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Organise your files in the Finder on Mac
The Finder is the home base for your Mac. The Finder icon looks like a blue smiling face; click the icon in the Dock to open a Finder window.
![The left side of the Dock; the Finder icon is on the far left.](https://help.apple.com/assets/605932B4A1B7A93F492858E8/605932C0A1B7A93F492858FF/en_AU/afd7a0314c82715394299736f0103171.png)
You use Finder windows to organise and access almost everything on your Mac.
![A Finder window with the Finder sidebar on the left. At the top of the window are four buttons that change the way items are shown in the window and additional buttons for organising and sharing items.](https://help.apple.com/assets/605932B4A1B7A93F492858E8/605932C0A1B7A93F492858FF/en_AU/942099f616974330202ac21e8a190eb1.png)
See your stuff
Click items in the Finder sidebar to see your files, apps, downloads, and more. To make the sidebar even more useful, customise it. To make the Finder window even more useful, show the Preview pane.
Or, ask Siri to help you find what you want.
Ask Siri. Say something like:
“Show me all the files called Expenses”
“Show me files tagged red”
“Show me files that are PDFs”
Access everything, everywhere
Use iCloud Drive to store files and folders in iCloud. You can access them on any device where you’re signed in with the same Apple ID.
Organise with folders or tags
If you like organising your files in folders, you can do that. It’s easy to create new folders in your Documents folder, on the desktop or in iCloud Drive.
You can also tag files and folders with helpful keywords to make them easier to find.
Clean a messy desktop
Stacks helps you keep files organised in tidy groups on the desktop. You can group stacks by kind, date or tags. When you group by kind, all your images go in one stack, presentations in another, and so on. Any new files you add go immediately to the correct stack — helping you keep everything in order automatically.
Choose your view
You can choose how you view the items in Finder windows. For example, you don’t have to view your items in a list — Gallery view lets you flip through your files and folders visually.
Send files or folders
You can send a copy of a file or folder to a nearby Mac, iPhone or iPad right from the Finder. Click AirDrop in the sidebar to get started. See Use AirDrop to send files to devices near you.
You can also select a file or folder in the Finder, then click the Share button (or use the Touch Bar) to send it using Mail, AirDrop, Messages and more. If you don’t see the Share button click the More Toolbar Items button
at the end of the toolbar.
Share files or folders
You can work on a file or folder in iCloud Drive with other people who use iCloud. Select a file or folder in the Finder, click the Share button (or use the Touch Bar), then choose Share File or Share Folder to get started. If you don’t see the Share button click the More Toolbar Items button
at the end of the toolbar. See Use iCloud File Sharing to share folders and documents with other iCloud users.
Sync information between your Mac and other devices
You can connect your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to your Mac to transfer and update items between devices.
For example, when you add a movie to your Mac, you can sync with your iPhone and watch the movie on both devices.
You can sync items including music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, books and more. See Overview to syncing your Mac and your devices.
Use keyboard shortcuts to quickly get things done
You can use keyboard shortcuts to quickly perform common actions. See Use macOS keyboard shortcuts.