The Main Reason I Can't Leave Windows (Pic)

[Stangs55]

My primary computer is my homemade Windows 7 desktop PC. And quite honestly, I love it and would change almost nothing about it.

My portable computer is my 2007 MBP (soon to be 2010 MBP when it ships) running Snow Leopard. At first, OS X was rough getting used to coming from the familiarity of Windows. But I've come to appreciate OS X for what it is.

It certainly has its faults in my mind, but there is one enormous problem that I can't seem to navigate around--the finder. Will someone PLEASE tell me how it is possible to get a finder view that is similar to what we have on a Windows system?!

What I mean is that in the left pane, I want my folders and nested subfolders to expand downwards and nest underneath their respective parents. In the main pane to the right, I want to organize it so that all my folders are at the top of the list and all the files are below that organized alphabetically. I don't want folder nesting to occur in the main window...that needs to happen in the left pane with the rest of the bloody folders. And I don't want my folders mixed in with my files in alphabetical fashion because they are folders...not files. And, no, I don't want to sort files by type.

My files are currently mirrored and synced on both my MBP and my desktop...but I am only able to quickly and easily navigate them on my Windows machine because OS X just can't seem to get it right. It's very unintuitive to me.

Is what I'm trying to do on OS X even possible? Honestly, I don't care if a $500 third party software offers a fix--I'll pay...

Here's what it looks like on a Windows 7 machine:

 

[forcefieldkid]

I dislike the way you like it. And prefer the finder way of organizing things. Where do we go from here? Do we dance?

 

[coops]

I like the way you like it - but always found a dual-pane file manager much better. Used Total Commander on my Windows machines... most excellent.

I'm using Pathfinder now - which doesn't yet have the good old tree view (it's coming i think....) and i've grown to like the column view (my screenshot shows the folder path above the columns, makes navigation that much easier).

You can also check mu commander ( "I have found jesus. He came to me in the form of muCommander. -- A happy user "
http://www.mucommander.com/

Free, has tree view and like any decent file manager allows you to cut and paste folders and files old school keyboard stylee if you like.

There are some others...
http://www.ragesw.com/products/explorer.html - Macintosh Explorer

and googleing
"mac dual pane file manager like commander" or variations on it will throw up some more....

Pathfinder:-

 

[theLimit]

I'm not fond of the Windows way of manual organization using nested folders. I much prefer the OS X way of organization by tags, labels, and other meta-data. I let the OS worry about the details. I just tell it what files I need and it gets them for me, much like having a secretary.

 

[TennisandMusic]

I'm not fond of the Windows way of manual organization using nested folders. I much prefer the OS X way of organization by tags, labels, and other meta-data. I let the OS worry about the details. I just tell it what files I need and it gets them for me, much like having a secretary.

?

Windows can do what you're saying I believe. It uses libraries and such. But, do you just splay your files all over the place and not worry about it at all? Hm...

Also, you don't think OSX has nested folders? Explorer kinda blows Finder away. Not Path Finder as much, but that's a 50 dollar (and necessary) add on. I'll never understand why third party file managers are faster AND more capable than Apple's own. I'd say that's pretty embarrassing.

 

[Stangs55]

Thanks for the great link coop!

I understand that alot of people like the column view, but it's terrible for my use due to long file names. For example, in my Documents folder I have about 30 powerpoint files named: 'Morbidity & Mortality - Case Name - Date.pptx'.

When viewed in Windows 7, these all lay out very nicely underneath each other with the date modified to the right and their associated documents next to them (I may have a .docx or .pdf file with a nearly identical name from the same cases).

But when I view this same section in Finder's column view, all I see is:
Morbidi...008.pptx
Morbidi...008.pptx
Morbidi...008.pptx
Morbidi...009.pptx
Morbidi...009.pptx
Morbidi...009.pptx
Morbidi...009.pptx
Morbidi...009.pptx
Morbidi...009.pptx
Morbidi...009.pptx
Morbidi...010.pptx
Morbidi...010.pptx
Morbidi...010.pptx
Morbidi...010.pptx

...well you get the picture...I have no idea what file is what!

I understand that I can widen the column view, but this isn't practical since I nest these files in subfolders by category. And because Finder doesn't let me view a nested tree in the left pane, I'd end up needing too many columns that are too wide for the screen!

 

[Stangs55]

Well I've played around with the above suggestions for a day now...but still can't seem to find the right program...

Any other suggestions?