The Bottom Information Strip
The macOS Finder includes an optional “Status Bar” that appears at the very bottom edge of the window. This thin grey strip provides two pieces of information: the total number of items in the currently viewed folder, and the amount of free storage space remaining on your hard drive (e.g., “14 items, 250 GB available”).
While this is helpful when you are actively managing your disk space or trying to quickly count a massive list of files, it is generally unnecessary for day-to-day computing. If you already know you have plenty of storage space, the Status Bar simply sits there, consuming a few pixels of vertical screen space at the bottom of every single folder you open. If you want a cleaner, more minimalist Finder window, you can hide this information strip.
How to Hide the Finder Status Bar
You can toggle the Status 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 Status Bar. (If it says “Show Status Bar,” the feature is already disabled).
- Click on “Hide Status Bar”.
- Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut:
Command + /(Command and the forward slash key).
The thin grey strip containing the item count and disk space will immediately disappear from the bottom of your Finder window, giving you a slightly cleaner interface that focuses entirely on your files.