Quick answer: Use Auto Finish when the meaningful puzzle is already resolved: hidden tableau cards are exposed, stock access is no longer blocking needed cards, and the remaining legal work is mainly moving ordered cards to the foundations. It should not make strategic choices for you while important alternatives remain.
Auto Finish is a convenience feature, not a solver
The purpose of Auto Finish is to remove repetitive end-game clicks after the position has become straightforward. It is not meant to decide which hidden card to reveal, which King should take an empty column or how Turn 3 stock access should be managed.
What a safe end-game position looks like
A board is a good candidate when:
- all tableau cards are face up;
- needed stock cards are accessible;
- foundation order can advance without breaking an important tableau route;
- there is no meaningful choice between competing hidden-card or stock-access plans.
At that point, automation saves time without taking away the interesting part of the game.
Why early Auto Finish can be risky
During the middle game, a card that can legally move to a foundation may still be useful as a tableau destination. Moving it automatically can reduce flexibility. Foundation timing is therefore part of strategy until the board is sufficiently open.
Read foundation timing in Classic Solitaire for the situations where waiting is useful.
Auto Finish should stop when the state changes
A robust implementation should not continue moving cards after the player starts another game, uses Undo or changes to a different position. The current game engine treats Auto Finish as a bounded action tied to the active state so it cannot drift into a newly created game.
Use it differently from double-click
Double-clicking a card is a single explicit decision to send that card to a foundation when legal. Auto Finish is a sequence of end-game moves. If you still want control over individual foundation decisions, use manual moves or double-click instead.
A simple rule of thumb
If you are still asking “which move should I make next?”, keep playing manually. If the question has become “how quickly can I move these already-safe cards home?”, Auto Finish is appropriate.