Context Menu

How to Open It#

Right-click any file or folder for the file context menu. Right-click an empty area of the file list for the folder context menu (which has things like “New Folder” instead of “Open”).

Below is the complete list of items that show up, grouped by purpose. The exact menu you see depends on what you right-clicked: a regular file, a folder, an app bundle, or empty space.

Opening and Inspecting#

• Open — open the file with its default app.
• Show Package Contents — for app bundles and other macOS “packages,” lets you peek inside as if they were folders.
• Quick Look — opens a fullscreen preview (same as pressing Space).
• Get Info — opens the macOS Info window for the file.
• Open With ▸ — submenu of compatible apps for the file type, plus an “Other…” option to pick any app and a “Default Application” option to use the system default.

File Operations#

• Copy (⌘C) / Cut (⌘X) / Paste (⌘V).
• Duplicate (⌘D) — make a copy in the same folder.
• Rename — start an inline rename. (See also BatchRename for the multi-file equivalent.)
• Batch Rename… — opens BatchRename with the current selection.
• Move to Trash (⌘⌫) — sends to the macOS Trash. (In /Applications, this turns into Uninstall for app bundles, which removes the support files too.)
• Create Symlink — make a symbolic link to the file in the current folder.

Copy As#

The Copy As submenu copies a piece of information about the selected file (or files) to your clipboard:

• File Name — just the file name with extension.
• Absolute Path — the full path from the root, e.g. /Users/you/Documents/report.pdf.
• Relative Path — relative to the current folder.

Useful when you need to paste a file path into a terminal, an email, or a piece of code.

Compress and Extract#

• Compress ▸ — submenu of archive formats (ZIP, TAR, 7Z, etc.) for the selected files.
• Extract Here — only shown when the selected file is an archive. Extracts into the current folder.

See Archiver for the full format list and password-protected archives.

Tags#

The Tags ▸ submenu lists every macOS color tag you have set up, plus your custom tags. Click any tag to apply or remove it from the selected files. Clear Tags removes every tag from the selection.

Share#

Share… opens the standard macOS share sheet for the selected files — Mail, Messages, AirDrop, and any other apps you have configured as share destinations in System Settings.

Smart Folder Scans#

Right-click any folder (or right-click empty space inside one) for the Smart Folder ▸ submenu:

• Scan Duplicates — find duplicate files inside that folder.
• Scan Large Files — find the biggest files inside that folder.

See SmartFolder for what the results look like.

Open Terminal Here#

Right-click a folder (or empty space) and pick Open Terminal Here to launch your preferred terminal app already pointed at this folder. See Built-in Terminal for picking which terminal app this opens.

Right-Clicking Empty Space#

Right-click the empty area of a folder (not on any file) for the folder context menu:

• New Folder (⌘⇧N).
• New File ▸ — submenu with templates: text, markdown, Swift, HTML, JSON, Python.
• Paste (⌘V) — paste files from the clipboard.
• Smart Folder ▸, Open Terminal Here — same as above, but operating on the current folder.

Extra Items in Remote Mode#

When you're browsing a remote server, the context menu adds remote-specific items: Download (with destination submenu), Copy Remote Path, and entries for managing sync rules attached to that folder. See Remote & Sync.

Next Steps#

• File Operations — what actually happens when you trigger one of these menu items.
• Drag & Drop — the gesture-based alternative for many context menu actions.
• Keyboard Shortcuts — full reference for shortcuts that bypass the menu.