Views

A Finder window's contents can be displayed using three different views:

• Icons displays the window's contents as small or large icons (Figure 11).

  Figure 11. You can display a window's contents as icons,...

  
  
  

• List displays the window's contents as a sorted list (Figure 12).

  Figure 12. …as a list,…

  
  
  

• Columns displays the window's contents with a multiple-column format that shows the currently selected disk or folder and the items within it (Figure 13).

  Figure 13. … or as columns.

  
  
  

Tip

• You can customize views by setting view options globally or for individual windows. I explain how in Chapter 4.

To change a window's view

1.	If necessary, activate the window whose view you want to change.
2.	Choose the view option you want from the View menu (Figure 14) or press the corresponding shortcut key. Figure 14. The View menu offers a variety of options for changing a window's view, along with three new command key equivalents for switching from one view to another. or Click the toolbar's view button for the view you want (Figure 15). Figure 15. The view buttons in the toolbar.

The view of the window changes.

Tips

• Commands on the View menu (Figure 14) work on the active window only.

• A check mark appears on the View menu beside the name of the view applied to the active window (Figure 14).

• You can set the view for each window individually.

To neatly arrange icons in icon view

1.

Activate the window that you want to clean up (Figure 16). Figure 16. Start with a messy window like this one…

2.

Choose View > Clean Up (Figure 14). The icons are arranged in the window's invisible grid (Figure 17). Figure 17. ...and use the Clean Up command to put the icons in place. or Choose one of the commands from the Arrange By submenu under the View menu (Figure 18): by Name arranges the icons alphabetically by name (Figure 11). by Date Modified arranges the icons chronologically by the date they were last modified, with the most recently modified item last. by Date Created arranges the icons by the date they were created, with the most recently created item last. by Size arranges the icons in size order, with the largest item last. (Folders have a size of 0 for this option.) by Kind arranges the icons alphabetically by the kind of file. by Label arranges the icons by color-coded label (if applied). Figure 18. The Arrange by submenu offers several options for neatly arranging icons. The icons are arranged in the window's invisible grid in the order you specified (Figure 11).

Tips

• A window's invisible grid ensures consistent spacing between icons.

• You can manually position an icon in the window's invisible grid by holding down while dragging it within the window.

• When one or more icons are selected, the Clean Up command becomes the Clean Up Selection command. Choosing it arranges just the selected icons.

• I tell you how to apply and customize labels in Chapter 4.

To sort a window's contents in list view

Click the column heading for the column you want to sort by. The list is sorted by that column (Figure 19).

Figure 19. Click a column heading to sort by that column.

Tips

• You can identify the column by which a list is sorted by its colored column heading (Figures 12, 19, and 20).

  Figure 20. Click the same column heading to reverse that column's sort order.

  
  
  

• You can reverse a window's sort order by clicking the sort column's heading a second time (Figure 20).

• You can determine the sort direction by looking at the arrow in the sort column. When it points up, the items are sorted in ascending order (Figure 20); when it points down, the items are sorted in descending order (Figure 19).

• To properly sort by size, you must turn on the Calculate all sizes option for the window. I explain how in Chapter 4.

• You can specify which columns should appear in a window by setting View Options. I explain how to do that in Chapter 4, too.