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Swift Salamander User Guide / Settings

Open Folders in Swift Salamander

Let Swift Salamander open folders and show files when other apps and Terminal ask for them, in place of Finder.

Checked with Swift Salamander 0.9.1 on 12 October 2026.

Open Folders in Swift Salamander makes this app the one macOS asks when something wants to open a folder or show a file in its folder. It is off until you turn it on.

Turn It On

  1. Choose Settings > General.
  2. Find Browsing and switch on Open Folders in Swift Salamander.

Keep Swift Salamander in your Applications folder. macOS does not hand folders to an app that sits somewhere else.

What Opens in Swift Salamander

With the setting on, these open in the active pane:

  • The open command in Terminal. `open ~/Documents` opens that folder, `open .` opens the folder the shell is in, and `open -R report.pdf` opens the file's folder with the file selected.
  • The show-in-folder request an app makes for a file. An app that asks macOS to show a file in its folder reaches Swift Salamander, and the file's folder opens with the file selected.

What Stays in Finder

The Dock keeps its own Show in Finder and Open in Finder, and a Finder window you are already in stays a Finder window. Turning the setting on does not change those.

Turn It Off

Switch off Open Folders in Swift Salamander in the same place. Folders go back to opening in Finder, the way they did before you turned it on.