Jump through files alphabetically regardless of sort order

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Wed, May 7 2008 at 7:30AM PDT • Contributed by: burkster

This sounds too simple for a hint, but I haven't heard of it before, and couldn't find a reference for it on the web (and I discovered this completely by accident). By Pressing Option-Tab in the Finder (in List or Icon view windows), you can jump alphabetically through the files, regardless of the displayed sort order.

[robg adds: This also works in Cover Flow view in 10.5, though it's pretty strange watching the icons do a seemingly-random dance as you press Option-Tab.]

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Jump through files alphabetically regardless of sort order
Authored by: szabesz on Wed, May 7 2008 at 8:04AM PDT

Pressing tab is enough. I use Mac OS since version 7 and this feature worked in each version since then and you do not need to press the option key.

Jump through files alphabetically regardless of sort order
Authored by: mmn on Wed, May 7 2008 at 9:05AM PDT

Can't say how long I use the Tab-only method, but this has been working for very long time..

Jump through files alphabetically regardless of sort order
Authored by: Marius_Th on Wed, May 7 2008 at 9:56AM PDT

Why would you need to press the option key too?
The only modifier key that you can press in that situation is the "Shift" key to reverse alphabetically browse files.

Jump through files alphabetically regardless of sort order
Authored by: burkster on Wed, May 7 2008 at 10:32AM PDT

Because I accidently hit option-tab. Then I tried every combination but tab alone was to easy...:-)
Thanks for the additional info!

Jump through files alphabetically regardless of sort order
Authored by: pixeltech on Wed, May 7 2008 at 9:56AM PDT

Yes, Tab alone will do the trick. Also, to jump back to the first item (alphabetically first, that is) hit the space bar.

Paul | Seattle

Jump through files alphabetically regardless of sort order
Authored by: Marius_Th on Wed, May 7 2008 at 11:11AM PDT

Though in Leopard, spacebar has been reallocated to operate the quick preview window known as Quicklook.

Jump through files alphabetically regardless of sort order
Authored by: chleuasme on Wed, May 7 2008 at 5:21PM PDT

alt + space should work in Leopard 10.5, then ;-)
And, it's not exactly the same functionnality here: as already covered/known, hitting the first(s) letter(s) of a filename highlights the file in the Finder considering its first letter's filename ; if no file is found, the nearest letter is used: so, here, as [space] is down ranked, it highlights the first one.
And then, [shift-]Tab can be used to cycle trough de directory's files.

Anyway, should anyone submit a hint to the "double-clic to open a file/folder in the Finder", too?

[ Reply to This | # ]

Jump through files alphabetically regardless of sort order
Authored by: paulori on Wed, May 7 2008 at 9:16PM PDT

What I did find is that pressing the option key changes the quick look into quick look/slide show and changes the quicklook icon to reflect this

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