Finder re-arranging files by last used and "blank" unnamed folder icons (high sierra 10.13.4)

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Finder re-arranging files by last used and "blank" unnamed folder icons (high sierra 10.13.4)

i'm on high sierra on a 2015 mac air and for quite awhile now FINDER has been sorting files in a manner that seems odd. usually they are consistently sorted alphabetically.

now i see files getting sorted by LAST USED. just now i was in the DOWNLOADS folder and arranging information and the last folder i put a file in went to the top in "real time". in the past i have seen this behavior in apps online when i went to UPLOAD an image or a file i would see them shown in some order that showed them by the last used image file. i've also seen it happening a lot in DROPBOX folders.

this is sort of confusing to be able to track and a bit annoying to try to work around.

i ALSO sometimes see "unnamed" folders (on my desktop or elsewhere) which is basically a folder that has a name but the name has been hidden in some graphic way so all you see is the folder. if you click in it you can see the file name but when you are looking at it you won't see the file name. usually this goes away but it is also annoying.

MacBook Air, macOS Sierra (10.12.4), 11 inch, early 2015; w/BC WIN 10

Posted on Apr 20, 2018 3:35 PM

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Answer 1

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Barney-15E

Level 10

112,638 points

Apr 21, 2018 2:13 PM in response to hotwheels22

The Arrangement/Sort button on the Toolbar will set the Arrangement or Sort for the folder.

When you click the button, you get Arrangement options. If you Option-click, you get Sort options.

Arrange means to group like items. Sorting is sorting. Sounds like you changed the Sort or Arrangement.

In list view, you can just click the header to sort by.

There are no global options. If you set a folder how you want in View Options, you can set that as default, but it won’t retroactively change folders that have different Arrangement or Sort settings.

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Answer 2

hotwheels22 Author

Level 1

74 points

Apr 21, 2018 7:46 AM in response to Barney-15E

hi barney

i’ve never had this problem before. i understand downloads folder may be set this way but it is jair an exception in terms of my issue.

for instance - i am trying to think about it now - when i run an “upload” operation i see the files listed in a finder type window as showing last used first. it’s kind of annoying. if i go to the desktop that has files on it i will see the files listed by last used or last moved or something. it should be shown in alphabetical order like anything else...

is there a setting (global or loca) i can check?

THANKS

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,638 points

Apr 21, 2018 7:43 AM in response to hotwheels22

Default sort on the downloads folder is by Last Added.

The other folder must have some other sort.

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Finder re-arranging files by last used and "blank" unnamed folder icons (high sierra 10.13.4)

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