I want to "align" Finder icons L, R, bottom, etc., as in Illustrator. How?

Thanks -- but I've already fiddled around with "Snap to Grid," and while it does have the ability to align icons somewhat, it's not exactly what I'm looking for nor what I'm talking about.

The main problem (for me) with "Snap to Grid" is that it affects all the icons in a given window. So that whenever one moves any icon in a window with "Snap to Grid" turned on, that icon will "snap" to the nearest grid point.

However, what I'm looking for is the ability to align +just the selected icons+ in any given window.

So, for example:

Say I have a Finder window open with 25 icons in it. They're arranged eccentrically all over according to certain criteria needed for my work flow. Now, I've finished work on four of the files, and I want to move them all over to a corner of the window, and be all lined up by themselves in a neat little row. At the same time, I want the 21 other icons +to remain exactly where they are and be flexible in their future positioning, if any+ .

In OSX Finder, the only way to really do this is drag the four icons to the corner and then one-by-one arrange them manually into as neat a row as possible. What I'd like to be able to do is drag all four into a corner roughly, then "select" all four, and have some window/button/menu/whatever that says "Align Selected Icons Horizontally" or "Align Selected Icons Left" and so on. Click it, and +just those icons+ all snap to alignment along the same baseline (or same left edge), +while the other icons in the window remain exactly stationary now and in the future+. Also, I'd want the future ability to move the remaining icons around in whatever fashion I want, without them necessarily snapping to a grid.

With "Snap to Grid" option turned on, any movement of any icon causes it to shift over up down or sideways to the nearst grid point. The "snapping to grid" function affects all the icons in the window henceforth -- not just the selected four icons for that one time.

(Also, another function in Adobe's "Illustrator" that's not in Finder is the ability to "nudge" components/icons up/down/left/right using the arrow keys; select an icon (or more than one), and then press the arrow keys to nudge it one pixel at a time in the given direction. I'm hoping there'd be a way to implement that in Finder too.)

Basically, I'd like the Finder windows to function like "vector graphics" documents in which the components of the window/document can be moved around and manipulated spatially by various alignment commands which only affect the exact components selected, and aren't an overall "gridification" of the window.

Any way to do that?

Neville:
"... +re-think & re-plan what you want to suit the options available+ ."

From what you're saying, then, is the underlying assumption that what I'm looking for is not possible? If I have to re-think what I want to suit the options available, then the option I was originally looking for then must not be available. Oh well!

" +Personally I can see no logical reason for you wanting icons placed randomly, so to speak, rather than have them snap to the nearest grid point+ ."

Well, believe me, I have very logical reasons for the manner in which I arrange my icons! I never said they were placed "randomly," but rather "eccentrically," meaning the placement has great significance to me though that significance may not be immediately apparent to an observer.

Not that it matters for the purposes of solving this question, but since you asked...

For example, I often will have a folder, opened into a large Finder window, and in that folder are dozens of files, in icon view. My job will be to arrange these files according to two different subjective criteria simultaneously -- say, in this example, quality and time-sensitiveness . But it takes me a few minutes to assess each file. What I do is I imagine the full-screen Finder window as a chart with an x/y axis, such that the higher an assessed file's icon is placed in the window, the better quality it is in relation to the other files, and the further to the right it is placed, the more time-sensitive it is. After I have gone through and assessed each file, and placed each one in the Finder window according to my criteria, I can visually see a "graph" of how good and how important each file is, with the icons at the upper right being the ones that are best and most time-sensitive. I then can prioritize my work by noting each icon's placement in this window.

Like I said, this may be "eccentric," but I've been using this technique for years and years and I find it quite helpful in the kind of work I do (which often involves breaking news and subjective assessments). Because of my way of using icons, it's important to me to not have "snap to grid" turned on, because subtle and precise icon placement affects prioritization.

Yes, I realize there are other ways of doing this, but I really like this "on the fly" way of structuring my virtual desktop and work priorities, in which the actual files themselves become "data points" on a prioritization graph. Later, as I "process" files in batches, I move their icons to a different level - -hence my desire to have them all lined up neatly.

... +nor do I see the difficulty of placing manually those to be aligned - virtually identical time to achieve unless you have a large number to set to 1 alignment+ ...

Yes, it's true that the capability that I'm looking for would only save me a few seconds each time over doing it manually, but that's what having a user-friendly OS is all about -- saving a few seconds here and there when doing mundane tasks!


Barney-15E:
+With Snap to Grid turned on, you can hold down the command key while dragging and drop them anywhere. *With items selected, you can right-click and "clean up selection" (or use view menu). That will snap them to the nearest grid (even if you don't have snap to grid turned on). * +

A- ha ! Now we're getting somewhere. That "clean up selection" control-click option (with "Snap to Grid" turned off ) is the closest thing to what I'm looking for that I've encountered yet. It doesn't do exactly what I want, because unless the selected icons are already pretty closely aligned, they tend to jump to other open spots at the upper left of the window, and also when they do align horizontally they do so according to the grid spacing in the window's "Show View Options," which one would have had to remember to adjust ahead of time, because adjusting after-the-fact alters the positions of all the other icons in the window. But despite those drawbacks, "clean up selection" does in fact align solely those icons which I have selected. So -- thanks!

I truly wish that Apple would one day make the Finder be as infinitely flexible and arrangable as an Illustrator "vector graphics" document, but from what you're saying here, I guess that day hasn't arrived yet! Thanks both of you for the info, in any case!