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

Finder color tags not working

Everything in Mavericks seems to be working great except for the Finder color tags. I can tag files just fine, but when I go to the actual tag in the sidebar none of the files I tagged show up.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Oct 23, 2013 7:44 AM

Reply
25 replies

Oct 6, 2017 6:00 AM in response to mann.ajeet

I found the solution here.


After some OSX update my tags just stopped working, i can tag, but filter on sidebar does not show my tagged files/folder. The problem was that (for some reason) THEY TRANSLATED the tags and REPLACED the shortcuts on left sidebar. Take a look on "Gray" tag, it was translated to Portuguese as "Cinza", so all files marked on Gray does not show anymore when filtering, in fact there are two tags for the same color now:


User uploaded file

If you face this just hide the translated Tags and you're fine to keep using the default ones, on Finder, go to Preferences, Tags, uncheck all you don't need and check the default ones:


User uploaded file

Oct 25, 2013 8:56 AM in response to mann.ajeet

I have same problem. As of right now Tags are entirely useless to me. I can tag somethign fine - but it does not good as a search for that tag brings up nothing - clicking on the tag in the sidebar does nothing as well.

Additionally I am not a fan of the entire "small dot" tagging system. With labels i was able to see my entire list of projects at a glance and see the 'HOT" ones I needed to work on today (label red). Now its a tiny little dot way off to teh right side that doesnt even show up unless my window is opened up horizontally enough.

Oct 25, 2013 12:25 PM in response to mann.ajeet

I think I may have found out why its not working - Please see if this is whats going on with you.


All of my work (clients, projects, etc) are off of our server. Any tags applied to projects on the server do NOT work.

However, I made a test folder on my desktop, put various files in there and tagged them. Now the tagging search feature DOES work.


So... for anyone in a business where you work off of a server (like pretty much ALL businesses), looks like tagging doesnt work unless there is some button to turn on server access for it I dont know about.

Oct 30, 2013 8:20 AM in response to Diomede

So how do you "disable" spotlight?

I went to System Preferences > Spotlight, and I didnt really see a way of disabling the entire thing. I did, however uncheck all the checkboxes that were checked. Then I closed System Preferences, then went back and checked them back again.

Is this the process to "disable" then "turn it on?"


It didnt work for me if it is:(

Nov 1, 2013 8:24 AM in response to Diomede

Spotlight is enabled. I can use Spotlight fine. I cant use tags however.

Well, to be clear, I CAN assign a file or folder a tag. It just has absolutely no use for me since I cant search for it by its tag. Im pretty sure the problem is that all my files are on a server here in the office - not residing on my local Mac. I tested this theory by creating some random folders and files on my desktop and tagging them, and whatdya know - the tags worked for these files.

This leads me to believe that searching tagged items only works if the items are residing on your local machine.

If this is the case then tags are useless to anyone in an office setting. If you are an office of any size at all your files are probably stored on a server. What's worse is that since tags REPLACED labels, now none of my nicely color coded "labeled" jobs are the way they were before. Instead I get a tiny colored dot off to the side. This decreases ease-of-use and functionality.


I hope Im wrong and I just need to flip a switch somewhere to make this work - but if Im right and I cant use tags for all my projects, client lists, etc that I work on that reside on our server (99.9% of my stuff) - Then me (and everyone else who works off a server) just got hosed.

Finder color tags not working

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.