How to merge multiple finder windows on macos
Finder Tabs are one of the better Mavericks improvements brought to the Mac OS X Finder in years, letting you use the file system in a single window view, with each open folder or directory path as it’s own unique tab.
Used properly, Finder Tabs will prevent the enormous amounts of window clutter that can occur unintentionally when navigating around the Mac file system and juggling a handful of different windows and locations, but if you find yourself overwhelmed with Finder window overload you can use the excellent Merge feature to gather all windows into a single Finder window with tabs.
How to Merge All Finder Windows into Tabs on Mac
- With multiple Finder windows open, pull down the “Window” menu and select “Merge All Windows”
This instantly retrieves every single open Finder window, regardless of their folder path, into a single tabbed Finder window view.
You can always add new Finder tabs to this window (or any other) by hitting Command+T or by pressing the little [+] plus button in the tabbed window too.
The behavior is very similar to how just about every modern web browser works, allowing you to merge and gather single windows into a unified window for easier browsing and less clutter. Much like Chrome, Firefox, or Safari, you can also set a keyboard shortcut for this task if you find yourself using the Merge Windows feature in the Finder often.
Set a Keyboard Shortcut for Merging All Finder Windows Into Tabs
Use the Merge Finder Windows often? You can easily create a custom keystroke to merge all Finder windows into tabs:
- Open System Preferences from the Apple menu and go to “Keyboard”
- Choose the “Shortcuts” tab and then select “App Shortcuts” from the left side menu
- Press the [+] plus button to create a new shortcut
- From “Application” select “Finder.app”, and set ‘Menu Title’ to “Merge All Windows”
- Click into the “Keyboard Shortcut” box and hit your preferred keystroke (Command+Control+Shift+M is the sample given, but use whatever you want)
- Exit System Preferences, and visit the Finder with multiple windows open to try out your new merge window keyboard shortcut
Finder Tabs are easy to use and are just one of several very simple excellent features added to the Mac with OS X Mavericks, available in all modern versions beyond as well. Get in the habit of using them in the Finder, you’ll be glad you did.
Learn how to combine multiple Mac Finder windows into one tab system, to avoid clutter and save time.
Most Mac users have multiple Finder windows and other apps open at the same time, which makes their work environment chaotic and scattered:
Look familiar? 🙈
To get an overview of all your open windows and files, like the above, hit the F3 button on your Mac keyboard.
This happens because people usually work with multiple folders and files during a work session, and then they forget to close them down when they’re done.
Let’s cut down the clutter!
Combine Finder windows into one
Instead of doing that nonsense, you can organize all the folders you need to work on a specific project into one finder folder, with a tab system.
- Open up the 2, 3, or whatever number of folders you need to work with on a single project.
- Now, while having just one of the Finder windows active, go to the top Mac menu and click on Window
- Choose Merge All Windows.
And now you have all your folders organized in one quickly accessible Finder window:
After your first Finder merge action, if you need to add another folder to your tabs, that’s easy:
- While your merged Finder window is open, navigate to the other folder you want to add
- Then right-click on the folder you want to add and click Open in New Tab.
This will add another tab to your merged Finder window.
And when you’re done working on your current project, you can just close the merged Finder window and all the folders will close at once.
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By Sandy Writtenhouse 0 comments Last updated August 5, 2020
Finder is your go-to tool on Mac. It serves as the default file manager, so that you can keep all of your files, images, and documents organized. And as the name implies, when you want to find something on your computer, it’s there to help.
As you work with Finder, there may be times when you need more than one window open at the same time. You might want to drag files from one folder to another or compare the contents of two folders.
Here, we’ll show you ways to open two Finder windows that you can place next to each other on your Mac.
Related:
Start With a Single Finder Window
To get started, open Finder using the icon in your Dock. You can navigate to the drive or folder you need to because you can easily open the next Finder window.
Open a Second Finder Window
You have a few different ways to open another Finder window, so you can use whichever is most convenient at the time or per your preference.
Make sure that Finder is active. You’ll see this in your menu bar with “Finder” on the far left next to the Apple icon. And these methods will work even if you have Finder minimized to the Dock. Do one of the following:
- Go to the menu bar and select File >New Finder Window.
- Right-click Finder in your Dock and select New Finder Window from the shortcut menu.
- Use the keyboard shortcut Command + N.
New Finder Window in menu bar
You can continue using any of the methods above to open additional Finder windows if you like.
Open a Finder Window From a Tab
If you happen to take advantage of the tabs in Finder, you may want to move a tab to its own window. This is just as easy, and you can use one of the below methods.
- Go to the menu bar and select Window >Move Tab toNew Window.
- Right-click the tab and select Move Tab toNew Window from the shortcut menu.
- Select the tab, drag it away from the Finder window, and then release.
Move Tab to New Window
Place the Windows Side-By-Side
Once you have more than one Finder window open, you can simply drag them next to each other. Plus, you can use the built-in macOS snapping feature. This will put your Finder windows right alongside each other.
Simply drag one of the windows against the next and you’ll feel a subtle “snap” into place. Once you do this, you can actually drag windows that are side-by-side up or down and their edges will stay in line with each other.
Snap Finder windows on Mac
Working With Windows on Mac
Opening two or more Finder windows on your Mac is easy to do and can help you with your workflow. If you’re not a fan of using tabs or need to see both windows at the same time, keep these methods in mind!
Are there tips like this for working on macOS that you’d like to share with our readers? If so, feel free to comment below!
Sandy worked for many years in the IT industry as a project manager, department manager, and PMO Lead. She then decided to follow her dream and now writes about technology full-time. Sandy holds a Bachelors of Science in Information Technology.
She loves technology– specifically – terrific games and apps for iOS, software that makes your life easier, and productivity tools that you can use every day, in both work and home environments.
Her articles have regularly been featured at MakeUseOf, iDownloadBlog and many other leading tech publications.
Finder Tabs are one of the better Mavericks improvements brought to the Mac OS X Finder in years, letting you use the file system in a single window view, with each open folder or directory path as it’s own unique tab.
Used properly, Finder Tabs will prevent the enormous amounts of window clutter that can occur unintentionally when navigating around the Mac file system and juggling a handful of different windows and locations, but if you find yourself overwhelmed with Finder window overload you can use the excellent Merge feature to gather all windows into a single Finder window with tabs.
How to Merge All Finder Windows into Tabs on Mac
- With multiple Finder windows open, pull down the “Window” menu and select “Merge All Windows”
This instantly retrieves every single open Finder window, regardless of their folder path, into a single tabbed Finder window view.
You can always add new Finder tabs to this window (or any other) by hitting Command+T or by pressing the little [+] plus button in the tabbed window too.
The behavior is very similar to how just about every modern web browser works, allowing you to merge and gather single windows into a unified window for easier browsing and less clutter. Much like Chrome, Firefox, or Safari, you can also set a keyboard shortcut for this task if you find yourself using the Merge Windows feature in the Finder often.
Set a Keyboard Shortcut for Merging All Finder Windows Into Tabs
Use the Merge Finder Windows often? You can easily create a custom keystroke to merge all Finder windows into tabs:
- Open System Preferences from the Apple menu and go to “Keyboard”
- Choose the “Shortcuts” tab and then select “App Shortcuts” from the left side menu
- Press the [+] plus button to create a new shortcut
- From “Application” select “Finder.app”, and set ‘Menu Title’ to “Merge All Windows”
- Click into the “Keyboard Shortcut” box and hit your preferred keystroke (Command+Control+Shift+M is the sample given, but use whatever you want)
- Exit System Preferences, and visit the Finder with multiple windows open to try out your new merge window keyboard shortcut
Finder Tabs are easy to use and are just one of several very simple excellent features added to the Mac with OS X Mavericks, available in all modern versions beyond as well. Get in the habit of using them in the Finder, you’ll be glad you did.
If you frequently delve into the Finder on macOS, chances are you end up with a bunch of open windows after a while. You could go through, find all these windows, and attend to them one by one, or you can just merge them into one.
Here is what we’re talking about. We have five Finder windows open across our various desktops or Spaces.
If we click on any of these from the Dock, macOS will swoop to that Finder window, on whatever Space it is located. This is rather time-consuming, though. You could also cycle through your windows using Command+` but that only works if you have two or more Finder windows open on the same desktop.
The answer is to merge all your open Finder windows into one. You can do this by clicking on the “Window” menu and then selecting “Merge All Windows” from the list.
When you do this, all your open windows will be gathered together and merged as tabs in Finder.
Merging your Finder windows is a far more elegant solution and takes only a few seconds.
You can use this trick or you can avoid window clutter and in the future, open new Finder windows in tabs using the keyboard shortcut Command+T.
On the other hand, if you do find yourself confronted with a lot of open windows, you can actually quit the Finder using a simple Terminal command, which will close all your Finder windows at once.
It’s all too easy to wind up with two folders that should contain a single set of files but have managed to be strewn across your computer’s storage in two different folders. Wouldn’t it be nice to merge those two folders of the same name into one on the Mac?
Whether newbie or computer wizard, it can be easy in MacOS to end up with two folders when you really wanted one. The obscurity of some elements of the macOS filesystem may even contribute to this happening for some user workflows. But if you do find yourself in need of a way to combine two folders into a single one to rule them all, fear not. We have a solution.
More accurately, Apple has a solution built right into Finder which, in turn, is built right into macOS on every Mac that ships with a modern Mac OS system software release.
The ability to merge two identically named folders is one that few people seem to know about, even experienced and expert Mac users. But that’s fine, we’ve got you covered. Read on to learn where the merge tool is and, most importantly, how to use it on your Mac.
Merging Two Identically Named Folders on Mac
Merging two folders will take the content of one and move it into the other. The files inside the folders must be different and if that isn’t the case you’ll be given the option to keep the latest version of those files. Pay attention if that’s a prompt you see! Now is also a good time to make sure your backup game is on point, too!
All that said, merging two folders is actually pretty easy and you don’t even need to use a special tool to access it. It’s just a modification to behavior you’re probably already familiar with in Finder. Here’s how it works:
- Locate the two folders with the same name that you’d like to merge together into one
- Press and hold the Option key on your keyboard and then drag one folder to the location containing the one you want to keep. When you let go you’ll be given an option to “Merge” the folders. Click it to do exactly that.
- Note that you’ll only see an option to merge folders if one of them contains files that aren’t present in the other. If both folders have the same files you won’t be given the option to merge them.
That’s all there is to it. But remember, you’ll need to pay attention to any prompts that appear in case macOS warns you of the potential for overwritten files.
As mentioned, if both folders have the same files within them, you won’t be given the option to merge them, and really, why would you want to? Typically you don’t want to overwrite files, and if you did, then you wouldn’t be aiming to merge folders anyway. If you do find yourself in that situation with same named files, you can use the “keep both’ option.
This is just one of the many powerful yet quick and easy things you can do within Finder on the Mac. For example, did you know you can rotate images directly from Finder without opening any apps? Heavy iCloud Drive users can also see the status of file syncing, too. We have an ever-growing collection of Mac tips that you might want to check out as well. You might be surprised just how many tips and tricks you don’t know.
Were you able to merge two folders on the Mac using this trick? Did you find another solution? If you’re savvy with the command line, you may find it interesting to note you can use ditto to merge directories from terminal as well
If you have used old MAC OS then you might remember you can’t merge the windows and it was very difficult to work on the system.
Why Merge Feature is Helpful?
It is very difficult to work, if you have to open windows again and again but using the Merge feature will gather all windows into a single window with tabs.
How you can merge finder windows in mac
If your fill is filled up with many windows then you can merge finder windows on one window, for that click on the Windows option in the menu then Select Merge all windows.
Merge finder windows in apple mac os
Right now there is no keyword shortcut right now, but you can make one.
How to Set a Keyboard Shortcut for Merging All Finder Windows
- Open System Preferences from the Apple menu and go to “Keyboard”
- Choose the “Shortcuts” tab and then select “App Shortcuts”
- Press the plus button [+] to create a new shortcut
- From the “Application” select “Finder”, and set ‘Menu Title’ to “Merge All Windows”
- Click into the “Keyboard Shortcut” box and type your preferred keystroke
Keyboard shortcut merging all finder windows
This little trick will help to save your lot of time and help to manage the stuff easily as multiple finder windows will be merged together into a single window.
OS X Mavericks introduced some great new features, including tabs in Finder. There may be times though, when you prefer to use multiple Finder windows, instead of just a single Finder windows with tabs.
In cases like this, you may also want to quickly get all of those windows out of the way and merge them into just one Finder Window. This can be done by going to Finder’s “Window” menu and selecting “Merge All Windows.”
While this is great, you may want an even quicker method: a keyboard shortcut. You can easily set a keyboard shortcut to merge multiple Finder windows into one by doing the following:
1. Open System Preferences and click on Keyboard.
2. Click on the “Shortcuts” tab.
3. Click on “App Shortcuts” in the left column and then click on the “plus” button to add a new shortcut.
4. In the Application menu, choose Finder.
5. For the Menu Title use “Merge All Windows.”
6. Click in the Keyboard Shortcut box and enter an unused keyboard combination to be used as the keyboard shortcut.
7. Click on “Add” and close out System Preferences.
Now any time you have multiple Finder windows open, you can use your keyboard shortcut to merge them. Be sure to try out your new custom keyboard shortcut to make sure it works.
Charnita has been a Freelance Writer & Professional Blogger since 2008. As an early adopter she loves trying out new apps and services. As a Windows, Mac, Linux and iOS user, she has a great love for bleeding edge technology. You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn.
OS X Mavericks introduced some great new features, including tabs in Finder. There may be times though, when you prefer to use multiple Finder windows, instead of just a single Finder windows with tabs.
In cases like this, you may also want to quickly get all of those windows out of the way and merge them into just one Finder Window. This can be done by going to Finder’s “Window” menu and selecting “Merge All Windows.”
While this is great, you may want an even quicker method: a keyboard shortcut. You can easily set a keyboard shortcut to merge multiple Finder windows into one by doing the following:
1. Open System Preferences and click on Keyboard.
2. Click on the “Shortcuts” tab.
3. Click on “App Shortcuts” in the left column and then click on the “plus” button to add a new shortcut.
4. In the Application menu, choose Finder.
5. For the Menu Title use “Merge All Windows.”
6. Click in the Keyboard Shortcut box and enter an unused keyboard combination to be used as the keyboard shortcut.
7. Click on “Add” and close out System Preferences.
Now any time you have multiple Finder windows open, you can use your keyboard shortcut to merge them. Be sure to try out your new custom keyboard shortcut to make sure it works.
Charnita has been a Freelance Writer & Professional Blogger since 2008. As an early adopter she loves trying out new apps and services. As a Windows, Mac, Linux and iOS user, she has a great love for bleeding edge technology. You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn.
