Browser-like BACK Feature for Finder

[mac57]

I just stumbled across this little gem a day or two ago when I was setting up Sunrise on my machine. Quite by accident, I have set up the Back and Forward thumb buttons on my mouse such that they do the indicated function in Finder windows as well as in a browser. In retrospect, it is obvious, but I had never done it before, and I LOVE it. I thought I would pass it along.

I have always had my mouse Back and Forward buttons set to OPT+LeftArrow and OPT+RightArrow, as this worked well for Safari and Firefox, both of which I use regularly. When I loaded Sunrise, I found that this didn't work. With a little dickering about, I found that OPT+[ did the BACK function and OPT+] did the Forward function. I tested these keystrokes in Safari and Firefox and they worked there too. Great, I made the change to my mouse's preference pane, and all was well.

This AM, I was browsing through a folder hierarchy in Finder and quite by accident (force of habit from browser, actually, I hit the Back button, AND IT WORKED! Apparently OPT+[ takes Finder back one level, and OPT+] moves it forward to where it was last. WoW! I have always wanted to have Finder do BACK like a browser does.

This is a simple thing, but I love it so much I thought I would pass it on. I hope it may improve YOUR Mac experience too!

 

[giulio]

Cool find!

Also, command[ and command] work too

 

[mac57]

Ya gotta luv the Mac - SO flexible and so easy to use!

 

[surfwax95]

Command + 'Up' or 'Down' arrow will take you through the folder hierarchy vertically, as well.