Command-Alt-Space shortcut to open new Finder window stopped working

Hi Diego,

Finally I was able to resolve this.

I read in some forums that some installed apps might be interferring.

Hence I removed some apps after which Command-Atl-Space started working as usual. Now am able to open Finder with the Command-Alt-Space shortcut. I uninstalled RAR extractor.

Regards,

Avinash

Hi, I had the same problem, i resolved the problem by pressing ALT+CMD+T.

Regards,

BGast

ALT+CMD+T worked for me, thanks a lot !

ALT+CMD+SPACE and then ALT+CMD+T, i dont know how or when it turned off, that finder shortcut is pretty usefull.

After pressing cmd+alt+space you have to go to View and then Show Side Bar (alt+cmd+S), in my case it seemed inactive (it was grey instead of black) but after pressing this key combination it got back somehow.

Thank you so much!

I'm a new Mac immigrant from Windows world (6 weeks in and still learning all of the quirks) and I thought that I was losing my mind after alt+cmd+space started opening spotlight search view of finder instead of the folder structure. I had been using it for a few weeks, and am still unsure how I inadvertently changed it.

I was searching for a way to open finder with a keyboard shortcut and it sounded like this wasn't an option and various automator scripts didn't seem to work either.

Thanks for showing how to revert back to this very useful shortcut.

Just as a heads-up, today I discovered the same problem. CMD+ALT+SPACE always brought up a new Finder window from anywhere in the operating system until today, when it brought up the Spotlight window.

In System Preferences, I removed the shortcut from the Spotlight settings, but now I can't reapply it to open a Finder window. I will consult a Genius and update you.

Finally found SOLUTION, thanks to a completely different apple(.com) support thread (details below).

The problem has nothing to do with Mac OS X systems prior to Nov 2011 (per Barney-15E above). All you have to do is change the Semo-Permanent Toggle Mode of Finder vs Spotlight. So when Spotlight comes up (instead of Finder which is what people here want), just press ALT-COMMAND-T. Spotlight at that point will bring up the "side bar" which converts it into a regular Finder window. Moreover, you need do this just once since the toggle mode is SEMI- PERMANENT... until the next time you press ALT-COMMAND-T (either intentionally or by accident... which it seems is what happens from time to time). Last October after my last entry above (as jeffdata), I found this solution at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4774696?answerId=23366612022#23366612022&ac_cid=tw123456#23366612?ac_cid=t w123456 ... and then earlier this month the problem happened again... and then I had to dig up the info again. This time I'm sharing with this forum.

Make it a Great Day 🙂

Following up on my post from Dec 6th:

The Geniuses weren't aware of any Finder shortcut ever existing, and outside of this thread it seems as though they're right.

Needless to say I left without a solution.

The ALT-CMD-T is functional in that it gives you quick access to everything in a normal Finder window, but it still defaults as a Search rather than whatever you've set Finder to open with (Downloads, Applications, etc.).

So it's passable and I'm nitpicking, but when I can just hit CMD-Space for Spotlight, I'd like a separate function for ALT-CMD-Space.

I'll file this under Lost Causes for now.

Hi diego chamy.

Sorry - I didn't get a notification that you had posted. I pressed opt-command-space and it opened up the spotlight window - while viewing it, I clicked alt-cmd-t and the window changed to a finder window. After that, the shortcut opens up the finder window again successfully.

Incidentally, the reason I'm back on this thread is because the shortcut suddently started opening up the unwanted spotlight window again (I'm not sure what I did that caused it to revert). I started searching for a solution, and fortunately came across the same thread again.

kinglucentio wrote:

Following up on my post from Dec 6th:

The Geniuses weren't aware of any Finder shortcut ever existing, and outside of this thread it seems as though they're right.

Needless to say I left without a solution.

The ALT-CMD-T is functional in that it gives you quick access to everything in a normal Finder window, but it still defaults as a Search rather than whatever you've set Finder to open with (Downloads, Applications, etc.).

So it's passable and I'm nitpicking, but when I can just hit CMD-Space for Spotlight, I'd like a separate function for ALT-CMD-Space.

I'll file this under Lost Causes for now.

That doesn't appear to work in Mavericks, if anyone is interested.

It works fine for me in Mavericks. Cmd+Opt+Space brings up a Finder window set to search, and from there the "Show/Hide Toolbar" option can be toggled with Cmd+Opt+T (or in the View options). I don't know how it was hidden, but this fixed it for me.

Cmd-Opt-t didn't do anything until I hid the Tab bar. Now it works with or without the tab bar hidden.

I couldn't reproduce it, but I believe you. Hope it stays working for you 🙂.