Path Finder (originally SNAX) is a
Macintosh
Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...
file browser developed by
Cocoatech.
First released in 2001 simultaneously with the public release of
Mac OS X 10.0 (Cheetah), it replicates or integrates most of the features of the
Finder, but introduces additional functionality similar to that found in the Windows
File Explorer
File Explorer, previously known as Windows Explorer, is a file manager application and default desktop environment that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user i ...
, the defunct
Norton Commander, and other third-party file browsers developed for a variety of platforms.
Features
Primarily a
navigational file manager, Path Finder also features support for configuration as a correct
orthodox or
spatial file manager. Most operations can take place in a single window, although more windows or tabs can be opened. The interface can further be customized by enabling or disabling various panels and/or their corresponding functionality.
Some of Path Finder's features not found in the Finder include its namesake persistent
breadcrumb navigation,
shelf (called Drop Stack), transparent
archive file browsing, manipulating hidden files, root access, full
ACL GUI, batch operations, folder comparison and synchronization,
terminal emulator
A terminal emulator, or terminal application, is a computer program that emulates a video terminal within some other display architecture. Though typically synonymous with a shell or text terminal, the term ''terminal'' covers all remote term ...
,
hex editor, active process viewer, and application launcher.
Path Finder can optionally use the same keyboard shortcut to open folders as Windows Explorer, instead of the default .
It also supports an optional dual-pane UI.
Several features were present earlier in Cocoatech's Path Finder, only later adopted in Apple's
Finder, including
tabs (added in
OS X Mavericks) and an option to keep folders above files.
Reception
In his 2005 review of
Mac OS X Tiger
Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4) is the 5th major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Mac computers. Tiger was released to the public on April 29, 2005, for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. Inc ...
, ''
Ars Technica
''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sci ...
'' columnist John Siracusa commented that Path Finder "absolutely ''embarrasses'' the Mac OS X Finder", and called Path Finder 4 "the Final Cut Pro of file management" and a "file browsing tour de force".
See also
*
Comparison of file managers
*
File manager
A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage computer files, files and folder (computing), folders. The most common Computer file#Operations, operations performed on files or groups of files incl ...
References
External links
*
File managers
Utilities for macOS
Shareware
{{mac-software-stub