Utilities | Path Finder | PF5 So far

Path Finder

Browse and manage files on your Mac.

Version: 5.5.6

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PF5 So far

Feedback Type: Commentary

Contributed by: djSYNN Friday, October 24 2008 @ 01:57 PM PDT

Product Platform: MacOSX

Used Product For: Over One Year

I am a long time user of PF, I found it when it was called Snax, and started using it a while after, which was probably in 2002 or 2003. I installed version 5 yesterday, and I can't find a single new feature that I liked. And I am extremely disappointed in this upgrade, I wonder who they asked for these new features, because they certainly did not ask me.

New Sidebar:

I hate the finder sidebar, that's why i use PF, the new one is just like the finder, including its lack of customizability. In PF4 I had 3 things in my sidebar, the drop stack, 'Volumes' and the 'Shelf'. Now in 5, I have to have 'Shared' and 'Search For' in it, and I don't care about either of those. I also liked that the sidebar in 4 had distinct areas for each, now they just are kind of lumped together.

Dual Pane

I never liked dual pane in anything, including ftp clients

Cut and Paste on files

I haven't used cut and paste on files since I last used windows on my main machine over ten years ago, I prefer the Mac way, with using spring loaded folders, or the drop stack.

Coverflow

Marginally useful in iTunes, totally useless in finder, and totally useless in PF

Enhanced Image Editor

It doesn't seem to do anything that Preview can't, and I have PhotoShop for anything heavy duty

Network Share Browsing

I don't find it useful at home or at work. At home, I control everything, so I know what to look for, and at work, there are hundreds of shared computers listed, again, useless. I prefer to find shares manually

The only other thing listed is 'tons of other fixes' but, they don't name them, and I have no idea what they are. They also did not fix the one persistent bug that I reported, and even showed them another application that seemed to exhibit the proper behavior, and they ignored my message. The bug is that when displaying the Pathfinder Desktop, and then you trigger Expose, the Pathfinder desktop flies away when it should just stay in place.

I am not giving a review yet, because maybe I will find something I like, but, as it stands, the upgrade is not worth anything to me, and even goes backward in some places. In terms of new features, I would give it one star, and overall I would give it three stars, and that is in comparison to the 5 stars I would give PF4. I really hate slamming a product that I really like, and use everyday, but this upgrade is almost worthless.

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Comments

PF5 So far - drtimothyjames

I agree in several areas. One of my main reasons for using PF was because I could set custom font and icon sizes. Apple's Finder gives me no options in the sidebar and very limited options in the windows. Apparently, no one at Apple or Cocoatech is over age 50, so they don't understand the eye strain that results. Now I've lost that function in the new PF sidebar. I also agree that I should not have to have a bunch of other items there that I will never use and do not want. I also prefer the drop stack to remain open by default. That option is gone. In addition, I prefer column view. The previous version of PF let me click on a window pane to the left of whatever pane I was looking at, and that entire pane would jump into view. Now I have to use the scroll bar to navigate backward.

I like coverflow only because of its aesthetics; it's useless to me for file selections. But I like having it in PF, particularly since I can have it in any of the 3 view options available. I also do like the split pane option; it can be handy for comparing folders and moving items around.

But the loss of the other features leads me to not upgrade at this time.

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Friday, October 24 2008 @ 11:00 PM PDT