Select the first or last file in finder with the keyboard, or disable filename sort in finder

I'm renaming a long series of file one by one while previewing them. UNFORTUNATELY, Finder re-sorts the file list, so that means that each time I rename a file, it changes the current selection to the end, so I need to quickly go to either the first file or the last in the list.

On windows explorer, when I hit end or home, it selects the last or first file. It can be quite useful when browsing a long series of files. On top of this, on mac you can have a preview of the file which is very handy.

Finder seems to have a different behaviour, I have a macbook pro, so I either it FN-left or FN-right to simulate those keystrokes, but it does nothing. Also the keyboard viewer display a different symbol when I hit FN-enter, I don't really know what that is.

Alternatively, I could just tell Finder to not sort files at all, just leave them in place. Is there a way to do this?

PS sorry for some reason, access to google https is not authorized with mac at my library, so I can't login at all.

Solution 1:

In column view and list view you can use ⌥↑ and ⌥↓.

You could also set arrange by to none (⌃⌘0) and sort by to size (⌃⌥⌘6).

Solution 2:

Just wanted to add that joelseph's answer to press ESC and UP or Down is correct for versions of OS X prior to Mavericks. It appears that Apple have repurposed the ESC key in Mavericks Finder and no longer deselects files.

Lri's answer (to press ⌥↑ or ⌥↓), however, still works in Mavericks.

Solution 3:

You can disable sorting for a folder in icon view (⌘0) by holding down option, clicking the View menu, and selecting None under Sort By (alternatively, press ⌃⌥⌘0).

That should allow you to rename your files without losing your place in the list.

As an aside, the home and end keys function a bit differently from Windows. In Windows they move the insertion point (in a text document) or selection, but in Mac they just move the view, not what's selected or where your text insertion point is. If you want to quickly jump to the first or last file in Finder, you can use A or Z — if you have lots of numbers at the start of the filename, or several z's, it may not put you exactly at the start or end, but it should be close enough in most cases.

Solution 4:

An easy way to select the first or last file is to press Esc to clear the current selection, then press ↓ to select the first file or ↑ to select the last file.

In many cases, pressing ↓ or ↑ immediately after pressing Return to commit the new name will select the next or previous file before the Finder resorts the list.