When I attempt to arrange files by name in column view the order makes no sense. When arranged by name in list view the files are alphabetized correctly. What's up? It works correctly in the newest iMac i5 but not a year old one. I have run Repair Disk Permissions, Verified disk and also restarted from power off condition.
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7), i5
YES, I've just realised this problem and it is infuriating! It seems to organise files by date modified. this happens in many of the arrange by settings except for a few, such as arrange by size. I hope someone can figure this out soon.
I figured out that it didn't affect all user accounts! I had another admin account and a guest account and they were okay. I finally created a new admin user and slowly copied the files into the new account. I followed the instructions here: http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/Transfer.html
I think I'm okay but have to sync contacts with MobileMe. I think the Lion install corrupted the admin user account. That shouldn't happen!!!
You're probably using the "All My Files" view in Finder.
The Arrangement thing takes a while to get used to. And, as you have seen, sometimes the sort order is not what you want.
The confusion is compounded by the choice to put the Arrangement and Sort on the same button/menu item.
If you hold down option-key while selecting the Arrangement button, you will get Sort options (same for menu and contextual menu).
However, sometimes the sort order is reversed and I haven't figured out how to fix that when it does. After a while, it seems to correct itself.
See the first sentence of the first post. The arrangement problem is in column view. It works correctly in list view.
An admin user and guest user column view worked properly as well as a newly created admin user. I think the Lion installer corrupted the active admin user during the install.
On another iMac install I did not encounter the column view problem.
Had the identical problem on one of three systems I upgraded.
A possible fix (your mileage may vary) may be to edit ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
to remove the entire ColumnViewOptions item (including everything below it) inside the StandardViewOptions item. After saving the file, force-quit the Finder to it to restart.
Disclaimer: this has worked for all of ten minutes.
So backup the plist file before trying this, in case you need to back out.
THIS IS THE SOLUTION. you won't have to create a new user account and move files over et cetera!
Credit to Barney-15E
There seem to be a few glitches in the Arrange/sort model.
You can actually Arrange by and Sort By separately. You can get to the Sort options by holding down the Option key while selecting the Arrangement button.
However, there aren't any sort options when you Arrange by Name. And it doesn't change the sort by option when you switch to Arrange by Name.
Try setting the Arrange by to None. Then, hold down the option key and press the Arrange button. What is it sorted by?
THANK YOU!
Thanks for passing the solution along from Barney-15E. I was skeptical of this solution but it worked!
i'm having a issue like this do you guys have this problem and is there a fix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQp5kraLL8M&feature=youtube_gdata_player
The solution is posted two responses above your question:
"There seem to be a few glitches in the Arrange/sort model.
You can actually Arrange by and Sort By separately. You can get to the Sort options by holding down the Option key while selecting the Arrangement button.
However, there aren't any sort options when you Arrange by Name. And it doesn't change the sort by option when you switch to Arrange by Name.
Try setting the Arrange by to None. Then, hold down the option key and press the Arrange button. What is it sorted by?"
Did you even watch my video? and my Settings are Sort by snap to grid and arrange by to none
No. The video is too small and you are flying around the screen so fast there was no way I could follow.
You have Sort by snap to grid first and arrange by to none and didn't mention the OPTION key. Do the arrange by to none then use the option key to sort.
The option key does lots of new stuff in Lion.
Video to small...? and like i said before sort is snap and arrange is NONE. option has sort by snap but all option is doing is switch between sort and arrange when u right click if you click click and click show view options option doesnt do anything becasue it already shows both sort and arrange.
how can yoi not fallow my video. yea i do things fast but gotta listen.
Check to make sure each folder has the view options set the same. Maybe something is messed up there.
At the end of the video it was working correctly. Lion doesn't just act finicky on its own. You don't have something set correctly.
I don't have the expertise to assist you beyond what I've already posted. I suggest you start a new thread.
i dont want lion view options as name though. and for me the video is messed up for 5secs then its fine when i watch on youtube. But from the video you see that lion is changing stuff on its own
Arrange by name in Finder column view
