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Is there a way to open a new Finder window NOT on top of the last existing/opened Finder window? Many times I open two Finder windows to copy stuff from one to the other, or to see the content of both Finder windows at the same time. Is there a preference/way/utility for that?
As it is now, each newly opened Finder window opens on top of the last opened one.
iMac 27″, macOS 11.6
Thanks for the replies! Manually moving windows is exactly what I do *not* want to do, because that is the irritating side of this. :)
Control-click Open: yes, that eases the pain a little bit but you still can not see the whole content of the underlaying window.
I was hoping for a way/utility that tells Mac OS: "whatever you do, do not open windows on top of each other". A way/utility that automatically (or with a key command after opening the 2 or more windows) divides all opened windows across the available screen space in one layer.
Thanks for the replies! Manually moving windows is exactly what I do *not* want to do, because that is the irritating side of this. :)
Control-click Open: yes, that eases the pain a little bit but you still can not see the whole content of the underlaying window.
I was hoping for a way/utility that tells Mac OS: "whatever you do, do not open windows on top of each other". A way/utility that automatically (or with a key command after opening the 2 or more windows) divides all opened windows across the available screen space in one layer.
Not exactly on top, it opens stacked slightly below and to the right of the previous front window - that is if you create a new window using Command-N (or File->New Finder Window).
However, if you open a new window in a different way: control-click (*) on a folder in the front window or on the sidebar
and choose "Open in a new window" , then it will open it a bit farther away, probably enough for your purposes.
(*) If you have the Finder preference to prefer tabs instead of windows, use control-Option-click instead; you can press the Option key while the contextual menu is open and you will see the wording change from "open in new tab" to "open in new window".
Or you can manually move the windows - I have a 21" iMac and there is plenty of room for two windows next to each other - you can manually drag them around and make them larger or smaller (also makes it easy to dopy/drag + drop items back and forth:
I've been finding the tab feature in the finder to be very helpful. with one finder window open, just select New Tab from the File menu, or do ⌘-T, and you'll get another tab in that window, which will be a duplicate of the directory you're currently in, then you can navigate to wherever else you want to copy files to/from, and just drag anything from one tab to the other.
There are several third party applications that purport to organize windows. You seem to be a perfect candidate to use one of them. "Magnet" and "Moom" are perhaps two of the more well known, but there are others. You may want to check them out.
Disclaimer: I haven't used these applications myself, but I have heard praise for them, and their description seems to fit your needs.
How to open a new Finder window NOT on top of the last opened Finder window?
