Help with Finder for searching and organizing files

[justme007]

I am having some issues with Finder and looking for some tips.

currently working in list view sometimes in the 3 column view. some questions

1. when searching for a file how do you know what folder that file exists? currently search results just has a bunch of files but no folders in the details
2. I have a lot of folders so dragging and dropping files is not easy. right clicking mouse only shows move to trash is there a way to customize so I can move to another folder or a shortcut key that I can use to move files to different folders?

hopefully this makes sense

 

[TonyAguila]

I am having some issues with Finder and looking for some tips.

currently working in list view sometimes in the 3 column view. some questions

1. when searching for a file how do you know what folder that file exists? currently search results just has a bunch of files but no folders in the details
2. I have a lot of folders so dragging and dropping files is not easy. right clicking mouse only shows move to trash is there a way to customize so I can move to another folder or a shortcut key that I can use to move files to different folders?

hopefully this makes sense

Maybe you should try Spotlight. The default trigger, I think, is control-space. A text field should open. Start entering the file name and a list of hits should start forming beneath that window. When the file you are looking for appears on the list, scroll down to it with the arrow keys, then press command-Return to reveal it in Finder.

 

[Lufbrarunner]

As above but Command + Space to open Spotlight.

 

[justme007]

I used the command space and I can the list of search results.

1. how do you know where the file location is in that search result? is there a way to add columns or details?
2. how do you move the file to another folder without the tedious drag drop?
3. right click mouse only shows move to trash. is there a way to customize so I can right click to move to other folders?

currently I am using cmd c to copy and then having to navigate to target folder with a cmd opt v but that is not efficient. there must be an easier way?

in windows file explorer I have a list of folders in the 1st column (column is fixed) and even favorite folders then as I navigate through my files I can easily drag and drop to the folders. trying to figure out how to customize mac finder to make it similar

 

[TonyAguila]

As above but Command + Space to open Spotlight.

That must be the default, and I must have changed it to control-space (probably ages ago) because I assigned command-space to switch keyboard layouts.

 

[TonyAguila]

I used the command space and I can the list of search results.

1. how do you know where the file location is in that search result? is there a way to add columns or details?
2. how do you move the file to another folder without the tedious drag drop?
3. right click mouse only shows move to trash. is there a way to customize so I can right click to move to other folders?

currently I am using cmd c to copy and then having to navigate to target folder with a cmd opt v but that is not efficient. there must be an easier way?

in windows file explorer I have a list of folders in the 1st column (column is fixed) and even favorite folders then as I navigate through my files I can easily drag and drop to the folders. trying to figure out how to customize mac finder to make it similar

1. scroll down to the item (file or folder) and press command-return to reveal the item in Finder.
2. I don’t know of any macOS feature to move or copy items in the Finder aside from drag-and-drop. As long as you have the two folders (source and destination) open, and good skills with your mouse or trackpad, the exchanges should be relatively easy. There should be third-party apps to do what you seek, but I don’t see the advantage otherwise.
3. I’m not aware of any Finder ability to facilitate the copy/move actions. Again, I’m sure there are 3rd-party utilities for this. In the past I went crazy installing a lot of these “convenience” utilities until bugs, updates, conflicts, etc. became too much to make it worth the while. Examples of 3rd-party apps I do rely on: Find Any File, AppCleaner, Default Folder, CopyClip… inter alia, and worth the bother.