Navigate the Finder with VoiceOver on Mac
Use VoiceOver commands or gestures to open and navigate Finder windows, and use Finder shortcuts to work with files and folders.
Before you start, make sure the keyboard focus and VoiceOver cursor are synchronised. See Use VoiceOver cursor tracking.
Note: VO represents the VoiceOver modifier that you press with additional keys to enter VoiceOver commands. By default, you can press Control and Option together or just press Caps Lock.
Open a Finder window
Do one of the following:
Move to the Dock by pressing VO-D, or double-tapping near the bottom edge of the trackpad. Navigate to the Finder, which is the first item in the Dock. If a Finder window isn’t already open, press Return.
Open the Application Chooser by pressing VO-Fn-F1-F1 or by double-tapping near the left edge of the trackpad. Choose Finder in the Application Chooser.
You can also use the macOS shortcut of holding down the Command key and pressing Tab repeatedly until you hear “Finder”.
Navigate a Finder window
In a Finder window, press VO-Right Arrow or VO-Left Arrow to move through the window until you hear “toolbar”, then press VO-Shift-Down Arrow to interact with it.
In the toolbar, press VO-Right Arrow until you hear the view you want to use (such as “icon view” or “list view”), then select it.
When you have selected a view, stop interacting with the view radio group and the toolbar, then press VO-Right Arrow to move through the window until you hear “sidebar”.
Interact with the sidebar, then move down the list of items in the sidebar by pressing VO-Down Arrow. When you hear the item you want, press VO-J to jump to it in the view browser, where you can interact with it.
To jump if you’re using VoiceOver gestures, keep a finger on the trackpad while you press the Control key.
Move to and select the item you want to open, using the method for the view you’re in:
Icon view: Use the arrow keys to move to the item you want.
List view: Press VO-Right Arrow until you hear “list view”, then interact with that area. To move down the list rows, press VO-Down Arrow. To expand and collapse a folder, press VO-Backslash. To move the VoiceOver cursor across a row and hear information about an item, press VO-Right Arrow. Press VO-R to hear the current row number and the total number of rows.
Column view: To move down the list until you find the folder or file you want, use the Down Arrow key. To move into subfolders, press the Right Arrow key.
Gallery view: To move between the gallery and the preview panel, press VO-Left Arrow or VO-Right Arrow. Interact with the gallery or the preview panel to hear its contents.
When you find the file or folder you want to open, open it using the Finder shortcut Command-O or Command-Down Arrow.
VoiceOver announces when you have selected an alias or a file or folder you don’t have permission to open.
Use Finder shortcuts
Open the selected item: Press Command-O or Command-Down Arrow.
Move to the parent of the selected item (such as the folder that contains a subfolder you selected): Press Command-Up Arrow.
Add the selected item to the Finder sidebar: Press Control-Command-T.
Add the selected item to the Dock: Press Control-Shift-Command-T.
You can temporarily hide the toolbar and sidebar in a Finder window to make it easier to navigate. To hide or show both the toolbar and the sidebar, press Option-Command-T. To hide or show just the sidebar, press Option-Command-S.
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