Sorting options in Spotlight/Smart Folders

I thought that one of the big features was the re-adding of sorting options to Spotlight searches and Smart Folders? The only options I have for sorting are the same useless ones that existed in Leopard (Name, Kind, Date Modified). Is it really possible that I cant sort by size? This was supposed to be fixed in SL.

These are the sorting options I found available:
1. Icon View:
1.1 Menu bar > "View" > "Arrange by":
Name
Date Modified
Date Created
Size (*GREYED OUT!*)
Kind
Label (GREYED OUT!)
1.2 "Action" Button > "Keep arranged by":
Name
Date Modified
Date Created
Size (*AVAILABLE - but it does not work!*)
Kind
Label
2. List view:
2.1 Menu bar > "View" > "Arrange by":
Name
Date Modified
Date Created
Size (GREYED OUT!)
Kind
Label (GREYED OUT!)
2.2 "Action" Button > "Keep arranged by":
Name
Date Modified
Date Created
Size (GREYED OUT!)
Kind
Label (GREYED OUT!)
3. Coverflow view: same as List view (2.)

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Can smart folders see color of emails?

I have yet to upgrade to Leopard, and I have a specific question about Mail. In Tiger, I can assign a color to an email message, and I use this as a way to set categories for emails. However, smart mailboxes in Tiger cannot sort emails by their color. Do smart mailboxes in mail have this ability?
Thanks,
Jack

No, Leopard hasn't added that feature. Best you can do is create a rule that adds a color to specific emails based on your criteria, then have it move that email to another folder. But this won't be a Smart folder but an actual one that the email moves to and out of your inbox. And if you are adding the colors manually then you can't even do that unless there is a specific criteria that all red emails have that you can make a rule from.
There is a third party app called MailTags:
http://www.indev.ca/MailTags.html
That allows for all kinds of tagging and will then sort those tags into Smart folders. I haven't used it but I've had my eye on it. Just can't live with the $30 price tag. If it was $15 I'd have snapped it up.

Sort Folders in Library by Date or other sort options

I find myself hunting for folders that I've imported in the Library module.
It would be so nice if there was an option to sort folders in the Library by date imported or date last edited or ANYTHING other than alphabetically. Seems like a easy and really obvious fix.
Thanks!

I too use folders as a primary means of organization. In fact, if Lightroom did not support folders, it would have been a deal breaker - I absolutely would not have bought it, period - its that important to me). We are perhaps a dieing breed - but not dead yet.
I use collections extensively too for organization, but more for special purposes as opposed to a "lowest common denominator of organization" (folders).
That said, I name my folders so they show up in the order I want them too - i.e. use a prefix (e.g. numeric) and they'll always be ordered properly. Interesting note: Lighroom is smart enough to auto-detect numeric prefixes and order them correctly without needing to pad with zeros (e.g. '2 Day After New Years' will come before '10 Resolutions - Holding Firm'). However, plenty of other software is not, so I pad anyway (e.g. '02 Day After New Years'... - that way they show up in the correct order when served via DLNA or anything that has alphabetic ordering but is not "numeric-prefix-smart" like Lightroom.
PS - One of the functions of my up-n-coming Lr-sidekick-app/plugin duo is a (possibly full length) folder pane (which would generally be placed on an auxiliary monitor) - so folders are available in develop mode too. I may add a folder-sort option, although I don't need it m'self.
Cheers,
Rob

How do you make smart mailbox sorting options persistent?

I have a smart mailbox that I would like to sort based on flags, and I would like for this selection to persist from session to session. I thought I remembered this working in Lion, but for some reason it's not working for me in Mountain Lion:
In the smart mailbox I can select "sort by flags," and this sorting option will persist next time I start mail -- but only if I have selected the smart mailbox when I close mail. If I have one of the other mailboxes opened when I close mail (say the Inbox), then the sorting of my smart mailbox defaults back to "sort by date."
Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

You only have to right click on this folder and edit the smart folders rules.
Edit: Nevermind, you mean sorting with this pop-up menu. I didn't read exactly what you mean. For this I don't know what to do.

Spotlight Comment Missing, But Smart Folders Still Work

I have entered a lot of spotlight comments on files. On about several 100 off them, Apple Command i does not show any spotlight comments. Its not likely that I erased or failed to "save" several 100, say about 600 out of 900 files. I know for a fact that I entered spotlight comments on nearly all of my photo files. For some reason, the smart folders that look for spotlight comments still return the files.
I shut down and rebooted. Still no change. For some reason, I cannot find the way to edit the search criteria in smart folders.
Any ideas?

Well, this is proving to be a tough case. I rebooted with Option, Command P and R, and then rebooted in safe mode and ran disk utility, both verify permissions and check volume on both the upper level drive (the one that has a technical name) and the named volume (the one that has a user-assigned name). I hate to say this, but nothing has changed. <darn>.
I am kind of thinking about paying Apple to furnish and install an upgrade to my OS from 10.4 to 10.6 but am reluctant because of persistent reports that the newer OS has driver problems with Epson photo printers, and other issues with Adobe LightRoom which is a critical app for me.
I did search the forum to see if anybody else has the same kind of problem but did not find anything. It generous of you to offer your expertise, so I hate to keep coming back.
Anyway, is there another approach that I could look into?
Thanks!

I would like to see a "user order" sort option for Smart Collections

I use LR to set up Collections to use for web output and typically use key wording to organize which photos will be included in any web gallery. Right now I have to make that into a regular collection so I can rearrange the collection to appear the way I want to present things. I would prefer to be able to utilize Smart Collections so any photos I want to add will be included automatically when I set up the proper keywords. New additions should be at the end of the current order and the user should be able to move that around in the presentation order as desired.

I absolutely agree. I used a similar function in Aperature all the time. It was the main reason I originally chose Aperature over LightRoom till Lightroom came out with the latest edition that included Smart Collections, and was I disappointed to find that it wasn't as powerful as Aperature's Smart Folders options.
Both programs have their strengths and their weaknesses... and this time around I think Lightroom has the advantage, but Aperature still wins on Smart Collections customization ability and power.

Smart Folders and Spotlight

Previous discussions on this forum regarding Spotlight's inconsistent ability to find files caused me to disable Spotlight (using Spotless) and use Easy Find to find things.
No one warned me that disabling Spotlight would interfere with smart folders. I use smart folders in Mail, iTunes and elsewhwere. At first I couldn't figure out why they weren't working right.
It is not intuitively obvious that smart folders are basically saved Spotlight searches. Participants on this forum should know.
I've re-enabled Spotlight, I force a re-index now and then, and have Easy Find ready for backup use, if Spotlight can't find something.
That way, most of the time, smart folders are correct, or nearly so.
Just my .00000002 cents worth.
Tim
533 mhz dual CPU G4 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

I have never had any need to "save my searches". Why on earth would I want to do that?
Consider the fllowing scenario: a disabled person to be cared for, rich and varied sources of information via articles, emails and even images. Literally thousands of documents. Few are about a single subject, such as, say a particular medication, but many refer and discuss the medication inter alia. Do a search based on the name of the medicine. Save it. Everytime the medicine is mentioned in a new article or email, that gets added to that folder. Now search for Physiotherapy. Many of the same articles and emails, but in a different folder.
That's why on earth I would want to save a search. And have many such. Invaluable.
I realise that Spotlight is not for you, but for some of us it's a boon.
Regards
TD

Smart Folders, Spotlight comments and Apple mail messages

Hi,
I have a simple question, but couldn't figure it out yet:
I have a workflow that tags specific mail messages according to the specific mail inbox folders I assign them to (be it via incoming rules, or Act-On rules) by automatically adding specific Spotlight comments.
My mail messages, therefore, have text in their comment boxes (if you check via GetInfo).
When I use Spotlight, I can find mail messages by searching for the comments - this is exactly as expected.
I however also have smart folders (searching for a specific Spotlight comment) that list other files that I tag with the same Spotlight comments - but my Smart Folders never find the mail messages with the requested tags (at most they find the folder that contains the messages if this folder is tagged - which it is generally not).
Question: how can I make sure that the Smart Folder does indeed identify and list the mail messages that I have tagged via Spotlight comment ?
Thanks a lot !
D.V.
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Howdy,
I cannot reproduce this problem myself...I see the same results in both the Mail spotlight and the spotlight menu bar item. I'm not sure if after installing 10.5 a new spotlight index is created, but it might be worth a shot to create a fresh index and see if that helps.
I haven't tried this, but it was the easy way I could find to reindex.
Open Spotlight Preferences
In the privacy tab, add the volume you want to reindex
After a few moments, remove that volume from the privacy list
Allow Spotlight to reindex the volume
Please let me know if that works for reindexing.
+R

Smart Folders to sort photos in my Photo Stream

Can I create Smart Folders on my iPad to sort photos in my Photo Stream?
On my iMac we use Smart Folders to sort our photos. We use Photo Stream to share photos from our iMac onto our iPad, and want to use Smart Folders.
Please help!!

Bad news I'm afraid. iCloud only keeps the last 30 days of photos. Your device will keep some old iCloud photos around - up to 1000 photos - but those ones aren't actually on iCloud any more. It's one of my pet hates about iCloud Photostream, and it has caused a lot of people to lose data. It's a very bad design decision on Apple's part.
There are file recovery programs that might be able to recover the deleted photos from your handset, but I can't remember the names of any right now. Stop using the phone completely until you can run a file recovery program to maximise the number of photos it can restore. Preferably, switch it off completely.

Smart Folders and logical option

Hi all,
I have found a search option in "Last week" smart folder that I haven't found anywhere else. It is
"All (/None/Some) of the following are false"
If you could tell me where to find it I would appreciate because it would be very helpful to create smart folders that exclude things. Especially with Leopard where there is no more (at least by what I know so far) the "is/is not/contain" switch in every search option.
I haven't found it in the long and very detailed list of search option in "Other...".
It is an Automator creature?
Thank You very much for any advice.

no. it's not possible with Aperture. you'll have to work around this limitation.
in my library, I use keywords including one ' unidentified'. when I decide to place an image into a smart album, I first apply the appropriate keyword and then remove (shift-click the keyword control button) the ' unidentified' keyword.

Smart folders and .doc files

Problem: Smart folders do not show Microsoft .doc files. I have created a smart folder to show all documents I worked on recently. The search criteria in the smart folder are
kind -> document
last opened -> within last 14 days
The folder shows now all documents I opened during the previous 14 days, EXCEPT .doc files. Any solution?

Axxelerator wrote:
Somewhere must be a setting that tells spotlight which file is a document which one is not...
Actually, that information is a part of the metadata for the file. As I mentioned above, the actuall criteria used when you select Documents is the nearly all-inclusive
kMDItemContentTypeTree = public.content
You can read the metadata for any file using the Terminal. Launch Terminal, then type:
mdls
a space, then drag and drop a file into the Terminal window and hit the Return key. You'll see something like this:
NoobiX:~ francine$ mdls /Users/francine/Documents/wordocs/MyFamily.doc
kMDItemAuthors = (
"Francine Schwieder"
kMDItemContentCreationDate = 2008-08-31 12:49:48 -0700
kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2008-08-31 12:49:48 -0700
kMDItemContentType = "com.microsoft.word.doc"
kMDItemContentTypeTree = (
"com.microsoft.word.doc",
"public.data",
"public.item",
"public.composite-content",
"public.content"
kMDItemDisplayName = "MyFamily.doc"
And so on, with all the rest of the metadata displayed. The relevant entry in this case is "public.content" statement in the kMDItemContentTypeTree.
I can't imagine that that entry is changed by saving something as .doc rather than .docx, which is why the only thing I can think of that would cause the behavior you are seeing is a Spotlight plist that is somehow messed up and excluding the extension doc. But I can't imagine how THAT would happen either.
As for AND searches: you already have that setup when you click the + button to add something. Thus, in the example above, the search is for files that are Documents AND were modified in the last 3 days, but are NOT jpegs, etc.
I have difficulty with correctly setting up the OR function, I always think that an option click on the + button, then selecting "Any" and adding a criterion ought to do it, but that doesn't seem to work as expected (or at least as I expect it to!). Anyway, one OR method that would yield approximately the same results as the example search above would be to select Kind is Other and then put this into the blank space after Other:
HTML OR text OR PDF OR RTF OR archive
Trouble is that if there WERE some doc or docx files, or some other sort of text based item, it wouldn't show up. I find it easier to just exclude things I know I don't want.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Smart Folders - different view types

Why is it that some Smart Folders I create, look like a normal folder (can be sorted by Name, Date Modified, Kind, etc) and other Smart Folders look like the windows in Spotlight, which do not contain separate sortable headings for Name, Date Modified, etc.?
I tried to change the "view" but there appears to be no option to do so.

There are three View options available (in the "normal" window toolbar, which is above the "find" toolbar, if you have the toolbar enabled) in a Find window: as Icons, as List, as Groups. I have my search window set to a default of List view. The Groups is the usual default. You have to edit a system file if you want to change the default behavior. But if you open a Find window, set the View to list, enter your search criteria and save as a smart folder, then it should open in the same state it was when you saved it. Anyway, mine always do.
You can even go up to the Finder's menu item View and set the View options. For instance, you can change the window to Icon and then set the icon size to 128X128.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

How to change sort order in a smart folder?

The smart folders I create in Lion with the search criteria set to "Kind", are sorted by name in desending order. Is there anyway to get them to sort in ascending order?

Click the Action icon > show view options > Arrange by none > sort by name.

Smart Folders: filtering file labels by the NAME of the label

I am using Smart Folders to organize some files. Spotlight searches are quite powerful, but I'd like to know if there's more I can do with file labels.
I am using kMDItemFSLabel values to filter my smart folders, but this presents a small inconvenience: finder's kMDItemFSLabel values for the colors are not obvious (orange = 7, red = 6, yellow = 5 - which is orange higher than red? And green = 2?) and I would prefer use my own priority choice.
Can either:
Finder's values for kMDItemFSLabel associated with each color label be changed? (this sound unwise to me, however)
or
Can I use the text value I attach to each value as a sort? Say rename "red" label to "100" and "orange" to "90" and then filter by THOSE values?
Any ideas?

Thanks for your response. Yeah, I'm aware of that. The problem is that I'd like to do sort or filters with those values, but they aren't very practical. I can assign text values to each label, but I don't seem to be able to use those in sorts.
So kMDItemFSLabel > 4 yields all orange, yellow and red files. Not bad, but the fact that orange is a higher value means I have to work around this odd enumeration.
So I'd like to either: change the system values (not ideal) or find a way to filter or sort the text values I can assign to each label. Any idea if either of these are possible?

Why no size in smart folders?

Why is size grayed out on a CMD-J in Smart Folders? I'd like to be able to sort by size.

ok, so i'm looking at the spotlight index. but if i choose to search for files over a particular size, it is getting the size info when it retrieves information about the file. and finder is built to have this information. why can't this be used?
(ok, ok, i'm basically asking the developer of the item a question … i agree with the last answer of Suds&Hops!)

Sorting options in Spotlight/Smart Folders

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