Mac Tips: How to Select Multiple Files on Your Mac

The Finder is the default file manager of your Mac. With the help of Mac Finder, you can easily select, view, or edit your files. When talking about selecting files through the Finder, almost everyone knows how to select a single file in a folder on Mac. But, not everyone knows how to select multiple files on a Mac.

In fact, there are many different ways to select multiple or all files and perform actions on them. Just follow our guide to learn how to do it with easy steps.

How to select multiple adjacent files on Mac

If you want to select multiple contiguous files in a folder on Mac, using the below steps should save you a lot of time.

Please be noted that if you use the Icons view type in Finder, this method may doesn't work. Thus, you need to change the view type to List, Columns, or Gallery. To make the change, from the top of your Finder window, select the List Icon, Columns Icon, or Gallery Icon.

How to select multiple non-adjacent files on Mac

Sometimes you may need to select multiple discontiguous files on your Mac. These files are scattered across your folder, but there's still a way to select them all at ease.

First, Launch Finder from your Mac Dock and open the folder that has your files. In the Finder window, click the first file you want to select. Then, press and hold down the Command key and click another file you want to select. Keep the Command key pressed and continue to click a file to add it to your selection until all files you need are selected.

How to select all on a Mac

If you need to select all multiple files in a folder on Mac, here we provide more methods you can use.

Option 1: Click & drag to select all on Mac

To select all multiple files in a folder quickly, click an empty space in a folder and meanwhile drag the cursor to make a selection box. Just pull this box over all the files, and then all the files will automatically be selected. This also works in the Icon view type and is very helpful for selecting multiple items on your Desktop.

Option 2: Use key combo to select all on Mac

Another way to instantly select all files within a Finder window is to use a key combo. The keyboard shortcut has been a favorite of Mac users for a very long time and is always the fastest way to get their job done. This method is useful no matter which Finder view you're using (list, icon, etc.). Now, let's see how to do it:

Option 3: Use the Finder Edit menu to select all on Mac

The last resort to select all on Mac is to use Finder's Edit menu. Here's how to do it:

Final thoughts

All the above-mentioned methods for selecting all or multiple files are very intuitive and not so hard to learn. It is well worth learning as they will save you time and make your work on Mac or MacBook more enjoyable and effective.