How to Create a New File in Finder on Mac

Out of the box, macOS Finder cannot create an empty document directly from its context menu. Right-clicking inside a folder only shows 'New Folder', leaving you to open an application first (like TextEdit, Pages, or Word) and navigate a 'Save As' file dialog.

However, you can create files in Finder using three practical methods: running the 'touch' command in Terminal, configuring an Automator Quick Action, or using a dedicated Finder extension like OddMac New File to add right-click document creation and the ⌥⌘N keyboard shortcut.

The built-in Terminal method creates completely blank files without launching external editors:

# Navigate to your folder and create a new file
cd ~/Documents/Project
touch notes.md

Using TextEdit requires several steps and careful attention to text format settings:

1. 1Launch TextEdit from Spotlight or Applications.
2. 2Click 'New Document'.
3. 3Press Shift + Command + T to convert from Rich Text (.rtf) to Plain Text (.txt).
4. 4Click File > Save (or Command + S).
5. 5In the Save dialog, expand the folder browser and locate your target directory.

OddMac New File integrates into Finder via Apple's official Finder Sync extension, giving you the fastest possible document creation experience on Mac:

• Instant Creation: Zero application startup time; Word and Excel files appear in under two seconds.
• Keyboard Shortcut: Press ⌥⌘N to trigger file creation from the keyboard.
• Smart Overwrite Protection: Files are automatically incremented (e.g. Document 2.docx) so you never overwrite existing work.