What is Finder on Mac?
By Junaid, maker of Taskglass · Last reviewed
The Mac's file browser, which also draws the icons on your desktop.
Finder is the app you use to browse files, and it also draws the icons on your desktop, so it's always running. Activity is normal when opening big folders, copying files, generating previews, or browsing network and cloud drives.
- Category
- macOS system
- Made by
- Apple
- Safe to quit:
- With care
Shown in Activity Monitor as Finder
Why is Finder using so much CPU or memory?
- Folders with thousands of files, or lots of images and videos needing previews
- Copying, moving or emptying the Trash with many files
- Cloud storage (iCloud Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive) syncing or updating file badges
- Slow or disconnected network drives
- Third-party Finder extensions
What to do
- 1Let file copies or emptying the Trash finish
- 2Close Finder windows showing huge folders or network drives
- 3Option-right-click the Finder icon in the Dock and choose Relaunch
- 4Turn off Finder extensions you don't need in System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions
- 5Restart your Mac
Safe to quit? With care.
Finder relaunches automatically, but a file copy in progress may be interrupted.
Typical usage
Rough ranges on Apple Silicon Macs. Yours will vary.
- CPU
- 0–2% when idle
- Memory
- 100–500 MB
Related processes
- Quick Look (QuickLookUIService)Makes file previews and thumbnails, like when you press Space on a file in Finder.
- fileproviderdConnects Finder with cloud storage like iCloud Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive.
- iconservicesagentCreates the app and file icons you see in Finder, the Dock and elsewhere.
- mdsThe Spotlight metadata server: coordinates indexing so you can search your Mac instantly.
Part of the Taskglass Process Library