Sorting folders before files in finder. Help!

If you want Apple to implement your change, tell them directly: https://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Posting here won't make it happen.

hi s.u.p.e.r, the solution that Majkl gave is works for me, all documents is appear below the folders. I'm using 10.9.1, but it's not apply to all folder on the systems, only on the folder where i changed it.

I am on 10.7.5, edited the file using TextWrangler and when trying to save the file, got this error:

You do not have sufficient privileges to perform this operation (MacOS Error code: -5000)

I am an "Administrator" for my MBA.

What do I need to change to have access?

hi striders,

try this:

- right click on the folder, and click 'get info'

- On the "sharing & permission", add your username and give "read & write" privilege

- do it to on the file you want to edit

- edit the file and save it

- after that, remove your username from the folder and file permission

hope it help 🙂

I know you posted this a while and I couldn't see anyone else suggesting it as an option, but in view options (cmd-j) you can choose "arrange by name" and then "sort by kind". That gives me folders first and then files.

I used XtraFinder http://www.trankynam.com/xtrafinder/ worked like a charm. It is a plugin for Finder that gives you the ability to put folders before files.

Yes, there is. It behaves exactly the way windows does, you sort by Name and the folders come first. It's called TotalFinder, it's become a little bit of a behemoth now, since one of the things it's done for a long time that Mavericks does is tabbed Finder window. But it does this, and for that alone, I'm grateful.

Good Luck.

I dont know if this has already been mentioned but I found that in Finder if I select Arrange by "None" and and then sort by "tags" (tagged all folders blue). And then select the third view option (columns) this put the folders at the top and documents under it each in ABC order.

i use Finder > Show View Options > Arrange By NONE / Sort by SIZE (but reverse so the smallest size is at the top).

Folders dont size up and should appear at the top.

Actually click the SIZE menu bar in the finder window to change from smallest to largest and select Use As Defaults

+100 for Xtra Finder!!!!! Also get SmoothMouse to help with the Mac mouse acceleration curve making your non-apple mouse a jitter-bug (like my logitech MX)

I switched to Mac 1.5 years ago and still get annoyed by lots of small inefficient UX issues like menu bars, multimonitor functionality, trying to use a freakin logitech mouse in photoshop, can't buy a freaking usb cable attached mini keyboard (w/o num pad) so I have to deal with bluetooth sleep/wake and batteries. Also tend to have a lot of hangups with single thread/core programs where i have 7 other cores sleeping which is annoying.

There are also things i love about the mac like the usability of the trackpad and laptop on it's own is much better than a windows laptop on its own (no external keyboard, mouse, monitors). I also will agree that if you are a developer vs/ business user the Mac has a lot of great advantages. But if you are a power business user you really need the windows version of Office. Keynote slides looks pretty but the UX for building a presentation is just plain bad.

But i truly think it's not a problem of make Mac just like Windows. It's give me options to optimize the way I use a mac. But Mac options are severely limited. Good luck!

btw - I have mavericks on a jun 2012 MBP i7 with 16 GB ram & SSD

Awwww yeah.

That's what I wanted.

Thanks.

Hi all, im an IT enginner and have been for more then a decade, i work on both PC and MAC and i also find mac inferior but it has been closing the gaps in recent years with things like being able to work with multi monitors now with mavericks etc... anyway, sometimes i do unfortunatley have to boot into OSX to use logic and other programs.

if your like me and would like to keep the speed you have using windows os whilst in OSX do the following.

Step 1: http://computers.tutsplus.com/tutorials/enable-windows-like-features-on-your-mac --mac-59850

Step 2: Download and install Total Finder

Step 3: Stop moaning more googling the answer are everywhere

that pretty much fixes all issues productivity problems and annoyances and costs a total of $20.

Well worth the money....

I love your answer, but I just can't help myself.

There's now a package manager for Windows called "Chocolatey" 🙂.

https://chocolatey.org/

One thing that I found that looks like it works was to:

1 Open System Preferences

2 Select Spotlight

3 Drag the "Folders" to the top of the list (number 1 spot)

Press OK

Everything then seems to work for me (well for now at least) in Finder

s.u.p.e.r wrote:

Majkl does not have a solution that is working on 10.9.1 - if you sort by kind - documents (txt, doc, rtf) still appear above Folders.

One option that has helped me on 10.9.1 is to open System Preferences, Select Spotlight, and then drag "Folder" to the top of the list. This is after modifying the plist file. If the plist file is NOT modified there is no solution that works by simply changing Arrange and Sort values.

THIS IS THE CORRECT ANSWER! When I followed these instructions to modify my spotlight search it also changed the way files appear in Finder!

If you want folders to appear first in your listing of folders/files then follow these steps:

1. Sort files/folders by "Kind" - http://take.ms/zRk2i
2. Open Spotlight from System Preferences and drag folders above documents - http://take.ms/8nQE0
3. Now when you use Finder, Folders will always appear above documents, at the top! - http://take.ms/doem4