How can you get Finder to sort by name, but also sort folders before files?

Question

When I want sort my files and folder in Finder (specially sort by name) they sort all item by name mixing folders and files together. I want a way that sorts (like Windows) first all folders by name then all other items by name. How can I do this?

Answer 1

There's no built in feature in the Finder to achieve that, but with the "plugin" TotalFinder you can get that. It's located under the "Tweaks" tab in the TotalFinder settings.

Edit: There was a screenshot here, but it was out of date. Look at Robsofts answer instead for an up-to-date screenshot!

Answer 2

XtraFinder is free plugin for Finder that allows you to sort folders before files, by selecting "Arrange folders on top" in the Preferences.

After installing and running it, you can tune folder sorting and many other aspects of Finder behavior.

Answer 3

Here is a method that involves a plist setting, and no plugin, or third party app.

To summarize:

Show Package Contents of Finder.app (located in System/Library/CoreServices

Drill down to Contents > Resources > English.lproj. > InfoPlist.strings

Locate the string “Folder” = “Folder”;

Add a leading space before the second Folder as follows: “Folder” = “ Folder”;

Save InfoPlist.strings to the same location (backup elsewhere if desired)

Relaunch Finder (Ctrl+Option+Click)

Open new Finder window and sort files by Kind

Answer 4

As of OS X Yosemite (≥ 10.10), you can sort folders above files without any third-party apps.

Finder > Preferences -> Advanced tab -> Check "Keep folders on top: in windows when sorting by name" option.

Answer 5

Related to the Total Finder answer above (so please don't vote for this answer), here's a picture of the current TF tweaks page (you get to it from the Finder's Preferences screen). With these options I definitely get the folders at the top of the list.

You can also control this from the VIEW menu in Finder, once TF is installed.

Answer 6

There is a Finder replacement called Path Finder that will do what you want. It's a bit more expensive but it does do a lot more than just a regular finder window.

Answer 7

This is possible by having icons displayed as list (Cmd + 2) in Finder window. First click on the [Name] column header (this will sort all files by name), then click on [Kind] column header (this will sort items by kind, but keep the name sorting in groups).

Answer 8

Since I have found myself doing the Folder trick over and over again I ended up creating a bash script to automate renaming of the string in /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/InfoPlist.strings.

1. Save it as e.g. finder-folders-first.sh
2. Make it executable: chmod +x finder-folders-first.sh
3. Run with root permissions: sudo finder-folders-first.sh

#!/bin/bash
# Make folders sortable first in Finder

if [[ $EUID -ne 0 ]]; then
   echo "Script must be run as root! Aborting."
   exit 1
fi

cd /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/

cp -i InfoPlist.strings InfoPlist_ORIGINAL-`date +%b-%d-%Y_%H_%M_%S`.strings
plutil -convert xml1 InfoPlist.strings
sed 's|<string>Folder</string>|<string> Folder</string>|' InfoPlist.strings > InfoPlist_PATCHED.strings

diff InfoPlist.strings InfoPlist_PATCHED.strings

if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    echo File already patched! Exiting.
    exit -1
else
    echo Patching original file...
    plutil -convert binary1 InfoPlist_PATCHED.strings -o InfoPlist.strings

fi
echo Restarting Finder...
killall Finder
echo Done!

The last line restarts Finder. To do the same thing from the GUI press Alt+rightclick the Finder icon in the Dock and select Relaunch.

Now, in Finder click the Kind column once/twice to have the folders listed as first/last.

This works in Mavericks and Yosemite, but might not work in later versions.