You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

M3rsn Author

Level 1

1 points

In OS X Lion, Finder will not "Arrange By > Name" in "Column view".

If I select "Arrange By > Name" in "Column View" in any window, nothing happens. This is a massive inconvenience. I attached an image of a finder window of my applications below, in which the Column view with arrange by Name is configured, but the applications haven't been resorted by name.

It will arrange by name in Icon and List views, but not in Column view. Does anyone know how to solve this? Is it a glitch inherent to OS X Lion that Apple didn't catch?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Jul 23, 2011 12:53 PM

Top-ranking reply

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,698 points

Posted on Jul 23, 2011 12:58 PM

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?

View in context

61 replies

tcgoetz

Level 1

0 points

Mar 1, 2012 7:30 AM in response to KayNine1

I agree. This is another area where 10.7 is a step down from 10.6.

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,698 points

Mar 1, 2012 7:39 PM in response to duc tuan

duc tuan wrote:

How can they invent this mad hidden feature ? are they learning from Microsoft ? Please fire the guy who is responsible for that !

It's not hidden if you understand the Mac OS. The option key isn't an alt key (even though it is marked as such on many keyboards; however, "alternative" fits this description).

The option key presents other options to the functionality. You can pack more into a menu item, button, etc by attaching a similar function to that item accessible with the option key.

Drop down some menus and press and release the option key. You will see various options available.

This wasn't used extensively in the past, but it has existed under various menu commands for a very long time.

Mar 31, 2012 2:56 AM in response to M3rsn

Thanks - this was driving me nuts!

Apr 27, 2012 12:36 AM in response to Barney-15E

Sorry, it didn't work for me.

I'm considered going back to Windows 7 very soon. This is garbage.

Apr 27, 2012 2:09 AM in response to LordHawks

LordHawks

If you hold down the option/alt key and press view you will see that arrange by becomes sort by.

It does work.

Apr 27, 2012 7:56 AM in response to Steve Kale

I had to set "Arrange By" to none, and then "Sort By" to name. It works now, but why do they have arrange and sort?

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,698 points

Apr 27, 2012 11:41 AM in response to LordHawks

Arrangement is how the items are grouped.

Sort is how the items of a group are sorted.

_MML

Level 1

4 points

Jun 13, 2012 6:27 AM in response to M3rsn

thanks a lot, this thread is of great help to me.

I am new Mac user and I am enjoying the power of its GUI 🙂

Jun 17, 2012 1:27 AM in response to M3rsn

Apple, please listen to the forum users OMG!!

Thank you for you help man, it worked for me too!

Jun 26, 2012 2:34 AM in response to M3rsn

It worked fine with me until today. Now, it seems like my Mac forgot the alphabet. I have both Arrange and Sort set to Name, but this is the order it gives to four select items in a folder:

Sensur

oDesk

Krinein

Photos

It seems like it sorts the items from "Date added". I changed one folder to that option it seems like it does not understand that I have changed it back.

Finding items just got a lot more complicated. I think I’ve tried just about every setting, but I must have missed something. I hope someone can help me.

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,698 points

Jun 26, 2012 3:59 AM in response to Baramagnus

That looks as though it is sorting descending to me. For whatever reason, there isn't a way ot change the order in any of th arrangement options. The only way I've found is to switch to list view, sort by Name, ascending, then go back to what view you want and set the arrangement again.

Jun 26, 2012 7:01 AM in response to M3rsn

Nope, Barney, its not descending, but thanks for trying. The first three are descending, but then there is a P. Anyhow, it keeps being an alphabetical mess. Towards the bottom there are some items sorted ascending alphabetical.

Symbols and list view sort the elements alphabetical, but column, which is the one I usually use is still a mess. I’ve tried sorting in different views, but when I go back to columns it’s a mess.

Jul 28, 2012 11:08 AM in response to M3rsn

Barney 15E's solution works in Mountain Lion too, and his explanation

(Arrangement is how the items are grouped.

Sort is how the items of a group are sorted)

seems right in Mountain Lion too.

Barmagnus above seems to have neglected to set Arrange to None

Sep 14, 2012 3:31 AM in response to Barney-15E

THANK YOU !!! worked great in Mountain lion 😀
That's one glitch less yeay, a few more to go hahaha
Keep rocking.

Oct 19, 2012 11:04 PM in response to Barney-15E

Thank you Barney-15E

In OS X Lion, Finder will not "Arrange By > Name" in "Column view".