Hide the Toolbar in Mac OS X Lion Finder Windows

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion left behind the toolbar switch that used to sit in the upper right corner of all Finder windows as a rectangular button in favor of a cleaner appearance. That doesn’t mean you can’t hide the toolbar in OS X Lion though, it’s just done through the View menu or by using a quick keyboard shortcut:

• Open a Finder window, then hit Command+Option+T to hide the toolbar and sidebar

With the toolbar hidden, desktop windows take on a minimalist appearance and as a side effect, all folders open in new windows rather than be contained in the same window. This is how older versions of Mac OS behaved, and it’s very useful if you’re moving or copying items around in nested folders but can quickly lead to a lot of window clutter.

If you prefer to keep the toolbar, you can also try hiding the Finder sidebars only with Command+Option+S. That will also maintain the single window option too, unless it has been overridden by another Finder preference choice.