advance for your insights!
By Ramy, 16 May, 2024
Forum
macOS and Mac Apps
Comments
Command-Down-Arrow and Command-O work on folders too
Command-Down-Arrow and Command-O open folders (i.e., subdirectories) as well as files in the Finder. Up/Down-arrow navigate between items in list view, which is what I normally use.
Column view behaves as you describe, as I recall, but you can also use Option-Right-Arrow to open a folder and all of its contents (i.e., all subdirectories recursively).
My favorite way of navigating
When in a Finder window, pressing Command+3 will switch it to Column navigation. You can also set windows/folders to always open in Column view in the Finder preferences.
You'll find that the window now has a Column View area which you'll have to interact with to focus VO within it, and you'll then be navigating through your folders and files. You can just use the up and down arrow keys or VO+Up or Down to move vertically through the column of files and folders, and to enter a folder, you just hit the right arrow key. This makes a new column appear for the folder you entered and you'll already be navigating inside of it. So up and down arrows move you vertically through the column, right arrow moves you into folders, left arrow moves you back out of folders and to previous folders.
When in column view, if you uninteract and go to the toolbar at the top of the window, or hit VO+M to go to the menu bar and go to the View menu, you can change the grouping and sort order of the column view. By name is the default, and I usually have it set to Date Added depending on what I'm doing, and if I need to see the latest files first in the columns.
Column view navigation also works great in the Save and Open dialogs. Just switch over to it with Command+3 and give it a go!
apply view settings on all my mac?
will give it a try now, thanks
but, what about if i need to apply this setting for all my mac OS, is there away to do so?
You way is very helpful and also i'll stop interacting with tables again.
Apple documents the Finder with VoiceOver
https://support.apple.com/guide/voiceover/finder-mchlp2696/mac
Keyboard shortcut overloading
I wanted to chime in with how certain keyboard commands behave differently depending on list/column view, or whether you're in an open dialog. I won't pretend this is authoratative or complete, but it's my experience.
In a Finder window in list view, Command+O opens a folder. In an open dialog, such as specifying a location to download a file, Command+O accepts the currently selected item and returns it. I can't tell you how many times I've been in an open dialog, arrowed to a folder, pressed Command+O to open it, and the open dialog vanished.
Another overloaded shortcut is Command+Up and Down arrow. In List view, these will open and close folders. In nearly any other MacOS app, they move focus to first and last item. To move to first and last item in Finder list view, use Option+Up and Down instead.
Despite the shortcut overloading, list view is still my preferred interface for Finder. This might be my past experience with other platforms showing through, e.g., Windows Explorer or a shell prompt ls -l command. But I tend to think of a filesystem as a heirarchy of directories containing files which all have attributes, and list view reflects that thinking best, IMO.