1. Open the Finder

Open up a Finder window and look at the section on the left titled “Shared”. Underneath the “Shared” headline, you will see the names of all the available Macs on your network.

Initially, you will see the public folders of each computer, for which you are not required to submit a username and password. You may also click on a Mac’s name and use the “Connect” button to mount volumes that do require authentication, such as a user’s home directory.

2. Connect to a Mac

Click on the Mac to which you wish to connect, then press the “Connect” button. You will be asked for a username and password. This is not the username and password for the Mac which you are physically using — it is the username and password for the Mac to which you are connecting.

3. Choose volume, browse files

Once your username and password are accepted, you will be asked to choose a volume to mount. You may choose to mount your home directory, the hard drive, or another storage volume such as an external hard drive. All of the available volumes will be shown in the window that pops up.

At this point, you may browse the files on the Mac to which you have connected, and are free to upload and download files. Be careful — anything you delete will be gone forever.