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Do you use color labels?

K

King Cobra

macrumors 603
Original poster
In OS 9, we were given the option to highlight the color of our folder/file icons with 7 colors. We could modify the colors to, say, graphite or lime, and our files in Finder windows would have a distinct highlight color on them. The option was brought to OS X in Panther, except we can only alter the 7 colors with hacking, and only the text below an icon is highlighted that color.

With that being said, do you (still) use file/folder color labels, and why/why not? Also, did you used to use them in OS 9?

Personally, I used them a little in OS 9, but I don't bother with them in OS X, probably because the label doesn't stand out as much as it did in OS 9.
 
LeeTom said:
It always sounds like a nice idea, but I never end up using labels. Ever.

Lee Tom
Click to expand...
Ditto. Used them on earlier OS's, a bit. Never now. No particular reason.
 
I use them a bit but only really one colour. I have a client directory with a long list of clients in it and use a red label to mark the currently 'active' clients with projects that are in progress.
 
I never really used them before, but I do use them a bit now. Although I can't say I have any real "system" to it (generally, Red equals "Important file" and that's about it).
I like Panther's labels more than the classic ones, though.
 
I use them sometimes--mostly to categorize different things or to identify them so that they stand out in column view. They're useful.
 
I used to use them in the System 7 & 8 days, they were a nice way to have the equivalent of more than one folder in one window. Now that we have File Viewer, er, Finder with the column view, I have the parallel folders I really wanted and can jump between them easily.
 
In OS 8.6 and so on, it used to change the color of the folder which made it stand out, so I used it a lot. Now, not as much.
 
I actually never liked how the colored folders in Mac OS 9. It didn't stand out to me. But now, I rarely use colored folders, but I do for school work.
–Chase
 
I used to in previous OS versions, mainly because I thought they looked cool. Since they came back in OS X, I haven't even looked at them - I'd rather just subdivide things into folders and manage that way - I can't remember what 7 different color codes mean.
 
I don't use the ones in Finder. I never used them in older versions of MacOS either.... I use the ones in Mail a little, although there's no training mode for the rules and I'm too lazy to make them work perfectly. But I try to have it work so that messages about my work get red-lighted and messages from my best friends get green-lighted, so they stand out in my inbox....
 
I do, since my wife and daughter only use the computer for schoolwork I color code their folders so it's easier for them to find them (and not inadvertently screw up the machine).
 
Sometimes.

The main things I use them for are for picture files scattered about my pictures folder and for documents. I'm looking forward to Tiger so I can use automater to color-label my recent documents and keep a rotation going for ease of recognition (although the new search feature will probably blow that out of the water huh?)

I also use them to pick out certain applications I use more than others in the Apps folder, but I certainly don't use the coloring system to its full potential.

On a related topic, it would be pretty nifty if you could use coloring in iTunes & iPhoto to help sort through certain albums quicker than just smart photo albums. I have so many iTunes playlists it's getting out of hand.
 
musicpyrite said:
I never used them in OS 9, and I don't use them in OS X.

I finded them a little distracting.
Click to expand...

How are they distracting if you don't use them?

Anyways. I use them to for visual queues to remind me to do something, like making backups of my webserver - my backup folder is labeled red as a reminder.
 
My OS 9 Games folder was red for easy acquisition. That's about all the labelling I've ever done. I suppose if I used my Mac for a living it would be different.
 
kingjr3 said:
How are they distracting if you don't use them?
Click to expand...

I tryed it a couple of times, but I don't like it. So I currently don't use them.

I've also seen them when an application installs red or blue folders, I make it a habit of getting rid of the color.
 
They came in handy when I downloaded all of the Family Guy episodes from limewire. I color the ones I'd seen. Nothing besides that, but it's a nice feature.
 
I use them for about 3 of the folders that I use the most but I only really find them useful in the list or columns view.
 
MacNeXT said:
They came in handy when I downloaded all of the Family Guy episodes from limewire. I color the ones I'd seen. Nothing besides that, but it's a nice feature.
Click to expand...

Oh, I do the same thing with rating stars for recorded radio shows in my iTunes. Color (like JDog said) would be nice for that. That's a good idea for the vids. I should do something like that for journal articles I've downloaded and haven't read. *warms slowly to color labels*
 
I find the new labels a little too gawdy. It'd be nice if you were able to control the opacity and remove the 3-D look that they have. Then I might consider using them more.
 
Quite alot actually.

Its much easier to find a file/folder inbetween tens of other files when its highlighted.
 
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