Guide
Working with files
Open, preview, copy, rename, tag, share and drag what you find, without a detour through Finder. And undo any of it, even tomorrow.
Select one or more results, then use the keyboard, the File and Edit menus, or right-click for everything.
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Open | ↩, double-click or ⌘O. Folders open in place (you browse into them); files open in their app. |
| Open With | Right-click › Open With, then choose an app. The default app is marked. |
| Show in Finder | ⌘↩ or ⌘R. |
| Quick Look (take a sip) | Space or ⌘Y. The arrow keys move through the results while it’s open. |
| Get Info | ⌘I. More below. |
| Copy | ⌘C copies the files: paste them in Finder, Mail or any app. |
| Copy Path | ⌥⌘C copies the full path as text, one per line. Works for offline files too. |
| Rename… | Right-click › Rename…. With several items selected: Rename Items… Pro (below). |
| Duplicate | ⌘D makes a copy next to the original (“name copy”). |
| Share… | Right-click › Share… (AirDrop, Mail, Messages…). |
| Tags | Right-click › Tags: add or remove Finder tags. |
| Move to Trash | ⌘⌫. Espresso never deletes files for good: they go to the Trash, as in Finder. |
| Export Results as CSV… | Pro ⇧⌘E. Every result with the columns you see, ready for a spreadsheet. |
Drag and drop
Drag results anywhere that accepts files: Finder, Mail, Messages, an editor, an upload field in the browser. Select several first to drag them together.
Rename many items
Pro · Bulk rename is part of Espresso Pro.
Select several results, then right-click › Rename Items…. Type what to Find and what to Replace with: the list shows every new name before anything changes.
- Regular expression: use groups in the replacement. Find
^(\d{4})-(\d{2})-(\d{2})and replace with$3.$2.$1to turn2026-09-28 notes.mdinto28.09.2026 notes.md. - Match case, and Include extension (when it’s off,
photo.JPGonly changesphoto). - Names that would clash, already exist or aren’t valid are marked and skipped. Nothing is ever overwritten.
- Edit › Undo Rename (⌘Z) puts the old names back, even after you quit Espresso.
Undo, even tomorrow
Moves to the Trash, renames, duplicates and tag changes made in Espresso can always be undone. ⌘Z undoes the latest one, also after Espresso was quit, and Edit › Undo History… (⌥⌘Z) lists the last 90 days, each with its own Undo.
Undo never replaces or deletes anything. An item comes back from the Trash next to a newer one with the same name (as “name (restored)”); a rename goes back only if the old name is free; a duplicate is undone by moving the copy to the Trash.
Get Info
Get Info opens a small window with everything Espresso knows about an item: kind, size, location, disk, when it was created, modified and last opened, tags, and extended details such as dimensions, date taken, duration and pages. With Pro it also shows title, author, album, genre and year; camera, lens, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, focal length and flash; place, location and altitude; rating, keywords and description; codecs, frame rate, bit rate, sample rate and channels; the app that made the file and its copyright.
It works for offline files too, which is handy to check what’s on a disk in a drawer. For connected files, Show in Finder is one click away.
Files on offline disks
You can search, browse, Get Info and Copy Path for files on disks that aren’t connected. Opening, previewing, sharing or moving them needs the file itself: Espresso tells you Connect “Disk name” to open this file. Plug the disk in and try again.