User profile for user: ElliottH24
ElliottH24 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

How can I sort downloads folder by Date added in Finder on Mac mini with external drive

I want to preface by saying I don't use the normal downloads folder. I permanently have a 1TB hard drive plugged into my Mac Mini so I redirected all my downloads to go into a new download folder I created on there.


Since creating this folder, I'm unable to sort my files by date added. Even when I go into my view options and select it, it still sorts alphabetically.


I have a suspicion that this is to do with the metadata being blank on the files, maybe due to not having write-access on my external drive? However I have this folder in my Dock, and it seems to sort by date added correctly down there. So this claim about blank metadata is unfounded and out of my limited understanding...


See below my view options:


See below the empty Date Added column in list-view:


And one more time to drive it home, my sort by set to date added via right-click menu:


Never encountered this issue before and is definitely slowing down my workflow! If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated as I couldn't find anyone else with the same issue online. Apologies if I'm being slow!


Thanks,

Elliott




[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Mac mini, macOS 15.1

Posted on Feb 5, 2025 5:43 AM

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User profile for user: Luis Sequeira1
Luis Sequeira1
User level: Level 9
73,212 points

Posted on Feb 5, 2025 7:09 AM

ElliottH24 wrote:

Hi Viking, thanks for your response. I've tried this group by setting and it just puts all items under the 'Earlier' tab rather than grouping by dates.

See here: (I've collapsed the dropdown - where it says see all 181 - for the sake of the screenshot)

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/c783e1c0-64f4-473a-b70d-d4bbd4f8e3b6

Though I appreciate on my old Macbook which I stopped using last week the setting you're talking about worked fine, and I too used it for several years across various releases of macOS.

Still stumped I'm afraid. :/

It looks like you have GROUP by date, instead of SORT by date.


With that folder open, go to the View menu and UNcheck "Use groups".

Then in View->Sort by, make sure that Date Added is selected.


Done.

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User profile for user: Luis Sequeira1
Luis Sequeira1
User level: Level 9
73,212 points

Feb 5, 2025 7:09 AM in response to ElliottH24

ElliottH24 wrote:

Hi Viking, thanks for your response. I've tried this group by setting and it just puts all items under the 'Earlier' tab rather than grouping by dates.

See here: (I've collapsed the dropdown - where it says see all 181 - for the sake of the screenshot)

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/c783e1c0-64f4-473a-b70d-d4bbd4f8e3b6

Though I appreciate on my old Macbook which I stopped using last week the setting you're talking about worked fine, and I too used it for several years across various releases of macOS.

Still stumped I'm afraid. :/

It looks like you have GROUP by date, instead of SORT by date.


With that folder open, go to the View menu and UNcheck "Use groups".

Then in View->Sort by, make sure that Date Added is selected.


Done.

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User profile for user: Luis Sequeira1
Luis Sequeira1
User level: Level 9
73,212 points

Feb 6, 2025 3:31 AM in response to ElliottH24

If you have grouping off, and still see "Earlier", something is messed up.


You could try deleting Finder preferences. This often helps when Finder is not working correctly.


In Finder, press Command-Shift-G and paste 


~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist


Drag the file to the trash.


Press Command-Option-Escape, select Finder, click Relaunch.


Then check the settings and see if things work correctly.

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User profile for user: VikingOSX
VikingOSX
User level: Level 10
123,248 points

Feb 5, 2025 6:37 AM in response to ElliottH24

I have my Downloads folder on my local drive set to Group by Name and Sort by Date Added. Since I use Icon View mode, this puts the last downloaded item in the top upper-left corner of my Finder Window Downloads folder icons.


In the Finder, open your Downloads folder. Then press cmd+J to open the Show View Options panel. Mine looks like this:



I have been using this setting for years across several major releases of macOS (including Sequoia v15.3).

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User profile for user: ElliottH24
ElliottH24 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Feb 5, 2025 6:43 AM in response to VikingOSX

Hi Viking, thanks for your response. I've tried this group by setting and it just puts all items under the 'Earlier' tab rather than grouping by dates.


See here: (I've collapsed the dropdown - where it says see all 181 - for the sake of the screenshot)


Though I appreciate on my old Macbook which I stopped using last week the setting you're talking about worked fine, and I too used it for several years across various releases of macOS.


Still stumped I'm afraid. :/

Reply
User profile for user: ElliottH24
ElliottH24 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Feb 6, 2025 3:26 AM in response to Barney-15E

Hi Barney, I didn't know this, thank you! My external drive's format is exFAT (not 100% sure what this means).


Done some Googling and found this: https://iboysoft.com/ntfs-for-mac/convert-exfat-to-ntfs.html#:~:text=Step%201%3A%20Again%2C%20ensure%20data,NTFS%20converter%20on%20your%20Mac.&text=Step%203%3A%20Launch%20the%20app,drive%20to%20NTFS%20from%20exFAT.


Is this likely to fix my issue? Wanted to double check before backing up the drive elsewhere etc as will be a lengthy process!


Thanks again.

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How can I sort downloads folder by Date added in Finder on Mac mini with external drive

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