OSX High Sierra no options for relative dates in Finder

Question

OSX High Sierra no options for relative dates in Finder

Ever since updating to High Sierra, but Finder file dates are now all in normal date format. I used to have relative dates enabled, so my dates on files were shown as Today, Yesterday etc

I went to View > Show Finder Options but there are no longer options for enabling relative dates.

Relative dates were really handy for me.

Why was this option removed? I see lots of posts on disabling relative dates in previous OSX versions, but was it really that unpopular that it was removed entirely?

Is there a way to re-enable relative dates that I have missed?

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), macOS High Sierra (10.13.1), Internal 256GB SSD, internal 1TB HD

Posted on Nov 11, 2017 1:58 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Spanners Design Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 14, 2017 5:11 PM in response to Kappy

Just so I'm being as specific as possible, I'm looking at the time stamp in the file preview in finder.

That should say Yesterday and display the time next to it. Instead, it shows the date.

This is what I see on my MacBook Pro that still has normal Sierra on it.

See it says Today?

As I mentioned, I went into my Show view options, and there is no option to show relative date. I even set both Arrange by and Sort by to Date Modified.

Still no option to choose Relative Dates in High Sierra.

Yes, the column in finder then splits and groups the files under headings with relative dates, but this is not what I want.

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Answer 2

Nov 21, 2017 8:07 PM in response to Barney-15E

It's in the column to the right of the file.

When you select a file, a new column is displayed with a preview and the file details.

Here is an example of column view on my MacBook Pro which still has normal Sierra installed on it (showing the relative date for Last opened).

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,518 points

Nov 14, 2017 5:54 PM in response to Spanners Design

I didn't know there was ever an option to choose one way or the other.

The option is only available when in List View or Cover Flow view. The other views do not show dates.

However, I don't have them in the preview pane, either.

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Answer 4

Nov 21, 2017 6:23 PM in response to VikingOSX

Thanks Viking, but again, this isn't quite what I need. I use Column view almost exclusively (there really is no better Finder layout for jumping up and down multiple folder levels very quickly). That preview window is where I need relative dates (and where they used to be, until I updated to High Sierra).

I changed the Finder layout to List view, and I see the relative date again, just like your screenshots. I also see the Relative Dates tick box when I go to Show View Options.

So this is majorly bizarre that List view has the relative dates option, but column view doesn't.

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Answer 5

Nov 14, 2017 6:24 PM in response to Spanners Design

I am sitting here in front of an open Finder window on High Sierra 10.13.1. I am in List View. I press command+J to bring up my Finder window view options, and this is what I see:

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Answer 6

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Nov 11, 2017 2:02 PM in response to Spanners Design

I have the usual Date Modified option and relative dates work. Have since as long as I can remember.

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Answer 7

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,518 points

Nov 21, 2017 6:35 PM in response to Spanners Design

Where in column view do you see dates at all? Column view doesn't show file dates.

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Answer 8

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,518 points

Nov 22, 2017 12:12 PM in response to Spanners Design

That's the Preview pane which you can turn on for any view; it is not special to Column View. As already stated, the preview doesn't show relative dates in High Sierra.

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