Select files

Mark the files you want to work with, then copy, move, delete or rename them together. When nothing is marked, a command acts on the file under the cursor.

A click moves the cursor. It does not mark the file. The footer of the pane shows how many items are marked and their total size.

Mark files with the mouse#

• Command-click (⌘-click) a file to mark it. Command-click it again to unmark it.
• Double-click a file to open it, or a folder to go into it.

To mark files with checkboxes instead, turn on Settings > Panels > Checkbox selection mode. Each row gets a checkbox. The checkbox in the column header marks or unmarks every file in the folder.

Mark files with the keyboard#

All four are also in the Selection menu. Restore Previous Selection brings back the marks that Deselect All removed.

Press Space on a folder to mark it and move the cursor down. On a file, Space opens Quick Look instead.

Mark files by name#

1. Choose Selection > Select by Pattern…, or press ⌥⌘=.
2. Type a pattern, for example *.pdf or Invoice-2026-00?.pdf. * matches any text and ? matches one character. Upper and lower case are the same.
3. Click OK.

The files that match are added to the marks you already have. To remove marks by name, choose Selection > Deselect by Pattern… (⌥⌘−).

Mark files that are newer than in the other pane#

Choose Selection > Mark Newer Files (⇧⌘M). MeiFiles clears the current marks. Then it marks each file that also exists in the other pane and has a later modification date. Use it before you copy changed files to a backup folder.

See also#

• Copy and move files
• Delete files and empty the Trash