Big Sur customise 'finder' toolbar

With an open Finder window, just click ⌘+F in it, and enter your Spotlight search parameters in the newly presented search field. Beats reaching for the mouse to click on the toolbar search icon. Press the escape key twice to return to a normal Finder window.

I don't see how you would have to click twice now and only once in previous versions of the OS. In Finder, just click the Magnifying Glass, the Search field will be there in a flash, and your cursor will be immediately inside the Search field, waiting for you to type whatever you want to find. There's absolutely no need to click a second time in the Search field. One click on the Magnifying Glass does the trick.

Whether the Search field is open or not depends on how wide the Finder window is. Shrink and expand the Finder window horizontally and you can see this in real time.

Another issue under this same topic heading:

I find on two macs with Big Sur that folders added to the Finder Toolbar don't work correctly. All folders added to the Finder Toolbar (command drag) only point to my home folder.

If I have the a in the Sidebar, though, then the same folder in the Finder Toolbar works correctly.

With Big Sur, now it's another unnecessary click to activate the box, then enter the search term...

When I click the spyglass icon, it opens the search field with the insertion cursor in the field. No extra clicks necessary. Exactly the same number as before.

Does that not happen for you?

"Thanks Klahane, but I'm not sure that's the case - maybe on a desktop? On the MacBook Pro it's an icon only, and I always have the Finder window at the maximum aperture."

It works exactly the same way on my MacBook Pro with Big Sur. Expand the Finder window horizontally and the Search field opens, shrink it and the field goes away, but magnifying glass icon remains.

Don't know why there'd be a difference.

On the MacBook Pro it's an icon only, and I always have the Finder window at the maximum aperture.

I have a 13" MacBook Pro and I can expand the Finder window across the entire screen at which point the field will expand, but really it's completely irrelevant. Click the button and your cursor will be in the field ready to accept input just like if you clicked inside the open field. There is zero difference except when you collapse the window width, the search is always available.

Have you added more items into the Finder toolbar window such that you can never open it wide enough to accommodate an expanded search field?

Mine is all the way on the right side of the toolbar in the default location. I've never moved it.

You have obviously customized the toolbar from the default. It may be that there is not enough room for it to expand with all the additional tools added to it. I moved the search to where you have it and it expands when I expand the window size.

After experimenting a bit I see that in Big Sur, there's a huge amount of horizontal space taken up by the current folder name, which has large empty spaces on both sides.

Maybe Apple's trying to move us away from the customizable Finder Toolbar entirely, especially since folders command dragged to the Finder Toolbar don't work.

Yes, I was looking at my iMac. I'll check on my MacBook Pro and see what I see.