Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Can I sort folders to display before files?

C

ChrisH3677

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 6, 2003
774
102
Victoria, Australia
One thing I just haven't been able to get used to since switching, is the way folders are sorted alpha along with files.

I thought I saw something a while ago on how to sort so that folders would appear first, then files (like in Windows).

It may have been an app that did it.

Can anyone help??

thanks
 
In list view, click on the 'Kind' header. This will sort the folder alphabetically by kind. Click again to reverse the sorting order.
In icon view, go View->Arrange->by kind (as übergeek said) to do the same thing.
I don't think you can do it in column view though, unless you do something like putting a space at the start of the name of each folder.
 
Yes but as folder begins with an 'F', it appears after file types that being with an 'A', and so, although folders are grouped together when you arrange by kind, the folders appear in the middle of all the files as a big block. There doesn't appear to be any way to put the folders right at the beginning (as in Windows), as the original poster was asking. This is something that I'd like to be able to do as well.

Anyone any other ideas?
 
I did a little bit of research, and I found this program. It isn't very intuitive, but I might work on a small scale. I don't think that It will work on the whole hard drive, but on a couple folders use all the time it might work. :)
 
Johnny I think someone said it already, simply put a "space" in front of the folder name. The system will see a blank space before an "A" I sort my files and folders this way all the time. even to the point of placing several spaces in front of the name (OK 3 max) As long as they aren't something the system has to access or an application has to link to, that should work.
 
Sparky's said:
Johnny I think someone said it already, simply put a "space" in front of the folder name. The system will see a blank space before an "A" I sort my files and folders this way all the time. even to the point of placing several spaces in front of the name (OK 3 max) As long as they aren't something the system has to access or an application has to link to, that should work.
Click to expand...
Cheers but it's not an ideal solution is it? Why can't they just have an additional option on the view menu options?
 
Here's another thought:
In icon and column view, if you sort by size, it will separate files and folders, because it doesn't calculate folder sizes. Unfortunately there are two disadvantages of this method, so it might not be very useful:
1. Files are no longer sorted alphabetically, but instead by size (folders are sorted alphabetically though).
2. Applications are really folders in disguise, so their size is not calculated either, and they are mixed with folders.
 
I agree Johhny, why don't we petition Apple to make changes!!! there are a lot of suggestions we as users could contribute.

You know, maybe kidnap someone from Apple and make them go through MAC Forums, and answer every post then report back to headquarters and do whats right!!!!
 
Sparky's said:
I agree Johhny, why don't we petition Apple to make changes!!! there are a lot of suggestions we as users could contribute.

You know, maybe kidnap someone from Apple and make them go through MAC Forums, and answer every post then report back to headquarters and do whats right!!!!
Click to expand...

Personally, I want the whole disk-folder-file approach replaced with a document management system inbuilt in the OS, which would contain all my data.

Applications themselves would install and automatically appear in a categorized Applications menu.

Altho it would still be hierarchal and for all intents look like files and folders, I would never have to see a disk identifier again. I would never have to need to know the drive name a document was stored on. Also, indexing would be transparent, automatic and very fast. An searching would become very useable.

All documents - whether spreadsheets, word processing, images, cached web pages, email etc - would be stored and indexed. So from a centralized search engine built right into the OS, I could type a few words and instantly documents would beginning filling the results area. I know you're gunna say OSX does that to a degree now... but it's going to get better and faster.

I can already achieve some degree of this with third party tools such as DevonThink for document management and any number of app launchers.

But it will be really cool when it's all integrated into the OS.
 
ChrisH3677 said:
Personally, I want the whole disk-folder-file approach replaced with a document management system inbuilt in the OS, which would contain all my data.
Click to expand...

Cheers! Too bad BeOs never took off (this was one of it's big things, right?).... One thing I really love about MacOS is that it manages most applications as single files. This is a far cry from what you're saying, but anything to reduce the clutter and focus on what you're looking for....
 
mkrishnan said:
One thing I really love about MacOS is that it manages most applications as single files.
Click to expand...

Ditto! But it really annoys me that the apps that exist in the Windows world often don't, instead they have a folder and subfolders for their apps.

eg
- Microsoft Office has shared apps, templates, clipart etc in it's folders.
- Lotus Notes is a shocker - it has .shib files and data folders and ini files - in fact there are 149 files in the Lotus folder!
- Adobe Photoshop

There's plenty of Mac only developers that do it too, it just seems tho that the both worlds ones do it worst.

Why they can't use packaging is beyond me - or at least make better use of packaging.
 
ChrisH3677 said:
Ditto! But it really annoys me that the apps that exist in the Windows world often don't, instead they have a folder and subfolders for their apps.
Click to expand...

(and while we're venting...:)) Ditto for apps that came over from Unix. I love the availability of GNU ports to MacOS, but most of them go to really complicated measures to install. Fortunately, my favorite, <R> (a statistics package), actually has a proper Aqua port in a single file.

That reminds me...I have to go hunt down NIH Image for Mac. :)
 
Use a dash

Name your folders:

"-folder 01"
"-folder 02"

without the quotes of course.

name them:

"~folder 01"
"~folder 02"

and they will sort at the bottom.

The folders will still be alphabetized, after the symbol.
 
May Have an Answer

I know this thread is old, but I came across it looking for a solution to the very same question. After trying for quite a while I think I've come across a solution.
After I opened my Finder I clicked on the NAME column. It put the folders in alpha order and it put the files in those folders in alpha order. There is an option in the toolbar under View to Arrange by, but that is grayed out on my computer.

Let me know if this helps anyone.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back