Mac OS X Lion looks a lot different from its predecessor Mac OS X Snow Leopard and one of those differences is the sidebar in Finder and Mail. The sidebar looks a lot different because it displays different elements in Lion and the icon it displays aren’t even in color now.
Open System Preferences and then click on General. Now look for Sidebar icon size in the center section. This option will allow you to alter the size of your sidebar icons from Small, Medium, and Large.
The selection you make will change the sidebar icons in Finder and Mail, but it doesn’t apply to every application. I’m not sure why that is, but that is how it works for now and we’ll just have to live with it until Apple fixes it later.
David W. Martin has more than 20 years of experience in the industry as a programmer, systems and business analyst, author, and consultant. David has written for CNET’s iPhoneatlas.com, MacLife.com, CultofMac.com, BYTE.com and recently for aNewDoman.net. He comes to Cult of Mac’s website with deep knowledge and passion for the all things Apple. Follow David on Twitter @david_w_martin or see what he’s up to now at davidwmartin.com.
37 responses to “Tweak Your Lion Sidebars For Mail And Finder [OS X Tips]”
[This comment has been edited for violating Cult of Mac’s rules on commenting.]
tinyurl.com/2df4ccp
[This comment has been edited for violating Cult of Mac’s rules on commenting.]
[This comment has been edited for violating Cult of Mac’s rules on commenting.]
I felt there was something wrong with the sidebar in Finder (apart from the absence of color) but couldn’t figure out what exactly was wrong.
After reading the tip I set Sidebar icon size to Small and now it looks much better. Thanks, David!
I just paid $ 23.86 for an iPhone and my girlfriend loves her Dell laptop that we got for $ 38.76 there arriving tomorrow by UPS I will never pay such expensive retail prices in stores again. Especially when I also sold a 42 inch LED TV to my boss for $ 665 which only cost me $ 62,81 to buy. Here is the website we use to get it all from, GrabPenny.com
How about telling us how to restore the up and down arrows to the top and bottom of the scroll bar?
tinyurl.com/2df4ccp
Speaking of customizing your Finder, Anyone know how to remove unwanted items from your ‘Favorites’ in Finder? I’ve tried dragging these 2 files off my ‘Favorites’ and nothing happens.
http://screencast.com/t/D99Usc…
Actually your comment is the most useless on the internet. Do you keep a napkin nearby for the foam flying from your mouth. If this useful page wasn’t to your liking, just move on. Save the juvenile abuse. Actually a good tips and tricks post for you would be one telling you how to take your computer and shove it up…
Actually we just think you are stupid. Grow up.
LMAO ! seriously ? haha
Obviously you took my comment way too personally which means a) you are either the writer of this lame post or b) you have money invested in this site. You would have to be insane to think this post is worth reading let alone find it useful.
And you’re obviously a hypocrite because you want to ‘Save the juvenile absue’ before retorting with a lame and juvenile insult…dumbass.
Now if there were a way to restore custom hard drive icons to the sidebar or still respect the color labeling an item might have elsewhere in the Finder…
Hilarious!
Hate the color (or lack thereof) of Lion. Living in the cloudy wet Pacific NW of the US, shades of grey just don’t cut it for me. I wish Apple would give us more options to add some color and life to this drab OS interface.
Are you a former Windows user? Mac users have been famously known for their courtesy and respect to fellow Mac users. But with so many former Windows users coming on board, the increase in discourtesy and volatility has been marked. Please reconsider whether this type of comment promotes or detracts from a positive Mac experience.
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Wow.. you sound like one of those psycho conspiracy theorists. How do you sleep at night? I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and say you’re just a prick and/or troll
Conspiracy theorists? Really? The only conspiracy is how this article ever got approved…
cmd+drag out
First commenter perhaps a bit harsh, but any un-noobed Mac user knows this anyway. Oh and news alert for some commenters. Even if someone is a bit over the top in their language, just saying “your are” is not an argument any more advanced than “this is crap”. In fact this is crap is more honest. On top of all this, if you’re a blogger and want to further the actual platform, you need this feedback anyway.