How to add a location bar to Finder on macOS
Finder shows the name of the current folder in the title bar. You can also enable a path bar if you want. The path bar appears at the bottom of the Finder window and if you click on any of the folders in the path, you can jump straight to it. The path bar is more or less the same as a location bar but if you’re looking for something that’s closer to what Windows has i.e., a way to copy the path and view it in a simple text format, you’re going to have to enable a different sort of path bar and use an app.
Location bar in Finder
Before you proceed, check if the path bar will do the trick for you. It is easy to enable/disable so it’s worth a try. Open Finder and go to View>Show Path Bar. The path bar will appear at the bottom of the Finder window and all Finder windows that you open.
If the Path bar isn’t what you’re looking for open a Terminal window and run the commands below, one by one.
defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool YES
killall Finder
This will add a location bar to the top of the Finder window i.e., the title bar. You can hide the Path bar if you want or leave it since it is a quick way to jump to a folder. To hide this bar, run the following two commands, one by one.
defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool NO
killall Finder
This location bar isn’t interactive i.e., you cannot select it and copy the path to the clipboard. To enable copying the path to the clipboard, you need to install a free app called FinderPath. Download the app and make sure you move it to the Applications folder before you run it. You will need to give it accessibility access before it can be used.
Once it’s all set up, double-click the location bar and you’ll be able to copy the path to the clipboard. FinderPath works with Catalina. To remove focus from the location bar, tap the Escape key.
macOS has a pretty simple way of copying paths to the clipboard and it works for both files and folders. All you have to do is right-click either a file or a folder and hold down the Option key. You will see an option in the context menu to copy it as a path. It’s still not the same as having a location bar though.
FinderPath has a few other useful features too and they all work with keyboard shortcuts. You can move to the parent folder, go to the Home folder, and open a new window among other things.
