How to select multiple files on Mac

How to select multiple files on Mac with Command

1. Click the first file.
2. Hold Command and click each of the other files. They don’t need to be next to each other.
3. To take a file out of the selection, Command-click it again. The rest stay selected.

Select a run of files with Shift

1. In the Finder window, choose View › as List (Command-2), so the files stand in one line.
2. Click the first file of the run.
3. Hold Shift and click the last one. Every file between them is selected too.

In icon view, a Shift-click may add only the file you click, not the whole run. There, use Command-click or drag a box around the files.

Select all files in a folder

1. Click inside the Finder window, or on the desktop.
2. Press Command-A, or choose Edit › Select All.

To leave a few files out, Command-click them after that.

Drag a box around files with a mouse or trackpad

1. Point at an empty spot next to the first file, not at a file.
2. Hold the mouse button, or press the trackpad down, and drag over the files. A box appears, and every file it touches is selected.
3. Release when all the files you need are inside the box.

Holding a trackpad down while you drag is tiring. With three-finger drag you drag with three fingers instead: choose Apple menu › System Settings › Accessibility › Pointer Control, click Trackpad Options, turn on Use trackpad for dragging and choose Three Finger Drag. It works on trackpads with Force Touch.

What you can do with the selected files

Whatever you do next applies to every selected file. Drag one of them and they all move. Press Command-Delete and they all go to the Trash. Control-click one of them and the menu acts on all of them (see how to right-click on Mac).

To put them into a folder of their own in one step, see how to create a folder on Mac.