The Sidebar appears in the left column of every Finder window. The Sidebar features all of your primary starting points, such as the Applications and Home Folders.

The Sidebar consists of three different collapsible sections:

• Favorites – This section contains shortcuts to files and folders. As a starting point, Apple has added your All My Files, AirDrop, Applications, Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures and Home folders. You can add any shortcuts you wish to this location – files, applications, folders or disks.
• Devices – This section contains shortcuts to your computer, the network, and your hard disk. If you have any removable media such as USB drives, removable hard disks or CD’s, these will be displayed below the Hard Disk icon and will bear a gray icon which when clicked, will eject the disk.
• Shared – If you have sharing enabled, this section will list all other computers on your network that are set up for shared access.

Click the desired folder icon in the Sidebar to displays its contents in the Finder window. You can customize which items appear by checking them under the Finder > Preferences menu. You can show or hide the contents of a section by moving your mouse pointer over the name of the section (Devices, Favorites and Shared) and click Hide to collapse the display or Show to expand the display.

You can also add your own items such as folders, documents, applications, or any other Finder item to which you want quick access to the Favorites area of the Sidebar. Any item you add to the Sidebar will then be available in every Finder window. Select the item you wish to add to the Sidebar and then either drag it to the Sidebar, choose File > Add to Sidebar from the menu or press the ⌘ + T keystroke combination. To remove an item from the Sidebar, drag its icon off of the Sidebar. Note that if you put files or applications in the Sidebar, they can then be opened with a single-click (instead of double-click). You can also rearrange any item (except for items in the Shared section) by dragging it to the desired position in the Sidebar.

To Use the Sidebar

1. To add an item to the sidebar:
   a. Select the file, folder or disk you wish add to the Sidebar.
   b. Drag it to the Favorites section of the Sidebar pane
   Or
   Press the ⌘ + T keystroke combination
   Or
   Select File > Add to Sidebar.
2. To access a Sidebar item:
   a. Open a Finder Window.
   b. Click an item in the Sidebar to displays its contents.
3. To remove an item from the sidebar, right-click its icon and choose Remove from Sidebar from the contextual menu.
4. To rearrange items in the Sidebar, click the item you want to move and drag it to its new location.

Applies to:  Mountain Lion

Similar Posts:

• Read Web Pages Offline using Safari’s Reading List Feature
• Introducing Daily Mac Tips Courses
• Turn TextEdit into a Word Processor by Inserting Tables
• Create Links to an E-mail Messages in the Notes app
• Sync Google Contacts with your Mac’s Contacts application