I asked this question when I got Mojave and got a very helpful couple of answers which suggested using list view. Since updating to Catlina the duration option seems to have disappeared from list view too. I'm currently resorting to sorting by size but this doesn't always equate to the actual duration of the video file. Any help would be gratefully received. Thanks.
Mac mini, macOS 10.15
I am not booted into Catalina right now, but on Mojave, certain folders present header items in list view that are not available in other folders. The Pictures folder is one example, and Duration is unique to the Movies folder.
Update. Here is duration configured for the Movies folder in List view on Catalina 10.15.3 and sorted ascending. The Duration column will be added to the extreme right of the list view, so you will have to scroll right, click on the Duration column heading, and drag it across to where you want it located:
I am not booted into Catalina right now, but on Mojave, certain folders present header items in list view that are not available in other folders. The Pictures folder is one example, and Duration is unique to the Movies folder.
Update. Here is duration configured for the Movies folder in List view on Catalina 10.15.3 and sorted ascending. The Duration column will be added to the extreme right of the list view, so you will have to scroll right, click on the Duration column heading, and drag it across to where you want it located:
In List view, right/control in the space next to "Name", check "Duration". Then click on the "Duration" column.
Correct. Thought about that after I posted.
A typical Spotlight query for a movie that is greater than 90 minutes long because duration is measured in seconds:
kind:movie AND duration:>5400
Well, you might want to create a new user, log in and see if it works. If it does, I would delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist while in your normal user account and relaunch the Finder. If not, you may have to reinstall Catalina.
It should. Try restarting in Safe Mode then start normally.
Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support
VikingOSX wrote:
A typical Spotlight query for a movie that is greater than 90 minutes long because duration is measured in seconds:
kind:movie AND duration:>5400
Not something I would have much need for.
If there was only a search for…
kind:movie AND enjoyability>9
That I would find useful. :)
But you could assign a custom Finder tag (e.g. 5-star, *****, ****, IMDB rating, etc) to the video, add the tags header to the list view, and then you could sort descending by tags. Then all the enjoyable movies would float to the top of the list.
Thanks for your help. Unfortunately it still hasn't worked. I don't really want to reinstall Catalina at the moment. I'll put up with the issue for now and maybe do it when I've not got critical files & projects ongoing. Thanks for your time & help.
Hello again,
I reinstalled Catalina yesterday. I even did a fresh install using a recovery disk and wiped the internal drive before reinstalling. I'm afraid I'm having exactly the same issue. Any ideas?
Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately "Duration" doesn't appear in the list (see pic).
Thanks, but unfortunately it still doesn't work. I've tried shutting down, booting in safe mode, then restarting as normal but no change.
You're welcome. Feel free to post back when you have the time.
Hi again. What do you mean by a "recovery disk"? If it was a clone or a backup of what you had before the problem would be reinstalled.
Where exactly is the folder? Is it in your Movie folder?
Ah - I forgot that they had to be specifically in 'Movie' folder! That's solved it. Thank you so much.
::smh:: 😎
Sort video files by duration in Finder