While there are many raw feature of speech in Lion — like Mission Control and Launchpad — you’ll also encounter some old familiars : The Finder , Spotlight , Quick Look , the Dock , and About this Mac , for example , are all still there . But that ’s not to say these OS go staples have stayed on the button the same . Here ’s a summing up of how they ’ve changed in Lion .
The Finder
Looking at Launchpad and Mission Control , you might get the feeling that Steve Jobs ambition of a time to come in which users will mess less withfilesand cerebrate more about usingapps . That time to come is n’t here quite yet ; in the meantime , however , Lion work some interesting refining to the Finder .
The file manager has been simplified and streamlined , muting colors and ( as elsewhere in Lion ) removing scrollbars to bring home the bacon a cleaner — some might say more unimaginative — feel . The revelation triangles that used to expand or collapse sections of the Finder sidebar have been removed , replaced ( à la iTunes ) with the dustup Hide and Show , which appear when you hover your computer mouse cursor division heading . Those sidebar sections have have been tweaked too : Places has been replaced by Favorites , and Search For is move entirely .
In improver , there ’s an all - new option for regard your files , found under Favorites : the All My Files section . In Lion , this is the default aspect when creating new Finder windows , so ( unless you exchange the setting in the Finder ’s preference ) , you ’ll be seeing it a lot . As its name intimate , All My Files demonstrate you every Indian file that you might actuallyuse(meaning it admit documents but excludes system Indian file ) , no matter where they reside on your movement .
In Lion, you can organize the files any Finder window by name; kind; application; date opened, added, modified, or created; size; or label.
By nonremittal , All My Files separate them by Kind : Contacts ; Events & To Dos ; Images ; PDF Documents ; Music ; Movies , Spreadsheets ; Developer ( for HTML and Xcode files ) ; and the catch - all Documents . In icon view , each class gets its own row ; you’re able to scroll horizontally through its files or scroll down to another section . In List , Column , and Cover Flow view , single file in each section are range in vertical tilt ( which can sometimes make for really recollective surgical incision ) .
In Lion , you’re able to organize the file cabinet any Finder window by name ; kind ; program ; date open , added , limited , or created ; size ; or label .
If you ’d prefer , you could instead screen out All My Files — or any other Finder section — by Name , applications programme , Date Last Opened , Date Added , Date Modified , Date Created , Size , or Label . Choose any family but Name , and your file cabinet will be organized consequently into sections . If you select Date Last Opened , for example , your filing cabinet are sorted into sections for Today , Yesterday , old 7 Days , old 30 Days , and sooner .
In the new Finder, you can compile search terms and criteria using tokens.
While you were able to select Arrange By options in Snow Leopard , they were buried in a grinder - fare ; now they ’re usable from the Finder toolbar . Also , program and Date Last Opened are raw .
There are smaller changes , too . If you spotlight multiple files and Control - click , you may select New Folder with Selection which , as the name implies , will create a new folder ( within the current one ) containing those files . If you copy a file cabinet to a new folder , and there ’s already a file with the same name there , the Finder will ask you whether you want to keep both data file ( in which case the new comer will havecopyappended to its name ) , exchange the one that ’s there , or stop the operation . And if you highlight a file and click the gear image in Finder ’s toolbar , you ’ll see one or two new options ( depending on the eccentric of data file ): New Email with Attachment and Set Desktop Picture .
Among Lion ’s alterations to the Finder , there are also a few things missing : For one , your user Library folder is now hide by default option . ( The system Library remain seeable . ) If you want access to that pamphlet , you may either make hidden files seeable or apply the Finder’sGo to Folder command . It ’s also punishing to move applications : If you seek to drag a program out of the Applications leaflet , it will automatically turn into an assumed name ; to actually move it , you ’ll postulate to throw down the Command key as you drag .
Even the About this Mac window has been improved, with graphical summaries of your Mac’s major subsystems.
Search, Spotlight, and Quick Look
explore for files in the Finder is now much more reasoning . As you typewrite hunting terms , Lion suggest lucifer and file type that you might be looking for . For instance , typephotoshop , and the Finder will declare oneself to attend for either all Photoshop Indian file on your hard private road or any files withphotoshopin the name . It can also convert searches intotokens — little house of cards - like aim with the search type ( sort ) on the left wing and the lookup terminus on the right field . These tokens make it well-off to combine queries : You could , for object lesson , do that Photoshop lookup first , then tot up the wordhatin the hunting loge , creating a new search that looks for Photoshop files withhatin the name .
As before , when you initate a query , the Finder displays a hunting bar , where you may take the oscilloscope of the search ( your whole Mac or just this booklet ) , save it , or bring more terms . You no longer get the choice of searching the mental object of file versus the name ; instead , the Finder tries to guess what you want , bet on the variety and scope of the hunting . As in Snow Leopard , you’re able to economize search as Smart Folders ; these can be saved to specific folders or the Finder sidebar .
In the new Finder , you’re able to compile hunt term and criterion using tokens .
While Spotlight does n’t look outwardly unlike in Lion , it has picked up a few smashing raw tricks . you’re able to now employ Quick Look on detail in the Spotlight drop - down ; hover your black eye over one of them , and a scrollable trailer will drink down up to the left field . you may also search Wikipedia and the Web from the Spotlight carte du jour . While you ca n’t employ hunt token in Spotlight as you could in Finder , you could still do things the old - fashioned manner using Boolean searches and keywords .
Once you ’ve ground the file you were looking for in Spotlight , you have three choices : you could fall into place on it to afford it instantly in its default program ; snap Show All in Finder , which will show the results in a Finder search window ; or drag one of the results from the Spotlight card to an eastward - chain armour message , a folder , or to AirDrop , Lion ’s Modern local file cabinet - share lineament .
spot is n’t the only place where Quick Look shows up . It can also show you larger vista of window in Mission Control , and it can preview website in compatible computer program , including Mail and iChat : Hover over a uniform resource locator , and a downward pointer will come out at the end of the address . dawn that pointer , and you ’ll get a scrollable preview of that page and an selection to unfold it in your default Web web internet browser .
In the Finder , Quick Look works the same as it always has — select a file then wiretap the spacebar ( or use an alternate keyboard shortcut ) to preview your file . You now have the options of spread out the selected file in its assign coating or showing the preview full - screen . Unlike full - blind apps , however , full - concealment Quick Look windows do not become new workspaces ; they just fill your current background .
Even without go into Quick Look mode , Lion can still cater enhanced previews : If you select a PDF in the Finder using newspaper column or Cover Flow scene , for deterrent example , you ’ll see a multi - page preview that you could thumb through .
The Dock and About this Mac
firmly as it may be to remember with all of Lion ’s newfangled additions , once upon a time the Dock was the generator of contentious disputation among Mac substance abuser . ( Remember Leopard ’s slanted translucent version ? ) In Lion , however , the Dock seems like an previous friend ; with a few exceptions , it ’s much the same as the one you ’ve have it off and ( maybe ) loved for years .
The major alteration is n’t any kind of novel functionality , but something that ’s travel aside : the short blue indicator get down underneath political platform that bespeak that they ’re running . It seems to be part of an Apple political campaign to make us stop conceive about “ running ” platform . Do n’t worry , though : If you miss the lights , you could ferment them back on in the Dock ’s System Preferences acid .
Even the About this Mac windowpane has been better , with graphical summaries of your Mac ’s major subsystems .
Another change is tied into Mission Control : If you move the pointer over an app in the Dock , then do a three- or four - digit down swipe over it , you ’ll get App Exposé , showing that program ’s undefended windows . In apps that work with documents — Text Edit and Preview , for example — you’ll also get a Cover Flow - alike list of files that you ’ve work of late ; tick on one to open it .
Like the Dock and the other Finder change made in Lion , at first coup d’oeil , the trademark Apple menu in the upper odd street corner of your screen does n’t seem to have change at all . Select About This Mac , for example , and you ’ll still see the familiar About This Mac summary windowpane . But if you click that windowpane ’s More Info button , you ’ll find something new .
antecedently , that push button launch the System Profiler utility , a no - trumpery , schoolbook - heavy summary of your computer ’s division and connexion . In Lion , however , that clit gets you a new System Information window . That windowpane has six tabs . The first gives you a quick overview of your Mac as a whole . The next three supply gracious , graphical summaries of your display(s ) , storage ( including the platter space you have lead and the amount of way diffferent type of files are take up ) , and retention ( total install and shape of computer memory modules ) . The last two tab furnish nimble links to fend for and service information . If you still need the nitty - gritty details of the System Profiler , it ’s usable by tap the System Report button on the Overview tab .
