File Explorer is a powerful file manager tool in Windows and Finder acts as File Explorer used for Mac users. Do you know the difference between Finder and Windows Explorer? If not, you come to the right place. In this post from MiniTool, we discuss File Explorer vs Finder.
What Is Finder and File Explorer
File Explorer, also known as Windows Explorer, is a built-in file management application used by Windows operating systems which is designed to manage folders and files. You can do many things with the help of File Explorer, such as opening files and folders, creating new files/folders, searching for files/folders, changing the default folder, renaming files, and so on.
Finder is a file manager tool (like File Explorer) for Mac OS users which is used to find and organize your documents, media, folders, and other files. In Finder, you can achieve most of the same functions that can be achieved in File Explorer.
Page layout in Windows Explorer vs Finder
In general, when you open File Explorer, you can see the Quick Access folder and the This PC folder in the left panel, and the settings buttons on the top Ribbon section as shown below.
When you open Finder on Mac, you can see the following categories in the left sidebar: Favorites, iCloud, Locations, and Tags. You can customize the sidebar of the Finder on Mac based on your own needs.
Finder VS File Explorer Common Features
As said before, you can do many things in File Explorer and Finder. Now let us see the detailed introduction to the common features in File Explorer and Finder.
Select (Multiple) Files/Folders
In File Explorer and Finder, you can select files and folders easily. To select multiple files in these two file manager applications, you can make use of the Shift and Ctrl (Command in Mac) keys.
In File Explorer, you can hold down the Ctrl key and click needed files (they don’t need to be next to each other) to select multiple files. In Finder, to select multiple files, you need to hold down the Command key and click wanted files. Here you may be interested in this post: How to Fix Cannot Select Multiple Files in Windows 10/11.
In addition, in File Explorer and Finder, you can select multiple files using this way: Click the first file, then press and hold the Shift key, and then click the last file. However, this way cannot help you select non-contiguous files. So, you can select files in File Explorer or Finder combining the Ctrl/Command key and the Shift key.
Delete Files/Folders
To organize files on your computer, you may need to remove unwanted files to the Recycle Bin/Trash or delete files permanently. In both File Explorer and Finder, you can easily delete unnecessary files. In File Explorer, just right-click the files and click Delete, and the selected files will be removed to the Recycle Bin. What’s more, you can delete files older than a specific date. To delete files in Finder, you need to press the Command + Delete key combinations.
However, sometimes your files may get lost due to accidental deletion. Is it possible to recover deleted files? Fortunately, the answer is positive.
Now the best data recovery software – MiniTool Power Data Recovery is highly recommended to you. It is a professional and read-only data restore tool designed to recover lost or deleted documents, pictures, videos, audio, emails, etc. in local disks, external hard drives, USB disks, and so on.
You can use this file restore tool to recover lost files with only three steps:
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- Preview the found files.
- Select all needed files and store them in a safe place.
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Tip: To recover deleted files on Mac, you can use Stellar Data Recovery for Mac, an easy-to-use data restore tool used for Mac OS.
Search for Files/Folders
When there are many files stored in the File Explorer/Finder, to quickly find the desired one, you can make use of the feature of Search. To search for certain files or folders, you can input the file name in the search box in the upper right corner and press Enter.
Alternatively, you can press Ctrl + F/Command + F key combinations to run the search box directly.
Finder VS File Explorer Which One Is Better
Through the above description, you can find that both File Explorer and Finder have their advantages, and both of them have basic functions for managing files and folders. Which one to use mainly depends on your computer system.
Wrapping Things Up
In a word, this article mainly talks about Finder vs File Explorer. Hope you can get what you want to know about these two file management applications.
For more information about File Explorer, welcome to visit MiniTool News Center.
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Shirley graduated from English major and is currently an editor of MiniTool Team. She likes browsing and writing IT-related articles, and is committed to becoming a professional IT problem solver. The topic of her articles are generally about data recovery, data backup, and computer disk management, as well as other IT issues. In spare time, she likes watching movies, hiking and fishing.
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