deselectfolders

A macOS menu bar utility for Finder power users. Select a mix of files and folders in List View, then use a global hotkey to deselect just the folders (or just files with specific extensions) — useful when you want to copy/move only files without manually Cmd-clicking every folder out of your selection.

Shortcuts

• ⌃⇧↑ — Deselect folders from current selection
• ⌃⇧↓ — Deselect files matching configured extensions (default: jpg, pdf)
• ⌃⇧→ — zip folder excluding hidden MacOS files .DS_Store, __MACOSX*

Edit the extension list from the menu bar icon → "Edit Extensions…"

scripts to copy to clipboard to paste into Terminal System Info (copy) = report opens in TextEdit

download dmg from releases

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/deselectfolders.app

Grant Accessibility access when prompted (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility). zip folder wants access to control Finder

zip -r dir.zip . -x "*.DS_Store" -x "*__MACOSX*"

Requirements to Build and Install

• macOS 11+
• Accessibility permission (prompted on first use)
• [librsvg] for building the app icon: brew install librsvg

chmod +x build.sh
./build.sh

Uses the macOS Accessibility API (AXUIElement) to inspect Finder's List View outline, check which rows are selected, and identify folders (via disclosure triangle) or file extensions (via filename), then deselects matching rows. Hotkeys are registered globally via Carbon's RegisterEventHotKey.