How to Configure the Finder's Spring-Loaded Folders

Set the delay time for spring-loaded folders in Mac Finder

By
Tom Nelson
Tom Nelson
Writer

Tom Nelson is an engineer, programmer, network manager, and computer network and systems designer who has written for Other World Computing,and others. Tom is also president of Coyote Moon, Inc., a Macintosh and Windows consulting firm.

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Updated on November 8, 2021

What to Know

  • Go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Pointer Control. Check Spring-loading delay and use the slider to set the time.
  • For earlier versions of OS X, open the Finder menu and select Finder > Preferences > General to adjust the delay.
  • Hold down the Spacebar while highlighting a folder to speed things up.

Spring-loaded folders are a feature of the Mac Finder tool in macOS Catalina (10.15) through macOS El Capitan (10.11) that allows you to view the contents of a folder before committing files to it. This is a workaround for the common tactic of opening two Finder windows—one for the source file and one for its destination (or potential destination).

How to Configure the Spring-Loaded Folder Delay

The setting for spring-loaded folders is found in System Preferences on the Mac.

  1. Open System Preferences by clicking its icon in the Dock or by selecting the Apple in the menu bar and choosing System Preferences in the menu.

    Mac Dock showing the System Preferences icon

  2. Select Accessibility in the System Preferences window.

    System Preferences on a Mac with Accessibility highlighted

  3. In the left pane, scroll down and select Pointer Control. (In earlier versions of macOS, select Mouse & Trackpad instead.)

    Accessibility system preferences with Point Control highlighted

  4. Place a check mark in the box in front of Spring-loading delay and drag the slider to adjust the amount of time that the cursor hovers over a folder before the folder springs open.

    Spring-loading delay option in Accessibility preferences

  5. Close the System Preferences window.

If you're running an early version of OS X, you adjust the spring-loaded folder delay through Finder itself. From the Finder menu bar, select Finder > Preferences > General.

Spring-Loaded Folders

Spring-loaded folders offer a simpler way to move files between folders, as they don't require opening multiple instances of Finder.

With spring-loaded folders, you can click and drag a file over a destination folder, whereupon the folder opens to display its contents. You can quickly and easily drill down through folders to locate a specific folder for your file and then let go of the mouse to commit the file to the chosen destination.

The amount of time the mouse pointer must hover over a folder before it springs open is governed by a user setting.

You can exit out of a spring-loaded folder by pressing the Escape key.

Spring-Loaded Folder Tips

If you're traversing multiple folders you can speed things up by holding down the spacebar when your cursor highlights a folder. This causes the folder to immediately open with no wait for the spring-loaded delay.

If during mid-move you decide you don’t want to move the item to a new location, you can cancel out of the spring-loaded move by moving the cursor over the original item location.

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