Tagging files in Finder with colors

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Level 2

206 points

Tagging files in Finder with colors

I am still dismayed that the color tags changed from the full file name being a color to the little dots... at the very least, if I could put the dots to the left of the file name I'd be able to see them better. I use them to find files in folders that have a lot of files in them, not to tag them as anything specific. I have Illustrator files have other files linked to them, and the links perform better when they are in the same folder as the parent file.

Anyway, I was wondering if there's a third party app that will do this? I've tried searching on the app store and my browser, but I must not be using the correct search terms and haven't found anything...

Suggestions please! Thanks!

MacBook Pro (M3, 2023)

Posted on May 24, 2024 7:23 AM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,796 points

May 24, 2024 7:58 AM in response to Dina

Apple changed the old-style lozenge label format to tags with macOS Mavericks in 2014. This is a Finder style feature and there is no reversing it in subsequent operating system releases.

Unfortunately, in the Finder Window List or Column view, the tags are not separate columns that one could rearrange before the filename list. In Icon View mode (cmd+1), the tag(s) appear like this:

and one can find all red (or custom tag name) tags in Spotlight:

kind:pdf tag:pdf/a

which would be the blue tag found in the first file above.

I went to the CocoaTech (PathFinder) site to see if they showed an example of how they apply tags on their current Finder Replacement product and though they used to cling to the lozenge style, they may now use Apple's tag style. I don't use the product, so can't offer a first-person viewpoint.

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