Any way to automatically make alias or icons to show up on the left side of apple desktop. By default they go to the right.
4 Answers
There is no way to force icons to go to the left automatically (and stay arranged by the criterion you choose).
As a workaround, you can change the View Options in Finder to not arrange items by any criterion and place icons manually on the left.
- Click on an empty space on the desktop.
- Press Cmd+J or use the mouse to go to the Finder's View > Show View Options menu.
- In the Sort by: dropdown in the dialog, choose either None or Snap to Grid.
- You'll be able to drop files anywhere on your desktop and they'll stay there.
See Mac Basics: Modify your windows for more information.
Also go through the Mac Basics pages to learn more about using a Mac.
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1Q is asking about the automatic Clean Up By and Sort By choices, I believe, in the Finder View menu--and that would be kind of cool. Why only arrange to the right?– Zo219Oct 18, 2013 at 19:39
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This is not the best solution but it can work if nothing else does...
- Create an Automator Folder Action associated with the Desktop.
- Add the item: "run applescript"
Paste the following code in the applescript text box:
-- https://gist.github.com/mrienstra/8330528 -- Based on http://www.tuaw.com/2012/12/24/applescript-desktop-icon-race/ -- Inspired by http://namesakecomic.com/comic/happy-new-year-from-namesake/#comment-1182035013 -- Rearranges Desktop icons to flow from left to right, top to bottom. -- To have this run automatically every time files are added or removed from the Desktop, set this script to run as a Desktop "Folder Action". (See https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/applescript/conceptual/applescriptlangguide/reference/ASLR_folder_actions.html ) -- This is currently a rough proof-of-concept. It has only been tested with OS X 10.8.5 (Mountain Lion). -- Current known limitations: Does not work with "Label position" set to "Right" (specifically, icons will overlap). -- Adjust these for different spacing property theSpacingFactor : 1.0 property theGutterXFactor : 0.57 property theGutterYFactor : 0.57 on rearrangeDesktopIcons() tell application "Finder" tell icon view options of window of desktop set theArrangement to arrangement set theArrangementString to theArrangement as string if {"not arranged", "«constant ****narr»", "snap to grid", "«constant ****grda»"} does not contain theArrangementString then display alert "\"Rearrange Desktop Icons\" AppleScript says:" message "Cannot rearrange Desktop items, please change Desktop \"Sort by\" to \"None\" or \"Snap to Grid\"." giving up after 10 return end if set theIconSize to icon size set theLabelSize to text size end tell set theDesktopBounds to bounds of window of desktop set theDesktopWidth to item 3 of theDesktopBounds set theDesktopHeight to item 4 of theDesktopBounds -- Retrieve a list of items on the desktop set theDesktopItems to every item of desktop set theContestantOffset to theIconSize / 2 set theSpacing to (theIconSize + theLabelSize + theContestantOffset) * theSpacingFactor set theGuttersX to theSpacing * theGutterXFactor set theGuttersY to theSpacing * theGutterYFactor set theMaxColumns to ((theDesktopWidth - theGuttersX * 2) / theSpacing) as integer set theMaxRows to ((theDesktopHeight - theGuttersY * 2) / theSpacing) as integer set theMaxLocations to theMaxRows * theMaxColumns set y to 1 repeat with a from 1 to length of theDesktopItems set x to a mod theMaxColumns if x is 0 then set x to theMaxColumns end if if a is greater than theMaxLocations then set desktop position of item a of theDesktopItems to {theGuttersX, theGuttersY} else set desktop position of item a of theDesktopItems to {theGuttersX + (x - 1) * theSpacing, theGuttersY + (y - 1) * theSpacing} end if if a mod theMaxColumns is 0 then set y to y + 1 end if end repeat end tell end rearrangeDesktopIcons on adding folder items to alias after receiving listOfAlias rearrangeDesktopIcons() end adding folder items to on removing folder items from alias after losing listOfAliasOrText rearrangeDesktopIcons() end removing folder items from rearrangeDesktopIcons()
So whenever a file is added to your Desktop, all files will be rearranged alphabetically...
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I know that this is not a frequent solution, but THANK YOU. This is slick. Apr 3, 2021 at 21:22
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Apps > Automator.app > Menu > File > New > Folder Action. /// (At top of edit area) Folder Action receives files and folders added to > Other > Desktop. /// Library > Utilities > Run AppleScript > Hit Enter. /// Copy code above > Paste into AppleScript box. /// Menu > Save Jun 23 at 12:33
Organize all the folders in the order you want them. Then under View hit 'clean up.' This will align everything nicely. Then you can simply highlight all of the folders and position them exactly where you want them. Macs don't organize folders on the left, only the right, but with a couple of easy steps you can have everything neatly organized on the left.
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There is an edit link below the answer which allows to edit the text directly :-)– nohillside ♦Dec 14, 2016 at 8:38
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He said, "automatically". We know we can move them but we don't want to have to. Jun 23 at 12:07
I just highlighted all the folders from the right hand side, then grabbed them all and pasted to the left.
Desktop
directory in Finder, icons are aligned to the left! That's inconsistent. I have my system language set to a left to right script one, not Arabic or Hebrew... Is this the famous Apple user experience?