Go to Folder on Mac: The Fastest Way Around Finder

Every Finder window is a series of clicks: open a folder, open another, scroll, repeat. The Go to Folder box skips all of it — press Shift+Cmd+G, type a path, hit Return, and you're there, even if the folder is buried five levels deep or hidden from Finder entirely. It's the closest thing Finder has to a command line, and on Ventura, Sonoma, and Sequoia it comes with genuinely good autocomplete.

The shortcut and the basics

1. Click the desktop or any Finder window, then press Shift+Cmd+G (or choose Go → Go to Folder… from the menu bar).
2. A floating search-style box appears. Type or paste a path, like /Applications/Utilities.
3. Press Return. Finder opens that folder instantly.

Two characters are worth memorizing: ~ means your home folder, so ~/Documents works from anywhere, and a leading / starts at the top of your disk. Type just ~ or / and press Return to jump to those roots directly.

Autocomplete does the typing

Since the box became a search-style panel, it autocompletes aggressively:

• Suggestions as you type: matching folders appear in a list below the field — arrow down and press Return to pick one. You don't need the full path; fragments of a folder name will surface it.
• Tab to accept: when the field shows a greyed-out inline completion, press Tab to accept it and keep typing the next path segment. Chaining Tab through /Sys → /System/Lib → /System/Library is faster than any clicking.
• History: with the box empty, press the down arrow — your recently visited paths are listed, so returning to a deep folder is two keystrokes.

Paths worth knowing

Go to Folder shines for places Finder hides or buries:

• ~/Library — your user Library: app support files, preferences, caches. Hidden from Finder by default, one keystroke away here.
• /usr/local and /opt/homebrew — where command-line tools and Homebrew live.
• /Volumes — every mounted disk, including ones not shown on the desktop.
• /private/tmp — the real location behind /tmp.
• ~/.ssh — dot-folders (invisible everywhere in Finder) open fine when typed here.

Visiting a hidden folder this way is temporary and safe — Finder shows it without permanently revealing hidden files.

It works in Open and Save dialogs too

The same panel is available inside any app's Open or Save dialog: press Shift+Cmd+G, or simply start typing / or ~ and the go-to sheet slides down. That means you can save a file into a hidden or deeply nested folder without ever leaving the dialog — handy for config files and web-server folders.

Pair it with a copied path

Go to Folder is the receiving end of the path workflow: someone sends you /Users/shared/ProjectX/assets, you press Shift+Cmd+G, paste, Return. To send paths the other way, select any file and press Option+Cmd+C to copy its full pathname.

Three habits that make it stick

1. Stop clicking through Library. Any time you need an app's support files or preferences, Shift+Cmd+G → ~/Library beats revealing hidden files or Option-clicking the Go menu.
2. Use fragments, not full paths. For a deep project folder, type a distinctive chunk of its name and let the suggestion list find it — often faster than Spotlight because the results are only folders.
3. Lean on history for repeat trips. The down-arrow list of recent paths effectively gives you bookmarks for free. For a folder you visit daily, though, drag it into the sidebar once and be done.

The panel is forgiving: trailing slashes don't matter, ../ steps up a level, and a mistyped path just shakes — nothing to break, so experiment freely.

See also: how to open Terminal already inside a folder.

One more hidden-folder trick

Need hidden files visible permanently rather than one visit at a time? Press Shift+Cmd+. in any Finder window to toggle them, or see how to show hidden files on Mac for the full picture.