Q: How to get label colors back on Maverick?

BethGuardino wrote:

 

 

I am seriously thinking of removing Mavericks from my laptop. 

Does anyone know how I can uninstall Maverick?

Use the backup you made of your previous system before you chose to install Mavericks. Read here. Many have.

OS X Mavericks: Revert to a previous OS X version

Cheers

Pete

There is also another way to go to a better (older) system - Erase your hard drive and re-format with something like Snow Leopard or Lion. You technically loose everything, but a little advance preparation will solve most problems. Back up anything you can't afford to loose, such as documents, Quicken files, photos, etc. I know there is a way to move iTunes files, as well, but that's another post.

I am back to Snow Leopard, but having a laptop AND an iMac really made it easy.

No regrets...

John

Before erasing the hard drive, there is a way to get Mountain Lion AND all of the data. Get another hard drive (new or reformat an older one) and install Mountain Lion. Then use Apple's Migration Assistant to bring all the data from the Mavericks drive. Be sure to copy the Library and User files to a seperate disk just in case some license, user and some application support data might be lost during the migration.

MacBooks can also do this, but will need to get a replacement HD, install it in the MB and install Mountain Lion. Then migrate the data from the removed Mavericks drive.

I have used Apple computers since pre-Mac, back in the Apple II days...

This is the first time in those 30+ years that I have ever disliked an OS update so much that I downgraded my systems. Mavericks seems a rushed attempt to make my desktop slightly more like an iPhone. I say they need to think about it in reverse. Make my iPhone more capable like a desktop.

Color labels are gone from Mavericks, which surprisingly is a big disruption in workflow in the Finder.

In addition, after I had to drop $30 to buy QuickTime 7, a five-year-old piece of software, in order to preview all kinds of video files on the desktop level without having to convert them first... I knew it was getting ridiculous.

I downgraded back to Mountain Lion and things are running much smoother.

Come on, Apple... you're slipping, and I'm one of your biggest fans.

Yours is a well crafted comment, and deserves to be read by Apple. As others have pointed out, Apple doesn't read these forums but they do read feedback you send here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

When I look at my files on an older version, the labels are still there.  So apparently, the dots are a viewing change from the labels feature.  If someone could just alter the code so the view displays the way it used to, problem solved.  Unfortunately, I'm not a coder.  I would think if someone could find the code as it works for labels and swap it out in Maverick where they altered the code, the problem would be solved.

Any coders out there?

Not that easy, take a look at:

     http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/10/os-x-10-9/9/#tags-implementation

"Apple has chosen an imperfect system that favors backward compatibility and simplicity of implementation over worst-case performance and storage efficiency."

Actually, that article provides some hope as Apple didn't destroy the Labels link, just repurposed it. As the author points out, Apple could have talken a different path and set up tags on their own, not making them backwards compatable to older systems.

After taking s good look at what they have and what they are looking to create, maybe they can readress the code and make both Tags and Labels function better.

Yes, Apple could, but I would not want to use any hack by anyone else that tried to do this (and I'm not referring to 3rd Party App's that have Labels functionality)

I would be more than happy with a third-party hack that displayed color where the labels once were. Perhaps we should start a Kickstarter campaign to fund a programmer writing such a hack.

This is so annoying. It used to be that the whole row, filename and everything, showed up in colour so you could immeditaly pick out the file you wanted and click on it. Really useful time saver. Now it's just a tiny little dot which is hard to see and is often not visible at all because it disappears off the right hand side of the window. Really dumb move on Apple's part to cripple what was such a very useful feature - used to be they would never do dumb stuff like that but I guess times have changed. Isn't there some kind of command-line tweak to get the old way back?

If you can't see the dot it may be that it has disappeared off the right hand side of the window. If you open the winow up further to the right you should be able to find it. Really crappy user interface design, like it was done by amateurs.

I Hate! Hate! Hate that tags took the place of labels!  I create templates for recording programs and  with labels they are easily seen. Tags? NO! Time is money! 

Another example. I have several clients, (over 25), and I colorize my calendars in iCal so I can set appointments and more importantly, invoice my clients monthly.  I could do this at a glance and find all the services rendered within a month. Now I can't distringuish one client from another!  Time is money!

Show me a way tags can do this better! Otherwise its a deal breaker on Mavericks.  Back to a previous OS I go or maybe there is another calendar I can use!

Maybe Apple can give you the option to use tags or labels.  Right now its WORTHLESS! 

I sent the following comment to Apple Support

"If you look on the forums you will see a thread concerning the new color tags in Maverick. The old tags would color the entire file name and made finding pertinent files at a glance  (the SORT tag feature within Maverick just isn’t a substitute). These little tag dots are a BIG STEP back.  In fact, the old color tags are one of the things that kept me using a mac (rather than going windows).   It’s a small/big thing and I am not alone in this request. (See the following thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5502306?start=15&tstart=0)

 

At the very least users should have the option of having the entire file name colored (as before) or going with the tiny colored dot next to the file name.

 

Please listen to your users who are asking for this request.  I hope the change is made."

I hope everyone considers cutting and pasting this comment or writing their own comment and sending it to support.  I believe it will be the only way the change gets made.  There is power in numbers.  The link for support where you can voice your concern is:  http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Pretty sad when people have to downgrade to an old (better system) to avoid the flaws of the "new and improved" system.  Yet I may too may have to down/up grade.