Finder doesn't sort properly

Question

Level 1

5 points

Finder doesn't sort properly

Macbook Pro M3

16"

Sonoma 14.2.1

When I download a file with the same name as something I've already downloaded before, why doesn't that new file get sorted to show up first if I already have it sorted to "Date Added" or "Date Modified"? If it needs to be overwritten, then it should ask.

Imagine, if you have 200 files in your download folder, then you download a file that you may already have in your download folder, go open your downloads folder and it's not sorted at the top...so you have to search for it, really big hassle. On a previous Mac, I was able to help from another community and able to resolve it, worked perfectly, but on this new MBP, I came back to that old problem. I wasn't able to find that old post that helped me resolved it.

Any help would be appreciate it.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.2

Posted on Jan 2, 2024 12:58 PM

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Answer 1

MrHoffman

Level 10

148,563 points

Jan 2, 2024 2:58 PM in response to Makforce

The sort used should be the sort selected by the user, and Finder has various sorting options.

If you’re looking in the Recents view, that does what that does.

Your current Finder sort appears ro be selected by the file modified date, and not by filename.

In most cases, downloads will change the filename slightly to avoid overwriting an existing download.

Change how folders are displayed in the Finder on Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,828 points

Jan 2, 2024 5:14 PM in response to Makforce

What are you using to download the file?

Date Added is not file system data, it is metadata that must be written to the file when it is created.

If the metadata isn't written, the item gets sorted to the bottom.

If you are using Safari to download the files, I'm not sure what is wrong with your system.

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Answer 3

MrHoffman

Level 10

148,563 points

Jan 2, 2024 4:10 PM in response to Makforce

Please post a screenshot of your current Finder settings for the Downloads folder.

This stuff; sort by and group by:

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Answer 4

Makforce Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 2, 2024 3:04 PM in response to MrHoffman

So how do I fix the problem? Someone from before helped me fix the issue by putting something into Terminal and it resolved it. I was able to download an item, even if it had the same file name, stay on top of the folder.

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Answer 5

dialabrain

Level 10

136,355 points

Jan 2, 2024 3:17 PM in response to Makforce

Makforce wrote:

When I download a file with the same name as something I've already downloaded before, why doesn't that new file get sorted to show up first if I already have it sorted to "Date Added" or "Date Modified"? If it needs to be overwritten, then it should ask.

FWIW, if you try to download a file to a folder with the same name as an existing file, it will ask if you want to overwrite the existing file. That's been true for every version of macOS I can remember.

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