Sort files in folders

Hey guys can anyone tell me how I can sort my files within folders in a specific order??? Not in alphabetical order, size, date, kind etc...but in an order that I want them in (documents from school to be exact, I would like to sort them in the progression of the lessons from week to week). I never knew how to do this at the time and now Im kind of learning how to sort all of my docs within Finder, but this seems to be the first stumbling block that I've come across??? Thanks :)

electropop wrote:
Thought about that but isn't there any other way?
Not when the view for the folder is set to anything other than Icon view.
In Icon view you can choose "none" for both Arrange By and Sort By (in View Options for that folder). This allows you to place the items in any sequence you wish.
However, when the view is set to List, Column, or Cover Flow, although Arrange By can be set to "None", Sort By must be set to some criterium; by default it is set to "Name".
So, if you're viewing the content in List view, items will be sorted by name (unless you change the Sort By criterium).
You can add a number at the beginning to force a sort into the sequence you prefer, as has been suggested. Note that if you do this, add a leading 0 to single-digit numbers (like 01, 06, etc.); otherwise "10" and "11" will be sorted between "1" and "2".
For similar things I use a quick date prefix (or, if the base name is the same, a date suffix) to force a sort into my logical groupings. To keep a logical assortment over time, I use the date form of YY/MM/DD so that items from different years don't get mixed together.

Similar Messages

How to sort files and folders like Windows

I don't know if this is specific to Arch or every other Linux distro but one thing that really bugs me in Arch is how files and folders are sorted. I use Windows as my main OS (don't start on that please) and I have one folder properly organized exactly as I want it and I like it how Windows sorts this. I access that same folder from my Arch installation, the problem is that the sorting is different and it gets on my nerves lol...
This is how Windows sorts that specific folder:
C:\Users\Nazgulled\Documents\University>dir /O
Volume in drive C is Vista
Volume Serial Number is F84E-02BE
Directory of C:\Users\Nazgulled\Documents\University
05-08-2009 15:34 <DIR> .
05-08-2009 15:34 <DIR> ..
05-08-2009 11:10 <DIR> [Archives]
05-08-2009 14:38 <DIR> [Developers]
05-08-2009 11:17 <DIR> [X] 1) Cálculo II
05-08-2009 11:18 <DIR> [X] 2) Análise de Custos
05-08-2009 11:18 <DIR> [X] 2) Cálculo de Programas
05-08-2009 11:18 <DIR> [X] 2) Laboratórios de Informática III
05-08-2009 11:18 <DIR> 2) Algoritmos e Complexidade
05-08-2009 11:18 <DIR> 2) Arquitectura de Computadores
05-08-2009 11:18 <DIR> 2) Comunicaçao de Dados
05-08-2009 11:18 <DIR> 2) Engenharia Económica
05-08-2009 11:18 <DIR> 2) Estatística Aplicada
0 File(s) 0 bytes
13 Dir(s) 24.700.485.632 bytes free
And this is how Arch does it:
nazgulled ~/University $ ls -l
total 7
drwxr-xr-x 1 nazgulled nazgulled 4096 2009-08-05 11:18 2) Algoritmos e Complexidade
drwxr-xr-x 1 nazgulled nazgulled 4096 2009-08-05 11:18 2) Arquitectura de Computadores
drwxr-xr-x 1 nazgulled nazgulled 4096 2009-08-05 11:18 2) Comunicação de Dados
drwxr-xr-x 1 nazgulled nazgulled 4096 2009-08-05 11:18 2) Engenharia Económica
drwxr-xr-x 1 nazgulled nazgulled 8192 2009-08-05 11:18 2) Estatística Aplicada
drwxr-xr-x 1 nazgulled nazgulled 4096 2009-08-05 11:10 [Archives]
drwxr-xr-x 1 nazgulled nazgulled 4096 2009-08-05 14:38 [Developers]
drwxr-xr-x 1 nazgulled nazgulled 4096 2009-08-05 11:17 [X] 1) Cálculo II
drwxr-xr-x 1 nazgulled nazgulled 12288 2009-08-05 11:18 [X] 2) Análise de Custos
drwxr-xr-x 1 nazgulled nazgulled 4096 2009-08-05 11:18 [X] 2) Cálculo de Programas
drwxr-xr-x 1 nazgulled nazgulled 4096 2009-08-05 11:18 [X] 2) Laboratórios de Informática III
How can I get Arch/Linux to sort exactly the same as Windows?
Last edited by Nazgulled (2009-08-05 14:41:47)

toad wrote:
Nazgulled wrote:Surely there must be a way to have the same sorting collation in Linux like in Windows
Ah, no. The way they are doing it is nonsensical and not good practice for a unix style system. Having said that, some solutions have already been offered in this thread.
While you are free to continue to ask others to help you achieve your aims, it may be more convenient for you to adapt to a structure that is displayed the same way under all systems (just to avoid frustration - not saying you _should_ do it ).
I really don't care if it's nonsensical, I use Windows 95% of the time or more, it's my main OS, I'm used to it and I like it. Why should I care if it's not a good practice for a unix style system? I just want things to behave the way I like and for a free system like Linux where it doesn't even compare to Windows in terms of freedom in what I can do with it and configure the way I like, it sure is hard to change the way folders/files are sorted...
It sucks that there isn't a proper solution but I'm not going to adapt anything, that would be nonsensical... But if I have to, I can live with the fact that there isn't a good solution and leave it as it is
Thanks everyone for their input, "topic closed".

Arrange Sort Files and Folders in CC Website

Does anyone know how to arrange and/or sort files and collections in the Creative Cloud website? I uploaded files, and they are currently listed there in the order they were updated. I would like to sort them alphabetically with collections first then files. How can I do this? Thanks.

Currently there is no functionality like you describe, but I agree that this would be really helpful.
I created an idea/feature request for the functionality here, please add your vote and comments
http://forums.adobe.com/ideas/1575
Thanks,
-Dave

Can't sort files and folders

Two questions:
1. In a folder I want to sort the items in order allways folders first and second files by namne but sometimes the folders last. Is it any way to solve this? The Mac mixed sorting makes me mad.
2. When in Finder-menu View the choice Clean Up and Arrange by is grey and can't be used. How come? Is it possible to make these choices active?
Svante

It's always frustrating when the designers didn't think to do it 'your' way. But we all figured out how to drive cars that were built 'their' way and we can do this too. The fact that MicroSoft did it another way, just is not relevant to working with your Mac. We're still coping with sillyunderscoresover here, and now our apps quit on us when we close their windows.
You like a hierarchy that puts folders before individual file items: Make a folder, call it "Directories" (or even better " Directories", or "•Folders"), put all your folders in that window into it, and if you want, make a companion "Documents" folder for everything else. Click the flippy triangles of both to reveal their contents. There, everything in list order, folders first. You will have to do a teensy bit of handfiling you're not used to, but as others mentioned a simple naming convention would have spared you that (and this suggestion). If you truly hate the look, you can make invisible custom icons for the two folders and use a style like:"••••••Folders•••••", "-----Files----" so they look like headers.
People have complained about missing this Windows 'feature' before without ever convincing me of its virtue. I can see which items are folders and don't need them artificially at the top (Sort by kind does that if ever I do) and find the integrated alphanumeric list useful for grouping unfiled documents near their folders. When I want the first item(s) on the list to be a folder, I so name it. You can cope, just like you can learn to navigate a new subdivision with all the cul-de-sacs. Now if I could just get used to this silly idea North Americans have that we should drive on the right.
Message was edited by: Ed Hanna
Message was edited by: Ed Hanna

Can't sort files and folders. Sorry doubble mailed

Two questions:
1. In a folder I want to sort the items in order allways folders first and second files by namne but sometimes the folders last. Is it any way to solve this? The Mac mixed sorting makes me mad.
2. When in Finder-menu View the choice Clean Up and Arrange by is grey and can't be used. How come? Is it possible to make these choices active?
Svante
Message was edited by: Svante

It's always frustrating when the designers didn't think to do it 'your' way. But we all figured out how to drive cars that were built 'their' way and we can do this too. The fact that MicroSoft did it another way, just is not relevant to working with your Mac. We're still coping with sillyunderscoresover here, and now our apps quit on us when we close their windows.
You like a hierarchy that puts folders before individual file items: Make a folder, call it "Directories" (or even better " Directories", or "•Folders"), put all your folders in that window into it, and if you want, make a companion "Documents" folder for everything else. Click the flippy triangles of both to reveal their contents. There, everything in list order, folders first. You will have to do a teensy bit of handfiling you're not used to, but as others mentioned a simple naming convention would have spared you that (and this suggestion). If you truly hate the look, you can make invisible custom icons for the two folders and use a style like:"••••••Folders•••••", "-----Files----" so they look like headers.
People have complained about missing this Windows 'feature' before without ever convincing me of its virtue. I can see which items are folders and don't need them artificially at the top (Sort by kind does that if ever I do) and find the integrated alphanumeric list useful for grouping unfiled documents near their folders. When I want the first item(s) on the list to be a folder, I so name it. You can cope, just like you can learn to navigate a new subdivision with all the cul-de-sacs. Now if I could just get used to this silly idea North Americans have that we should drive on the right.
Message was edited by: Ed Hanna
Message was edited by: Ed Hanna

How to view long file names and sort files within folders/projects?

Hello, like so many people here, I am a new mac user, but certainly not computer illiterate. I have been a professional photographer for 10 years and recently change to mac and have been slowly trying to adapt my work flow accordingly.
However I have become increasingly frustrated with Aperture 3 and after reading posts here it looks like I am certainly not the only person. While in my case I am sure it is because of my inexperience with mac systems so any guidance or assistance is much appreciated.
Hopefully my questions are simple. I have been importing my images and re-naming images as I do so. A very simple combination of date, custom name, and counter. However, when I look at the images once the import has completed, they are not in any logical order within the 'project'. I have tried to sort them by file name, orientation, file size, etc, both ascending and descending, but they will not list in the correct order. eg the file '2010-03-09 Lyon France 001', continually falls between '2010-03-09 Lyon France 022' and '....021'.
This has also lead me to a further question. While my file names can generally be read when the image is a landscape format, on the portrait images the file name it too long for me to read the whole name, and I can not find anyway to read the file name, eg browser, split screen, viewer, or full screen.
Im sorry for all the details, and I am sure it is just my lack of experience, so appreciate your help.
PS. On a separate note, I notice on another thread from the frustrated user 'ultratechy' that he got a reply from Tony who stated 'Also after installing any application you should always run disk utility and repair permissions....' Now as I am completely new to mac, I had no idea about this. Any other tips that I should always be aware of? Thanks again.

Thanks for your reply Calx. If it makes you feel better, I am actually a New South Welshman - just living in the sunshine state!
You are correct, I am trying to get my head around a new way of working and thinking, but I suppose it will all become clearer as time goes by. I have re-visited the manual many times, and been doing loads of research online, but just trying to put it all into practice now, so any tips or advice is always appreciated.
At the moment, I am just working with a small part of my library until I do get my head around things before moving onto the bulk of my images. I have my images stored and backed up on multiple external hard drives. I am trying to import my images into aperture from an external drive as I have been slack over the years with keywording, metadata, organising, etc etc, so I figure from what I have read that aperture may assist me with making these time consuming tasks a bit quicker and easier.
I have put a bit of thought into my filing structure, but I am sure that with further use and understanding, this may change in the future, but I hope not. To give you an example of how I am thinking and working - I have used folders for my regular clients, eg, Ray White, and then made another level of folders within 'Ray White' for the date, and then in each 'date folder' I place my projects and name them with the address of the property I have photographed. I select and edit images from each project and place them in albums under each project. Not sure if this is the most perfect structure, but any advice is welcome.
Keywords is always an issue with me. Over the years I have compiled a number of list for each client and each 'type' of photography. For example, real estate images have there own list, I just simply manually add keywords for specific jobs, eg the address and any specific location or features.
Again, advice and guidance always welcome and I would appreciate how you go about these topics? And maybe you can help explain something that I have pre-emted may be a problem, and it may happen when I move onto my larger library, and I am not sure how to explain this as it may show my lack of management previously. When I worked on my PC, I used PS4, Adobe Bridge and Camera RAW pretty much exclusively. For my landscape images for example, I might have 2 or 3 variations of the one images, eg, black and white, sepia, and color for instance. But the file name remained the same, I just stored them in different folders indicating what version of the image was stored there. Now I am thinking that when I import images in Aperture, I will come across difficulties because Aperture will think the I am importing duplicate images because I will in fact have 3 images with the same file name, even though the adjustments I have made to them are different. Is this the case? Will I have to make adjustments again? Will I have to change the name of the files prior to importing? If so, any advice or tips?
Well, I should stop there. Im sorry to bombard you with some much text, but as mentioned, I am new, and finding my feet, so thanks for your time.

[SOLVED] Auto-sort files in folders

Came across the "Magic Folder" plasmoid on a friend's KDE setup and liked the idea very much, especially for my downloads folder (I tend to download many things and then go through them later to sort away).
I found the "Download Sort" plugin for Firefox, but it doesn't always work and doesn't seem to be maintained anymore (last release 2006).
I also found this shell script on the Ubuntu forums, but it doesn't do what I want.
Does anyone know of a way (or a ready made program) that could do the following:
- Check every file that is placed in folder "X" (eg ~/downloads) [not only by Firefox, but always] and automatically distribute them to another folder by mime type or file extension
- This is not a must, but a nice and useful feature: automatically create subfolders by date for certain file types (useful for PDFs etc., but not needed for videos or music)
Thanks in advance
Last edited by JackH79 (2012-05-06 14:15:14)

I don't know about a ready program, but you can write a simple bash script to do that.
(I think this is very simalar to your ubuntu link, I can't view it).
#!/bin/bash
while read filename; do
echo -n "$filename "
case $(file -b --mime-type "$filename") in
image/png)
echo "is a png image"
mv -n "$filename" /somewhere/png/
image/*)
echo "is an image"
mv -n "$filename" /somewhere/otherimages/
application/pdf)
echo "is a pdf"
destdir="/somewhere/pdf/$(date +%Y.%m.%d)"
if [[ -d "$destdir" ]] || mkdir -p "$destdir"; then
mv -n "$filename" "$destdir/"
fi
echo "has mime $(file -b --mime-type "$filename"). I don't know what to do"
esac
done < <( find /path/to/magic/folder -type f )

How can I sort all files and folders by size?

Due to lack of space I need to find the biggest files and folders on my Mac OSX Mountain Lion, but "Size" is not in the Find options.
And I don't know the wildcard to sort all files and folders by size in Easyfind.
Thanks
Sarah

There are applications out there which are designed to show you files and the space they use. Some of these applications and some strategies for making more room on your disk are given below.
Freeing Up Hard Disk Space
Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk
Clearing Disk Space on Your Mac
Seven ways to free up drive space

Files dont sort correctly in folders

After an archival re-intallation of OSX5.8, files dont sort correctly in folders; if I delete/paste a folder to an external hard-drive, they sort correctly. But when transferred back to the internal hard-drive in the same way, they once again sort incorrectly.
I have no idea what the problem might be...its odd, isnt it?

Details on what you mean by *incorrect sort*. In one place you discuss folders, in another, files.

No files or folders shown in Organizer Folder Location view

Hi!
I'm using Elements Organizer 8.0. If I select the Folder Location option from the Display menu, then I get a tree pane to left with a few folders in it: "Public", my user name, Computer, Network and Offline Media. The Computer folder in turn contains my drives. However, none of the folders can be expanded (no [+] icon) except for the mentioned Computer folder. So I can't reach any sub-folders. Furthermore, no files are ever displayed in the center pane, regardless of what folder is selected.
I have no filters set, I have tried enabling display of hidden files (not that this should matter) and can see no further options to change.
I did discover a sort-of partial workaround. If i right-click on a folder in the tree pane and select New Folder, then a new folder will be created in the file system, and the parent folder with suddenly be endowed with a [-] icon. If i click this to collapse the parent folder, and then click the [+] icon to expand it again, the I can suddenly see all other sub-folders in this folder. Of course, this is still worthless, since I still can't see any files.
Probably related to this is the fact that the Watch Folders feature is broken for me. I can select any folder (this is done through a standard Windows file selection box, so navigating through the file system to select the desired folder works fine) but it seems that the organizer never finds any files regardless of what folder I choose to watch.
Any ideas?
/Björn Stenborg

Display > Folder Location view will only show files (and their containing folders) if you've previously imported them into the Organizer, e.g. with File > Get Photos And Videos > From Files And Folders. Have you imported any photos yet into your catalog?
Note also that Folder Location view is buggy and often shows the wrong contents of folders, and with large catalogs (tens of thousands of photos), it is intolerably slow.
Regarding File > Watch Folders, it only imports photos that are added, deleted, or modified after you've started watching a folder.

Is there a way to sort files in a folder by file name in elements 11?

When I want to print a contact sheet, I need the files pictures in the file name order. Elements 9 had this feature.

I have different needs, but I agree the lack of alphanumeric sort should be fixed. In my situation, it would be enough to have an option to automatically sort an album in alphabetical order. I would also like a sort by caption for albums.
In your case, that is with too many files in folders, the nearest workaround I have found would be:
- Select the images you need to sort (a folder for instance) and export them without changing names in a new folder.
- Import the result into the organizer.
- Select all files in the import batch and assign them a common date stamp.
Your copies should be shown in file name order, in thumbnail, folder or batch import view. But the date taken will be lost...
A solution could be to select both the original images and the edited ones, use the 'automatically suggest stacks' based on visual similarity. You won't lose the date information, but at the cost of twice the disk space.

HT2470 How to sort files in finder

Is there any way to sort files in my finder first by kind (folders, pdfs, jpegs, docxs, etc.) and then by name? Right now I can only sort by one or the other. If I sort by kind, the files are grouped according to kind, but the names are mixed up. If I sort by name, all file types and folders are sorted according to name. I like the column view because it helps me see the directory structure easily. I hope that doesn't have any influence on what I'm trying to do.

Choose View > Arrange By > Kind to group by Kind. Then choose Option-View > Sort By > Name to sort within the Arrange-By groups.
See this MacWorld article for more info about Finder sorting and arranging.

K3b wont let me drag and drop files or folders

I use k3b and since switching to arch havent had to use it till now. I open it just fine but it wont let me drag and drop from dolphin (files or folders)
though I can manually browse using its interface at the top and add files just fine...
anyone experience same problem or know how to fix?? I couldnt find it in settings.
again using k3b version : 1.93.0rc4-1
thanks

SMith319
I'm having the very same problem, dragging and dropping new albums from iphoto to my iWeb created website, after having no trouble doing this for the last 2 years.
I have able to drag and drop just 2 weeks ago and now it doesn't work.
It's an album page, not a photo page, I am certain because there are already 5 albums posted on that page.
Very strange. I wonder if its some sort of update problem they need to fix. All my software is updated (although I dont have ilife '09) but I wonder if some sort of new bug has be created through the most recent updates.
If anyone has a solution I would be most grateful as I've run out of ideas and am unable to post new albums in any way shape or form, drop and drop or not..
Thanks.

Sort files in Finder column view for the current folder only?

Hi,
I don't really understand how finder sort settings work, even after using OS X since it first came out. Maybe someone can give me a hand.
I'm trying to sort files inside one specific folder according to their name decending. In general I have arranged them by label and sorted by file name ascending. Every time I try to use the settings in the "display options" (cmd+J), this applies also to several other folders. Even if I right-click on that particular folder to enter the settings.
Isn't it possible to apply different sort/arrange options to individual folders?
p.

For column view, there is only one arrange/sort, no matter where you are in the hierarchy. It is based on what the arrange/sort was set on the original folder opened.
In the View Options, the Brows by ??? view checkbox controls what happens when you open a folder from that view. If it is set, then the folder opens in the same view as the enclosing folder. If unchecked, and you have set a view on a folder, that folder will open in the desired view.
Again, this does not apply in column view. Column view has only one arrange/sort for the entire hierarchy.

Manually sort files in a folder

Is there anyway to sort files in a folder manually?
Say I have 4 files. The would be arranged..
File A
File B
File C
File D
I want them to be
File B
File D
File A
File C
Is there ANYWAY to do this?
I can't sort them by size or anything like that cause it is going to be more then 100 files in this folder but I need them in a specific order.
Thank you

I could but it's folders of pictures I'm going to export to iPhone and I already have the year before the name (2009 Fall). Since it's going to show when it's on my iPad and iPhone it will be too many numbers before the actual name.
I refuse to use iPhoto. I tried it twice and there is just too much extra in there that I don't need that takes up too much storage (like faces and previews).
There has to be a way around it somehow... Getting Lightroom pictures on iPhone shouldn't be this hard..
Thanks for your help!

Sort files in folders

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