Use FileOctopus instead of Finder

FileOctopus can take over Show in Finder from other apps, so a download in your browser, a file in Xcode or a result in another app opens in FileOctopus. It's off by default, and you can give it back to Finder at any time.

Use FileOctopus instead of Finder

1. Choose FileOctopus → Settings… and open General.
2. Next to Default file browser, turn on Use FileOctopus instead of Finder.
3. Read what changes and choose Use FileOctopus.
4. FileOctopus lists the apps that are open. Quit and reopen the ones you use, or log out and back in (see below).

Then Show in Finder, Show in folder, Reveal in Finder and open -R in Terminal open FileOctopus. A file or a folder opens in its enclosing folder, selected, as in Finder. A disk opens. To open a selected folder, press ⌘↓.

FileOctopus sets one macOS setting for your user account, the same one Path Finder and ForkLift use. It doesn't change Finder or any other app, and it doesn't need an administrator password.

An app still opens Finder

macOS remembers the file browser inside each app the first time that app shows a file. An app that was already open keeps using Finder until you quit it (⌘Q) and open it again. Logging out and back in switches every app at once. The same applies when you turn the setting off: an app that was open may keep opening FileOctopus until you reopen it.

If one app never switches, it chooses its own file browser. Settings ▸ General names those apps when it finds them.

Open or reveal from any app

Without changing the default, select files or folders in Finder, then right-click and choose Quick Actions or Services ▸ Open in FileOctopus or Reveal in FileOctopus. Open opens a folder and shows a file selected in its folder. Reveal shows every item, folders too, selected in its enclosing folder. If they're missing, turn them on in System Settings ▸ Keyboard ▸ Keyboard Shortcuts ▸ Services ▸ Files and Folders.

What stays with Finder

macOS doesn't let another app take these over, so FileOctopus doesn't try:

• The Desktop and its icons.
• Finder's icon in the Dock and Finder's own windows.
• Folders that other apps open (rather than show), such as open ~/Documents in Terminal or a folder opened from a launcher. Finder opens them. You can still open a folder in FileOctopus with Open in FileOctopus. While FileOctopus is your default file browser, a folder sent with Open With or dropped on the FileOctopus icon is shown selected in its enclosing folder instead, because macOS sends those the same way as Show in Finder.
• Open and Save dialogs.
• Apps that talk to Finder directly, such as AppleScript tell application "Finder".

Finder keeps running, as macOS needs it.

Give it back to Finder

Turn off Use FileOctopus instead of Finder in Settings ▸ General. If you delete FileOctopus without turning it off, macOS notices that the app is gone and uses Finder again.