The Bottom Screen Clutter
The Finder is the core file management application in macOS. Over the years, Apple has added various optional panels to the Finder window to provide more information. One of these is the “Path Bar,” a horizontal strip that appears at the very bottom of the Finder window. It displays a hierarchical breadcrumb trail showing the exact location of the currently selected file (e.g., Macintosh HD > Users > John > Documents > Report.pdf).
While the Path Bar is incredibly useful for navigating complex, deeply nested folder structures, it is completely unnecessary for users who only ever work out of their Desktop or Documents folders. For these users, the Path Bar is simply visual clutter that takes up vertical screen space at the bottom of every single Finder window. If you prefer a minimalist, streamlined Finder interface, you can easily hide the Path Bar.
How to Hide the Finder Path Bar
You can toggle the Path Bar’s visibility directly from the Finder’s menu bar.
- Open a new Finder window (click the smiling Mac icon in your Dock).
- Look at the very top of your screen to the macOS menu bar.
- Click on the View menu.
- Look down the dropdown list for the option labelled Hide Path Bar. (If it says “Show Path Bar,” the feature is already disabled).
- Click on “Hide Path Bar”.
- Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut:
Option + Command + P.
The hierarchical breadcrumb trail will instantly disappear from the bottom of your Finder window, reclaiming a small strip of vertical real estate and making the interface look much cleaner.