You may or may not wish to use this facility, but I find it very good for quick access to things.
FILENAME EXTENSIONS -- in Finder prefs, under Advanced cog icon, I'd advise checking/ticking the top
Show all filename extensions. This will ensure you see .aif, .wav, .txt, .pdf, etc etc at the end of your filenames.
MAKE ALIAS -- I tend to right-click on folders and files then
Make Alias (shortcut) and move/copy the alias into every place where I might want quick access. You can make as many as you like and clicking any alias will get you to that place, el pronto
[will this be the new macOS nickname for the eventual Mac Pro? tee-tee...]FINDER SIDEBAR -- I also drag folders (directories) into the lefthand Sidebar Favourites (sic) of the Finder window that appears when you open a new Finder window or click on the hard drive icon -- the latter only shows on your desktop if you choose it to in the Finder preferences
[command key plus comma key]. Sidebar prefs can be set up in Finder prefs too -- see screenshot. I use the Sidebar shortcut, for instance, to take me straight to my Songs folder for Studio One DAW. You can add and remove such folders, easily at any time. Very useful.
TAGS -- I use these all the time, as a fast way of seeing, say, all current versions of software in my Applications folder. I created a tag called
Latest Version and assigned it to green colour, and tag relevant files. (I tend not to remove the old version when updating software, until I know it's rock solid. Studio One allows this, some apps do not.) These tags show up in the Sidebar too if you want them there - see Sidebar prefs in Finder prefs.
CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT SEARCHES -- you can create your own Search 'bookmarks' and one I find useful is
Show all items added to Mac today -- see screenshot. More advice on Spotlight here:
https://support.apple.com/kb/PH25589
