I hate the new tags in Mavericks, need coloured folders!!

Davros Castle wrote:

I've just upgraded to Mavricks from my best friend Snow Leopard and HATE this new 'feature'. I concur with the other replies- the colours were a vital part of my work flow. I hate you apple.

Well, that ship has sailed, my friend. Mavericks was released in 2013, and this particular bru-ha-ha pretty much ran its course then. Posting about it now is like yelling hooray after everybody goes to sleep....

Tell Apple. They always listen, even if it has been 3 years since they heard it last: Apple - Feedback

GB

Re: I hate the new tags in Mavericks, need coloured folders!!

Colored labels and folders are not "eye candy" to those with visual impairment.

Why are you and other high "level" respondants in this thread wasting our time:

a) pointing to dysfunctional third party software that requires SIP workarounds (which you also repeatedly mislabel as "simple" solutions), and

b) asserting we are in the minority instead of helping us pursue a solution with Apple?

😮 This thread was not created in defense of Apple. It's persistence and the ongoing efforts of third party develops at TotalFinder and XTraFinder demonstrate that there are significant numbers of Apple OS users who find Apple's decision and continued dismissal unacceptable.

An earlier post illustrating that colored labels exist via Time Machine is sufficient proof that it would not be difficult for Apple to add colored labels back in as an option via prefs. They should do so.

You were using Yosemite a month ago?

Re: I hate the new tags in Mavericks, need coloured folders!!

Glad to see that you recognize the bind this puts a non-techie user in -- as you well defined, these are "normal" users. I hope that any subsequent posts you make in this thread recommending XtraFinder and/or TotalFinder also refer to the SIP workarounds.

Thank you.

Here is what caused the confusion. bpcmemorial replied to this post from me:

Re: I hate the new tags in Mavericks, need coloured folders!!

which was actually a reply to something you posted ~ a month ago.

In turn, I replied to bpcmemorial (thinking they were you).

Sorry for my part in that confusion. Getting back to the point ...

You've repeatedly posted on this thread recommending that others use third party software which you assert is an easy solution to the problem of colored labels (or more properly said, lack of colored labels). You have now clarified that you use Mavericks OS, but many respondents to this thread have stated they are using El Capitan or later OS.

Others have already pointed out that these third party solutions require disabling of System Integrity Protection. But you fail to mention this in your posts.

If you were unaware of the SIP problem previously, now you know.

If your intent in posting to this thread is to help those looking for a solution to the problem, please stop telling people who land here to use software that requires a SIP workaround, unless you also disclose the hassle and potential risks involved.

Thanks.

I like that this thread still exists 🙂 It shows that people still think it was a weird/naff decision.

Also references to the feedback site https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html are great because people often don't think to do it and it only takes a minute!

Out of interest, did any of the apps that bring back this feature ever work without turning off the System Integrity Protection (or some other hack) ?

Do a search for XtraFinder or Total Finder.

Take you pick of which one to use and use it.

As Idris Seabright has pointed out, this particular ship has long since sailed.

Apple is NOT going to fix an issue with a nearly 4 year old OS X version.

Fortunately, alternatives for this issue still exist.

Good Luck to You!

I submit feedback every single day. This is one of my recurring complaints.

Essentially in 2009 Apple shifted their focus from "User Experience" to "Features" and have since ignored their users whom rely on the workflow and efficiency tools (you know, the people who use Macs for work) and replaced these tools with versions that have more features, but are unhelpful, poorly designed and generally frustrating. This file color tool is one of the indicators of this unfortunate paradigm shift in the company.

Read my last reply and either use one of the two third party altenatives available to you, if you are stll using OS X 10.9, 10.10 and there is a workaround for both these apps for OS X 10.11 EL Capitán.

XtraFinder is free, Total Finder is not.

Apple is NOT going to bring this feature back!

We are 3 iterations of the Mac OS past OS X Mavericks and colored Finder labels have NOT returned to the OS.

If you want to continue beating a dead horse and submitting constant feedback and the like, well...

Wow, 117 pages !

I commented on this thread a long time ago and have since learned the reasoning behind the switch from color “labels” to the newer “tags” method.

The biggest difference is the ability to use more than one tag per file or folder. And then of course the ability to search that criteria spontaneously. It’s almost like meta data for your files.

Most users, myself included, were lamenting the loss of the color “label “ that added a very visible reference when visually scanning files in a particular location. The way those colors looked in the list editor was very helpful for quickly sorting and locating file types. The color would highlight the entire line and was very obvious. For me it was visually sorting photography images in list view.

Obviously there are many add-on apps that emulate the old visual color “label” but I rarely install things that modify my OS. So I’ve just gotten used to the reduced visibility of the Dots and have appreciated the meta tagging features of the new system.

If Apple would add a basic color “Label” function to the File menu which could be used in tandem with (or instead of) the meta “tags” (Dots) I wouldn’t hate it.

I did read it and I don't care. 3rd party software to use as a shim for basic workflow UI is a pathetic and shameful reflection of the disregard on Apple's part to the company wide shift away from great UX. This particular problem is just one symptom.

Ahab the Eskimo wrote:

I did read it and I don't care. 3rd party software to use as a shim for basic workflow UI is a pathetic and shameful reflection of the disregard on Apple's part to the company wide shift away from great UX. This particular problem is just one symptom.

It was apparently not a "basic workflow UI" for enough people for Apple to consider adding it back in. Apple has demonstrated that they will make changes or even revert them if enough people seem interested. It can be frustrating when you're in the minority but, yes, that's what third party applications are for.

Best of luck.

I'm in the minority?? That's hilarious, graphic designers and web developers are standing in solidarity as they watch this ship sink. We just make fun of it with a tear in our eye. This forum is the only place where people try to defend Apple's iinability to remain relevant in UX design.

Well,

I am a fellow graphics designer for print.

I am have since moved on from this issue.

I installed one of the thrid party alternatives years, ago, when it became obviously apparent that Apple wasn't reversing course on the Finder label decision.

But, I am still usimg some older tools and STILL using OS X 10..9.5 Mavericks.

So, the third party alternatives are still here, after all of this time, also.

I chose to put those alternatives to use and move on.

I still have access to the colored dots, also, which you CAN still use as XtraFinder and Total Finder doesn't remove the colored tag functionality, at all.

So, you end up with access to both methods.

Again, you can continue to moan, groan and whine or install one of the two alternatives, and move on and be happy and fortunate that two third party developers cared enough to develope these two alternatives for those, LIKE US, who really want colored folders and labels back!

There could have been, EASILY, NO OPTIONS!

You have been given two!

Please use 'em and move on!

These work and work well.

Life is too short to be quibbling over something like this which will never get a resolution and alternative software options exist. Especially a FREE (or a small donation) alternative to this issue.

I missed Window Shading feature of Finder windows when Apple did away with OS X haxies to be able to install this functionality in older OS X versions.

I since found a paid alternative to bring back this functionality in OS X 10.8.5 and later called Deskovery.

It's an app and doesn't install any thing into the OS X system for this to work.

It isn't perfect, but it is close enough in functionality for me.

Was a little pricey, but I am very, VERY happy to have this functionality returned to my iMac.

I now have the window shading/window roll up functionality back on my iMac running both OS X 10.8.5 and OS X 10.9.5.

This is WHY we have 3rd party app developers and developers that aren't tied to Apple's App Stores.

Ahab the Eskimo wrote:

I'm in the minority??

Yes, I suspect that you're continued desire for colored folders as part of the MacOS puts you in a minority. Given that there are simple, third party solutions (something Apple has generally relied on for eye candy), I'm not sure why this is such a huge problem.

I'm also have no reason to believe that you speak for all graphic designers and web developers.

And, what MichelPM says.