File Browsing

Three Ways to View a Folder#

Most file managers force you into a single view. Seiz lets you pick the right tool for the job, switching between three modes from the toolbar or with keyboard shortcuts.

• Grid — large icons in a flowing layout. Best for visual content: photos, design assets, video files. Supports rubber-band selection (click empty space and drag a box around the files you want).
• List — single-line rows with sortable columns (name, size, kind, dates, tags). Click the small triangle next to a folder to expand it inline and see its contents without navigating into it. Best for inspecting file properties or working through a tree.
• Column — narrow columns side by side, the way the original Mac browser worked. Click a folder to drill in; the breadcrumb stays live at the top. Best for navigating deep folder trees where you want to see context.

Sorting#

Sort by name, size, kind, date created, date modified, date opened, or tags — ascending or descending, or no sort at all (filesystem order). In List view, click any column header to change the sort. In Grid and Column views, use the View menu or right-click the empty area for the sort menu.

The Folders on top setting (in Settings) forces all folders to sort above all files regardless of your sort field. Most people leave this on; turn it off if you want a strict alphabetical mix.

Each Folder Remembers Its Own View#

Set your Pictures folder to Grid sorted by date, your Documents folder to List sorted by name, your Downloads folder to Column view sorted by date added — and Seiz remembers all of it. Switching between folders restores their last view, sort, and even scroll position. Turn this off in Settings if you'd rather have one consistent view everywhere.

Filtering the Current Folder#

At the top of the file list is a filter bar. Type into it and the current folder shrinks to just the files that match — same view, same selection, just fewer rows. Three matching modes you can switch between in Settings:

• Plain text (default) — case-insensitive substring match. Type “invoice” to find every file with “invoice” anywhere in its name.
• Fuzzy — type the letters in order, with or without gaps. Typing “ipd” matches “invoice-paris-draft.pdf”.
• Regex — full regular expressions for power users. Invalid patterns silently fall back to plain text matching.

Beyond text, the filter bar supports condition chips for size (greater than / less than), date (before / after), file extension, kind, and tag. Multiple conditions stack with AND logic. See Search & Filter for the full reference.

Selecting Files#

Click to select. ⌘-click to add or remove a file from the selection. Shift-click to select a range. ⌘A selects everything visible. In Grid view, click in the empty space between files and drag — you'll see a translucent rectangle (a “rubber band”) and everything it touches becomes selected. Hold ⌘ while rubber-banding to add to the existing selection.

Inline Rename#

Select a file and press Enter (or right-click → Rename) to edit the name in place. Just the name part is selected — the extension stays untouched, so you can't accidentally turn report.pdf into report.text.pdf. Press Enter to commit, Escape to cancel. Leaving the field empty reverts to the original name.

For renaming many files at once, see BatchRename.

Hidden Files#

Files starting with a dot (.git, .zshrc, .DS_Store) are hidden by default. Press ⌘⇧. (Command + Shift + period) to toggle them on and off. The setting applies everywhere — every pane, every tab — until you toggle it back.

Special Modes#

Two special “views” that aren't folders:

• Recents — click Recents in the sidebar to see every file you've opened in the last 14 days, newest first. Useful when you know you opened something this morning but can't remember where it lives.
• Tag search — click any tag in the sidebar to see every file across your Mac that has that tag, regardless of folder. macOS's built-in tagging system, exposed cleanly.

Both modes show files exactly the way a normal folder would — same view modes, same sorting, same context menus. Click any folder in the sidebar to leave the special mode and go back to normal browsing.

The Status Bar#

The thin bar at the bottom of every Seiz window shows information about the active pane: how many items are in the current folder, how many you've selected (with the combined size), the current Git branch if the folder is a Git repo, and how much disk space is free on the volume. When file operations are running you'll see live progress here too.

Next Steps#

• Multi-Pane Layouts — view multiple folders side by side in a single window.
• Inspector — see previews, metadata, and tags for whatever file is selected.
• Search & Filter — full guide to the filter bar and search modes.