Find Your Stuff – Arrange Applications By Type In The Finder [OS X Tips]

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Application Type Arrange In Finder

The Finder in Mac OS X is specifically designed to help you find stuff. In any Finder Window, you can arrange the icons or lists of files alphabetically by Name, by Kind of file, by the Application that opens that file, by Date Last Opened, Added, Modified, or Created, and also by Size and by Label.

In list view, you can also click on the top column title to sort the list in ascending or descending order. It’s a pretty comprehensive way to find your stuff in the Finder, without even having to search for it.

Did you know, however, that you can also arrange Applications by application type (Productivity, Social Networking, Music, Video, and so on)? I didn’t, so here’s a tip on how to do just that.

You’ll need to open up a Finder window to check this out. Do that by selecting New Finder Window from the Finder menu, or hit Command-N when in the Finder. You can set the view to either Icon, List, Column or CoverFlow views (Command-1, -2, -3, or -4, respectively) and still see the arrangement.

Then, Navigate to the Applications window with Command-Shift-A, or choosing Applications from the Go menu. Next, hit Command-J on your keyboard or select Show View Options from the View menu. You’ll get a little narrow window, and you can then click on the popup menu next to “Arrange By:” label. Select Application Type from the popup.

All your applications will now be arranged in sections, each according to the category that OS X places it in. These are the same categories that OS X will use when you make folders with specific Apps in Launchpad. To my knowledge, there’s no way to edit the categories when arranging by them in the Finder, but if you know of one, feel free to tip me via email or Twitter.

Via: Appstorm Mac

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