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Select Files on a Mac: One Item, a Group, or Everything in Finder

Use a click, Command-click, Shift-click, Command-A, or drag in Icon view to select the files and folders you need in Finder.
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In Finder, click one item to select it; hold Command while clicking to select scattered items; or click the first item, then hold Shift and click the last to select a consecutive range. To select every item in the active Finder window, click that window and press Command-A.

Choose the method that matches what you want to select

Selection How to do it in Finder
One item Click it.
Separate, non-adjacent items Hold Command and click each item.
A consecutive range Click the first item, hold Shift, and click the last item.
Every item in the active window Click the window to make it active, then press Command-A.
A group in Icon view Press and hold the mouse or trackpad button, then drag across the items.

These methods apply to Finder items such as files, folders, apps, and disks. Apple documents the click, Command-click, Shift-click, Command-A, and drag methods in its Select items on your Mac screen guide.

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Select several items that are not next to each other

  1. Hold down the Command key.
  2. While continuing to hold Command, click each file or folder you want.
  3. Release Command when you have finished selecting.

The items can be anywhere in the Finder window; they do not have to be next to each other. To remove one item from the selection, hold Command and click that item again.

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Select a consecutive range

  1. Click the first item in the range.
  2. Hold down Shift.
  3. Click the last item in the range, then release Shift.

Finder includes the items between the first and last items. Use this when the items you want form a continuous run in the current view.

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Select everything in the current Finder window

  1. Click inside the Finder window you want to work with so it is active.
  2. Press Command-A.

This selects the items in that active window; it does not select every file on the Mac. Apple’s Mac keyboard shortcuts guide also describes Command-A as selecting all items in the current window and recommends checking an app’s menus for available shortcuts.

Drag across a visible group in Icon view

In Finder’s Icon view, press and hold the mouse or trackpad button and drag across the items you want. This is useful when the items are grouped together visually. Apple specifically notes drag selection as an option in Icon view; its instructions do not establish the same behavior for every other Finder view or third-party file picker.

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What selection does—and does not do

Selecting items marks them as the targets for a later action, such as moving, copying, or changing them. Selection alone does not move, copy, or delete anything.

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