Adding a Space Before File Folder Name

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Level 1

25 points

Adding a Space Before File Folder Name

I organize my documents and files so that sub-folders always appear at the top of the list. I force the sub-folders to the top of the list by adding a space in front of the folder name. For example:

Main File Folder Name

(space) sub-folder 1

(space) sub-folder 2

etc.

Today I tried to do this and I am not able to add a space in front of the file folder name and have it stick. When I add a space, the file folder will move up the list as intended, but Mac's OS immediately deletes the space I added and the folder drops down the list. Is there a way to make that first space "stick" so I can continue to organize my files as I always done in the past?

Mac mini, macOS Sierra (10.12.3)

Posted on Mar 25, 2017 5:00 PM

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Answer 1

KiltedTim

Level 10

225,966 points

Mar 25, 2017 5:34 PM in response to gcvsea

Don't know what you mean by "sub folders"... When I think of "sub-folders", I think folders within folders. What you're creating are not "sub-folders". They are just folders. Name them so that they sort alphabetically or create a hierarchy of folders.

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Answer 2

ivansky

Level 2

284 points

Mar 25, 2017 5:46 PM in response to gcvsea

I am not sure this is the answer you are looking for, but I hope it is helpful.

Firstly, my experimenting on OS X Sierra 10.12.3 (i.e. precisely the same OS as you) shows that adding the space works fine. If I click on a folder name until it highlights for renaming, add a space at the beginning and then press Enter, the folder is renamed, is moved in the sort order, and then stays that way. I tried a few different folders and it always worked. So I am sorry I was not able to reproduce the behaviour you described. The space is definitely not deleted on my system.

Secondly, I wonder if you could more easily accomplish what you want by working with the existing operating system capabilities, rather than editing folder names? For instance, find it really usetul to keep a few folders (e.g. Downloads) sorted by Date Added, but there are many other options. For instance, I just checked and arranged by "Kind" and folders immediately jumped to the top. Perhaps you only want to sort some folders to the top, but if you just want all folders at the top this might help. However it does of course sort everything else into Images, PDFs, etc.

These sort options are under Finder's View...Arrange By...Date Added option.

Hope that helps.

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