The Sidebar

The Sidebar appears on the left side of Finder windows when toolbars are displayed (Figure 58). It offers quick access to the items you use most.

Figure 58. The Sidebar appears on the left side of a Finder window when toolbars are displayed.

The Sidebar has two parts:

• The upper part of the Sidebar displays icons for volumes that are accessible by your computer, such as your hard disk, iDisk, network disks, and CD and DVD discs.

• The lower part of the Sidebar displays icons for the Desktop, your Home folder, and several commonly accessed folders within your Home folder.

Tips

• You can customize the lower part of the Sidebar to display whatever items you want. I explain how in Chapter 4.

• I tell you about your Home folder and volumes in Chapter 3.

• When a window is resized, the size of the Sidebar may also change. If the Sidebar is too short to display its contents, a vertical scroll bar appears within it (Figure 59).

  Figure 59. If the Sidebar is too short to display its contents, a scroll bar appears within it.

  

  
  

• You can change the width of the Sidebar by dragging the divider between it and the window contents (Figures 60 and 61).

  Figure 60. Dragging the border between the Sidebar and window contents…

  

  
  

  Figure 61. …enables you to change its width.

  

  
  

To use the Sidebar

Click the icon for the item you want.

One of two things happens:

• If the item was a volume or folder, the window's contents change to display the contents of the item you clicked.

• If the item was an application or document, the item opens in its own application window.