Like most applications in OS X with a toolbar, Finder will let you rearrange, add and remove items from its toolbar (pictured below). This is a great timesaver for those who don’t have the keyboard shortcuts memorized for deleting or want to have access to a button.

Like most other OS X applications, customize Finder’s toolbar by choosing the Customize Toolbar… from the View menu (pictured below).

Just like previously mentioned, Finder acts just as most other OS X applications. Below is a screenshot of the toolbar items available for Finder’s toolbar; it includes options like New Folder, Delete, Get Info, Quick Look, Eject and multiple view/navigation items.

This can be looked at as a tip or just a reminder, a reminder that you can always customize your Toolbars and to use that feature to its fullest.

I like to add a little something to each of the applications I use, personalize them if you will. Even though I use keyboard shortcuts the majority of the time to delete, view file info or for Quick Look, I find myself using them occasionally when its not convenient to use the keyboard (other people who use my Mac use them as well).

I’ve noticed most people drag an external disk to the Trash in order to unmount/eject a drive from their Mac. Thats not the only way to safely eject a disk from your system though… I can’t claim this tip saves any time, but its one I use quite often when I’ve got several application windows open, this tip is how to eject a disk through the Finder window (instead of the Desktop and the Trash located on the Dock).

Each ejectable disk has a small eject icon next to it in the left sidebar of Finder, this is highlighted in the image above (click on it to enlarge). A simple click on this eject icon will unmount the disk from your system and allow for removal without data loss (providing it ejected without an error). You’ll know its been ejected from your Mac when the disk disappears.

There are other ways of ejecting a drive from your system, using Disk Utility is one, and another method is by selecting a disk in Finder and using Command + E (while a drive is selected).

By default Finder does not list the sizes of all items on your hard drive when viewing folders and files. If you’re curious about the size of an item and Finder simply places an -- in the Size column give this a try.

Bring up the View Options for the current folder you’re looking at, do this by either using Cmd+J, View > Show View Options or by right-clicking in a blank part of the Finder window and choosing Show View Options from the menu. Once there you’ll see a window like the one below, check the Calculate all sizes checkbox and close the window.

For an additional bonus, click the Use as Defaults button to apply this change to all subfolders. For one reason or another Finder does not remember this setting after logging out and back in, I would assume thats to minimize the work the CPU and hard drives need to do while browsing your files to make the OS snappier. If you only care about the size of a single file or folder, Quick Look will give this info to you with less effort, additionally the Get Info option under the File menu (also available by right-clicking the file/folder) will tell you a little more.

FolderTeint is an application for the mac written by Thomas Zoechling and does one thing: changes the appearance of Leopard’s folder icons. FolderTeint is a free application and as its creator suggests, it fixes Leopard’s icons for many users (a visual fix/improvement).

The obvious question is what does FolderTeint do? Well that’s simple, it allows you to change the color of all (or select) folder icons. FolderTeint does this through a simple user interface: select the folders then modify the contrast, saturation, brightness and color of your mac’s folder icons. Once you’re done apply the changes then logout and back in to see your gorgeous new set of icons. FolderTeint does not change the custom image on each icon (like the hammer on Developer), instead it changes the color and tint of the icon.

For those who don’t like Apple’s colorful nature, FolderTeint will defiantly fix Leopard’s folder icons for you if you prefer Graphite instead of Blue for your system appearance setting then download and try FolderTeint. On the other hand, if you prefer a colorful desktop make your icons brighter and more colorful, the ideas are endless. I use FolderTeint to make my icons a dark black.

Because FolderTeint modifies Leopards icons, any application that uses the default icon set in Leopard will be updated, though indirectly, to your new icon color. A great example of this is Apple’s Mail.

More: FolderTeint from Thomas Zoechling.
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The Finder Path Bar is a nice addition to Finder, but it doesn’t come enabled by default. The Path Bar is located at the bottom of the Finder window and shows the path to the file currently selected in Finder. The image above is an example of the Path Bar displaying Photo Booth.app in the Applications folder.

To enable the Path Bar in Finder open a finder window and select Show Path Bar from the View menu. It’s that simple.

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