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File path in preview app. finding files

Hi I seem to spend hours trying to find images/files on a Mac. I search and I can open the image but the location is hidden how can I find a file location. Enabled inspector but that does not tell me the file location.

my only way at the moment is to go back and right click open in safari then open a finder windows and navigate to it.

They must be a better way, tried to enable finder by but cant get finder to open a search result.

Thanks Mike

iMac Pro

Posted on Jun 30, 2020 3:37 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 30, 2020 5:07 AM

It is not the role of Preview, or Safari to track down file locations on macOS. although you can see a file's current folder location by clicking on its title bar name in Preview. It is the role of a properly configured Finder.


Mine is setup this way via Finder Preferences:

  1. General
    1. Check all Show these items on the desktop
    2. New Finder windows show: [ 🏠 yourname ]
  2. Sidebar
    1. Check 🏠 yourname
    2. Check any other that you want to see that are not defaulted, including iCloud Drive if you use it
  3. Advanced
    1. When performing a search: [ Search the Current Folder ]


I also suggest that you enable the following in the Finder View menu when you have a Finder window present

  1. Show Path Bar
  2. Show Status Bar


There are three ways you can search from the Finder on your Mac without using a third-party tool like EasyFind.

  1. Spotlight 🔍 from the menu bar
    1. Select a result from the search and press ⌘R to open a Finder window with the item selected
    2. Press the ⌘ key to view the full path to the selected file
  2. Spotlight from the search field in a regular Finder window
  3. Using ⌘F shortcut to open a Finder Find window, where you combine search criteria in the Find process


Items 1 and 2 immediately above, depend on enabling Spotlight to index certain search result categories listed in System Preferences : Spotlight : Search Results. You enable Spotlight indexing by dragging and dropping the startup drive (e.g. Macintosh HD) icon onto the open Spotlight Preferences : Privacy tab, then removing it from that panel. Then you can use Spotlight reserved words to Narrow your search results on Mac.

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1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 30, 2020 5:07 AM in response to MikeBWD

It is not the role of Preview, or Safari to track down file locations on macOS. although you can see a file's current folder location by clicking on its title bar name in Preview. It is the role of a properly configured Finder.


Mine is setup this way via Finder Preferences:

  1. General
    1. Check all Show these items on the desktop
    2. New Finder windows show: [ 🏠 yourname ]
  2. Sidebar
    1. Check 🏠 yourname
    2. Check any other that you want to see that are not defaulted, including iCloud Drive if you use it
  3. Advanced
    1. When performing a search: [ Search the Current Folder ]


I also suggest that you enable the following in the Finder View menu when you have a Finder window present

  1. Show Path Bar
  2. Show Status Bar


There are three ways you can search from the Finder on your Mac without using a third-party tool like EasyFind.

  1. Spotlight 🔍 from the menu bar
    1. Select a result from the search and press ⌘R to open a Finder window with the item selected
    2. Press the ⌘ key to view the full path to the selected file
  2. Spotlight from the search field in a regular Finder window
  3. Using ⌘F shortcut to open a Finder Find window, where you combine search criteria in the Find process


Items 1 and 2 immediately above, depend on enabling Spotlight to index certain search result categories listed in System Preferences : Spotlight : Search Results. You enable Spotlight indexing by dragging and dropping the startup drive (e.g. Macintosh HD) icon onto the open Spotlight Preferences : Privacy tab, then removing it from that panel. Then you can use Spotlight reserved words to Narrow your search results on Mac.

File path in preview app. finding files

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