The Problem

Have you ever used your Navigation Bar in anger? 🫨 Did you know you can use it to:

• Open files
• Create new files
• Limit the scope of find in files
• Speed search across any location

No? Let's start with the basics then! 🗄️

Open existing files

Invoke the Navigation Bar with ⌘↑ (macOS) / Alt+Home (Windows/Linux) and then use the arrow keys to find the directory your file is in, select it and press ⏎ (macOS) / Enter (Windows/Linux) to open it.

New files when you want them where you want them? Yup! 🆕

Create new files

Invoke the Navigation Bar with ⌘↑ (macOS) / Alt+Home (Windows/Linux) and then use the arrow keys to find where you want to place your new file.

If you have another file selected, your new file will be a sibling to that file in the same location. If you have a directory selected, your new file will be placed in that directory.

Invoke New File with ⌘N (macOS) / Alt+Insert (Windows/Linux) and away you go.

Limiting the search scope for efficiency? Yup! 🔎

Limit the scope for searching

Invoke the Navigation Bar with ⌘↑ (macOS) / Alt+Home (Windows/Linux) and then use the arrow keys to find the directory that you want to search.

Invoke Find in Files with ⌘⇧F (macOS) / Ctrl+Shift+F (Windows/Linux) and your search is limited to that directory.

Typing less and getting the right result? Yup! ⌨ ️

Use speed search

Invoke the Navigation Bar with ⌘↑ (macOS) / Alt+Home (Windows/Linux) and then use speed search to find what you're looking for. For example you could type PCA to find PetClinicApplication. Less is more!

Hide it when you want to? Yup! 😅

Show/Hide it

The Navigation Bar is really helpful for moving around your project efficiently, but if you really want to, you can turn it off by going to View > Appearance > Navigation Bar > Don't show. Of course, you can turn it back on in exactly the same way!

If you want to know what else the Navigation Bar can do, check out Navigating Like a Pro.