Historically Apple's Finder has been designed around a “spatial” paradigm, where each separate Finder window represented a separate folder - opening new folders would necessarily spawn new windows. With the introduction of OS X, Apple redesigned the Finder to allow single-window browsing to an extent, but the Finder still retains much of its spatial heritage, such as requiring multiple open windows to facilitate the moving of files.

Path Finder takes the evolution of OS X's Finder one step further, providing true single-window file browsing. Through the use of panes, drawers, and the Drop Stack, Path Finder makes it simple to find files and perform complex file manipulation tasks without ever having to jump between windows.

A single Path Finder window can be split vertically into two separate browser panes, allowing you to view two directories side by side. Simply select View > Dual Browser or press the Dual Browser icon at the bottom of a browser window. Dual Browser is very useful if you need to drag and drop between two directories or compare folder contents.

Path Finder's toolbar is very similar to the one in Apple's Finder, but with many more options. There are toolbar buttons available for many of the options in the Commands menu, and they can be added with View > Customize Toolbar. Applications, folders, and files can also be added to the toolbar for quick access simply by dragging and dropping them in. Applications and folders can then have items dropped onto them.

The toolbar contains a search box that brings back some functionality from OS X 1.4 Tiger's. By default, the box filters the current folder by filename, easily cutting down a folder with a large number of files. By clicking the magnifying glass you can choose specifically which type of search you wish to perform, including OS X 10.5 Leopard's Spotlight search.

Path Finder's Sidebar is nearly identical to OS X's Finder sidebar, but with a few additions.

The Drop Stack is an innovative tool that gives you the ability to load items (files, folders, applications, bundles, etc) from multiple locations on your hard drive, and then unload them into a different location or perform an action on them.

When an item is dragged into the Drop Stack it will be added to the top, just like piling papers into a stack. Each item can then be be pulled back off of the stack in the opposite order that they were first added. If multiple files are dragged into the Drop Stack simultaneously they will be treated as a single indivisible group that can be pulled off of the stack all at once. If more than one item is in the Drop Stack a small icon of a pile of papers will appear on the right side of the drop stack. If this icon is dragged out of the stack, it will take all items with it.

Clicking on the grey Drop Stack header reveals the Drop Stack menu, where you can Remove All items or Remove Top item. Here you will also find a few additional options, including Burn (burn all of the items currently in the Drop Stack to a disc), Compress the contents of the Drop Stack to a file, or Compress and Email everything.

If you've never used tabs before, they are basically a way of having multiple “views” contained within one window. Each window has a tab attached to the top that you can click on. This switches the currently visible area to that view.

Use tabs as a productivity tool to help you quickly switch between multiple locations on your hard drive. They are especially helpful when moving or copying files between multiple locations. You can also use the contextual menu in conjunction with tabs to quickly navigate inside of an item.

There is an “Open in Tab” contextual menu item you can add (see the Contextual Menu preferences) that allows you to control-click (or right-click) on a folder and open it in a new tab.

Breadcrumbs show you where you are, and where you've been. When you navigate deeply into nested folders you can see exactly the path you took, and can jump back to any of those previous folders by simply clicking on the appropriate breadcrumbs button.

When you navigate back out of a deep folder, the breadcrumbs from where you just were are clearly preserved, allowing you to dive right back in if needed. Once you back out and then take a different path, those old breadcrumbs are replaced with your new trail.

The Bookmark Bar works just like Safari - you can drag folders or volumes into the Bookmark Bar to give yourself quick access to its contents. If you select an item the bookmark menu it will be opened.

To open a Bookmark Bar item itself in the Path Finder browser, select “Open” from the item's drop down menu. For faster access, hold down the option key and click on the item. To open it in a new file browser window, hold down the option key and command key together and click on the item. You can also open the item in a new tab by selecting the “Open in Tab” menu item.

Path Finder has multiple customizable zones that can contain different kinds of information. These zones are available in two pop-out drawers, as well as one pane within the main browser window. Each pane or drawer contains two zones.

Path Finder's zone types can be expanded with plugins, and indeed most of Path Finder's built-in zones exist as plugins.

A list of zones that come with Path Finder (many of them as modules):

• Attributes - low-level file attributes
• Cover Flow - just like the Finder's implementation of Cover Flow
• Hex - preview a file as hex code
• Info - file information for the currently selected file, similar to the information available in the “Get Info” window
• iTunes Browser - control iTunes from within Path Finder, and get drag-and-drop access to iTunes media
• Permissions - modify Unix ownership and permissions on a file or folder
• Preview - display a preview of the selected item. You can preview text, HTML, images, and video / audio that are supported by QuickTime
• Processes - a list of currently running Applications. They can be quit with the 'x' button next to their name, or can have files dragged & dropped onto them
• Recent Documents - displays the most recent files edited or opened by Path Finder
• Recent Folders - displays the most recent folders opened by Path Finder (note: this does not show folders you have navigated to in the file browser - just folders that have been opened via double-click)
• Selection Path - the full ('absolute') path to a file or folder with drag & drop functionality
• Shelf - customizable list of files, folders, or applications, almost like a second sidebar
• Sidebar - Finder-like sidebar
• Size - basic file & folder information: icon, name, modified date, calculated size
• Subversion - simple tools for maintaining Subversion repositories
• Terminal - an iTerm-based terminal window
• Folders - you can display the contents of any folder or volume in a Zone by selecting this menu item and navigating to the item you wish to display.