Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ AppBITS: FileUtils Turbocharges the Finder Adam Engst Are you in the camp that considers the Finder to be woefully underpowered? If you've flirted with the idea of a Finder replacement but don't want to venture too far afield from the standard Mac experience, check out ZigZag's [1]FileUtils. This inexpensive utility adds a cornucopia of advanced options to the Finder's toolbar, contextual menu, and Services menu; you access its settings from a menu bar icon. (FileUtils is a Finder extension. If you've updated to macOS 15 Sequoia, you may be confused by your inability to turn Finder extensions off and on. [2]ZigZag explains the problem and provides the free [3]FinderSyncer utility to work around the problem.) What does FileUtils offer beyond the Finder's core capabilities? * Delete and Secure Delete: Don't settle for just moving something to the Trash. Although you can delete immediately in the Finder by holding down Option and choosing File > Delete Immediately (I'd use Command-Option-Delete), FileUtils not only lets you delete files and folders instantly, but also provides three levels of secure deletion to guarantee that TV-show hackers won't be able to recover your confidential files with their magic USB sticks. * Compress: Sure, you can make Zip archives in the Finder. But FileUtils lets you make password-protected Zip archives or create archives in numerous other formats, including [4]7z, [5]XAR, [6]TAR, [7]PAX, and [8]CPIO, which sounds like a lesser-known Star Wars robot. You can even choose from GZIP, BZIP2, XC, and UNIX compression formats with the last three. * Rename: The Finder has a little-known capability of renaming a collection of selected files. However, it's not nearly as capable as FileUtils, which lets you create multiple rules that replace text, replace using a regular expression, insert text, change case, add a number sequence, or add a date. Rules can apply to the name, extension, name with extension, or extension with the dot. They can also match every occurrence, the first or last occurrence, or the entire text. Case sensitivity is an option, FileUtils reports on any conflicts it would create, and you can save your sequence for later use. * Size Browser: When it comes to drives, size does matter, at least if you don't have enough. macOS provides decent tools for identifying large files and wasted space in System Settings > General > Storage Settings, but you have to click the ' button next to Documents to get a file browser for the entire drive. FileUtils lets you focus on any folder, providing both a file browser and a sunburst diagram like [9]DaisyDisk. Although this is neat, the browser was a bit jumpy when I tried to resize columns, and the sunburst completely boggles me. Perhaps it will make more sense to you. (I prefer [10]GrandPerspective's approach.) * Permissions and ACLs: The Finder's Info window lets you set basic permissions. FileUtils goes further, giving you checkboxes that clearly show what the owner, group, and everyone can do, along with the symbolic file permissions and file permissions number associated with the selection. Want more? You can also see and modify the Access Control List settings. * Checksum: Want to trust but verify? FileUtils calculates numerous types of checksums for selected files so you can see if two files are identical. * Copy Path: You probably know that holding down Option when you look in the Finder's Edit menu changes Copy to Copy as Pathname, but the Finder has a single-track mind when it comes to path formats. In contrast, FileUtils lets you copy a file's path in many ways. FileUtils comes in three flavors: sandboxed and non-sandboxed versions for direct download, and a sandboxed version in the [11]Mac App Store. The non-sandboxed version can access all files and integrates into the Finder's contextual menu and toolbar. The sandboxed versions can only access folders for which you give permission, and additionally, the Mac App Store version can't execute operations that require privilege escalation. A fully functional version of FileUtils works for 30 days, after which it encourages you to purchase for $9.99. For many people, FileUtils would be overkill. Do you really need to create archives in multiple formats, calculate checksums, or copy Windows paths to your files? I don't, but I'm willing to bet plenty of others out there are going, 'Yes, I do!' If that's you, install the trial version of FileUtils and see if it makes your life a little easier. References Visible links 1. https://fileutils.com/ 2. https://fileutils.com/blog/sync-my-finder/6 3. https://zigz.ag/FinderSyncer/ 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7z 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xar_(archiver) 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_(computing) 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_(command) 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cpio 9. https://daisydiskapp.com/ 10. https://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/ 11. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fileutils/id6477607708?mt=12 Hidden links: 12. https://tidbits.com/uploads/2024/10/FileUtils-toolbar.png 13. https://tidbits.com/uploads/2024/10/FileUtils-Multi-Rename.png 14. https://tidbits.com/uploads/2024/10/FileUtils-Size-Browser.png 15. https://tidbits.com/uploads/2024/10/FileUtils-Permissions-ACLs.png 16. https://tidbits.com/uploads/2024/10/FileUtils-Checksums.png 17. https://tidbits.com/uploads/2024/10/FileUtils-Copy-Path.png .