Questions tagged [finder-tag]
Tags in Finder allows the user to class files and folders with a little colored tag.
137
questions
27
votes
1
answer
16k
views
Adding tags to files in OS X: How to use, where are tags stored, and will they work on a network?
I've heard it is possible to add tags to a file's meta data in OS X, and have Spotlight search through such tags.
In a nutshell, how would one access this feature in Finder – not Spotlight (...
- 4,409
20
votes
3
answers
43k
views
What is the gray circle Finder shows next to a file, that is not a tag?
Today, I noticed a image I downloaded earlier (one of two) has a large gray circle at the right-hand edge of the Name column in Finder:
Note that the other image made at almost the same time doesn't ...
- 1,437
17
votes
7
answers
26k
views
Can I revert to the Mountain Lion style labels instead of Mavericks tags? How?
I don't like the almost invisible little colored dots (tags) that have replaced the full-length color highlighted labels used in Mountain Lion. Is there a way to go back to using full-field labels?
- 171
17
votes
3
answers
6k
views
Tags - best practice for using tags to replace hierarchical folder structure
I am interested in replacing my hierarchical folder structure with the tag system.
Are there any best practices (or do you have personal experience) of how to use tags as a replacement for the ...
- 1,596
16
votes
3
answers
15k
views
Are tags portable, and if so how?
I am a relatively new Mac user, recently bought a MacBook Pro with OS X 10.9.1.
I see that there are tagging capabilities within the file system. I'm concerned about portability. If I get a new ...
- 278
13
votes
2
answers
12k
views
Possible to tag a folder via terminal?
Is it possible to tag a file or folder in mavericks via terminal command?
- 255
11
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Remove 'Tags' section from macOS Finder right-click context menu
When I right-click an item in Finder, the context menu has a Tags section containing colored tags:
Tags...
In previous versions of macOS / OS X, the section was called "Labels".
I don't use Tags ...
- 8,831
10
votes
2
answers
7k
views
How do I remove Finder tags from all files in a folder and its subfolders?
How can I remove Finder tags from all files in a given folder and in its subfolders?
- 1,530
9
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Smart folder using "or" search?
Is there a way to create a macOS smart folder which uses an "or" search? E.g. find all files which have tags "A" or "B"? It seems that smart folders allow only to search using an "and" command.
- 1,116
9
votes
4
answers
4k
views
OS X Finder hangs on tagging
I'm having a problem with the new tagging feature in Mavericks and I have a feeling it might go deeper than just the tagging.
The problem is this:
When tagging anything on Mavericks the Finder ...
- 398
8
votes
2
answers
11k
views
OSX tags from terminal/console
Is it possible to create some script to show all the finder-tagged items in terminal/shell?
I'd like to create something like this:
ls-tag "Music" to display all the items of Music tag
- 83
8
votes
4
answers
20k
views
How tag emails in Apple Mail?
My goal?
To tag emails in OS X.
What I succeeded into?
I use the Find command in /Users/MyMacAccount/Library/Mail/V3/ with a significative word contained in the email I am looking for, then I tag ...
- 111
7
votes
5
answers
5k
views
List all tags in Terminal in Mavericks?
Is it feasible to list all tags already defined in OS X in Terminal?
I know there are some third-party applications that list all tags, but I just want to use Terminal to find all tags, since I use ...
- 3,603
6
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Add Spotlight Comments without tags on OS X Mavericks
I would like to add comments to files or folders. On previous OS X versions, there would be a text field to add comments that become searchable via Spotlight.
Now, in OS X 10.9 Mavericks the text ...
- 441
6
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Automatically Delete Files From Downloads Folder Daily Unless Tagged With "Keep"?
How can I automate the deletion of files from my downloads folder but keep files I've tagged with "Keep"? I've been able to use Automator to delete files daily, but I can't work with tags in ...
- 154
6
votes
4
answers
5k
views
Finder in Mavericks will not tag files on network drives
Is there a workaround? How can I fix this?
These files are on SMB shares to Windows servers with a NTFS file system. Is there a better way to connect to windows shares? Please guide as I am new to the ...
- 920
6
votes
1
answer
204
views
How to replace rather than add tags in MacOS?
I've been scratching my brain on this one for a while. In macOS, it's easy to add tags to a file (whether right-clicking on a file, using the toolbar shortcut button or using the File menu). In each ...
- 161
5
votes
2
answers
886
views
Remove unused Finder tags
I make extensive use of Finder Tags, both built-in and user generated. I have ended up with a huge bunch of tags would like to better manage them.
Is there a way to easily visualize the count of ...
- 51.8k
5
votes
2
answers
1k
views
How can I back-up an external drive while preserving attributes, folder creation date and showing progress?
Final goal
Create a copy of all files one external hard drive to another external hard drive, both formatted as HFS+.
Preserve the folder creation date.
Preserve finder colour label.
During the copy ...
- 5,821
5
votes
1
answer
262
views
Finder tag search exclusive
I am using tags to label all my documents in Finder, and Smart Folders to organise them, but I'm running into a roadblock.
Lets say I have a bunch of documents with the tag "fruits", and some -- but ...
5
votes
2
answers
6k
views
Add and remove multiple tags at once from a file or a folder
Using OS X Mavericks I want to add multiple tags at once to a file or a folder and I also want to remove multiple tags at once. There are different ways to add tags to a file, one of them would be to ...
- 10.1k
5
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Creating and modifying tags hangs Finder in OS X 10.9 Mavericks
When I create or modify a tag in Finder on Mavericks, the Finder application stalls with a spinning beach ball and cpu goes up to 100% usage for a while (from 30 secs to 2 minutes).
I've found that ...
- 51
4
votes
2
answers
2k
views
How to find tagged files/folders using the command line in Terminal? [duplicate]
What commands do we have for finding tagged files/folders using find on the command line?
I have done a search and looked on this site and found nothing.
- 1,071
4
votes
1
answer
6k
views
Mavericks Tag colors
Does anyone know how to make new tags with custom colours?
It is clear how to change colours to a predefined set of available colours, but I have no idea how to change to a custom colour. (With the ...
- 141
4
votes
1
answer
4k
views
How to edit or add tag colors
In Preview.app for macOS 10.13.3, how do I remove a tag from the drop-down menu and add additional colour tag, other than the few shown? I made a tag which I want to remove from the drop-down menu. ...
- 41
4
votes
2
answers
6k
views
Set tag color of image in Preview with hotkey/keyboard shortcut
I'd like to be able to add a tag color to an image I'm viewing in Preview with a hotkey / keyboard shortcut.
I found something for Finder: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6511743?start=0&...
- 141
4
votes
3
answers
6k
views
How do I sync tags between two Macs using Google Drive?
I have two Macs, and I use Google Drive to sync my data. I created tags in Finder on one Mac for some of the files and directories in Drive, and they don't appear on the other one.
Is this possible? ...
- 1,725
3
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Can't tag local Documents folder : Error -8058
I wanna use Finder tags to organise my Mac with using "Groupe by" feature.
Everything is fine, except for one folder : the "Documents" folder, located in my personal folder.
(Note :...
- 153
3
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Auto-tag folders/files dropped into a folder
I want to be able to automatically assign a red tag to any folder/file that is dropped into a folder sitting on my desktop. I've done some research about this and it seems like this can't really be ...
- 257
3
votes
1
answer
110
views
How can I change the tags in the context menu?
I can't find any way to edit the tags within the context menu which appears when you double-tap on a file in Finder. Is there a way to choose which ones appear? An example of what I mean is below:
- 133
3
votes
1
answer
855
views
Is there a way to remove a custom tag and replace it with a default one?
Let's suppose that I created a new tag "custom tag".
Is there a way to not only delete said tag, but also relabel all files which were previously labeled with that tag with a default one, ...
3
votes
1
answer
2k
views
How do I search by multiple tags?
I am able give files multiple tags, but I can't figure out a way to search by multiple tags. The current search syntax in Finder/Spotlight is to use the tag:<some_tag_name> query, however trying ...
- 181
3
votes
1
answer
158
views
Programatically modify tag visibility, order
I need to programatically alter both the visibility and default sort order for tags, explicitly in Catalina: I have different categories of tags that, depending on what project I'm working on, I'd ...
- 31
3
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Searching by Finder Tags not working in Spotlight on macOS High Sierra
I started using Finder Tags very extensively a while ago. However, I noticed this strange bug (at least on my macOS High Sierra): Searching for tags by writing
tag:<name_of_tag>
is not working ...
- 431
3
votes
1
answer
521
views
How do people use Tags in Finder?
I've searched online; I have found lots of information around HOW to assign/remove tags, but very little around how people USE them. (that in itself might be the sign that not many people actually use ...
3
votes
1
answer
66
views
In Finder, first tag vanishes while adding a second tag
MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2011)
macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 (17G7024)
This is a problem I've been having since Mavericks first came out, and it has persisted through at least two complete OS reinstalls ...
- 171
3
votes
2
answers
2k
views
iOS file chooser for iCloud drive can't find tags
Any iOS app can let its users pick a file on iCloud Drive with the proper chooser dialogue. This dialogue allows to search files based on tags. Here is a screenshot to make crystal clear what I am ...
user123861
3
votes
1
answer
656
views
Make a specific tag the default window in OS X Finder
I've got a tag in OS X which is labeled "To-do", and I want that Finder shows the files (and folders) that are labelled with this tag when I open a new finder window. So that the view that is shown ...
- 31
3
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Finder doesn't show files tagged on network drive
I have a Western Digital NAS and I've noticed that if I tag any files/folders stored on it, the Finder never shows them when I select a tag in the sidebar.
For example, if I add a tag called Work to ...
- 7,833
3
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Spotlight in Mavericks does not search Tags - how to enable?
I have defined a couple of tags in Mavericks. If I search inside Finder, tags work as expected:
It recognizes that "Firma" is a tag.
If I select it and press enter, it turns into "Tag:Firma".
...
- 985
3
votes
1
answer
276
views
Tagging of symlinks
Is it possible to tag a symlink using the new OS X Mavericks tagging functionality (old labels functionality)?
When I select a symlink in Finder, File => Tags... option is grayed-out.
Is it possible ...
- 965
3
votes
0
answers
303
views
Which files contain macos tags?
I've been transfering files between different OSes lately, as well as tried to browse those files via different network shares (mostly SMB and AFP), and what I'm still a bit confused about is which ...
- 31
3
votes
0
answers
59
views
Is there version control software with commit messages that preserves macOS tags?
As I mentioned in my answer on tags best practices, the distributed version control software (VCS) Git does not preserve macOS tags (or other extended file attributes). Is there version control ...
- 430
3
votes
0
answers
411
views
What is the maximum number of tags supported?
My concern is that this answer on Superuser implies that there is a bitfield of a fixed size in the HFS+ extended attribute that is used for storing tag flags. Or maybe that just for the first N tags, ...
- 227
3
votes
1
answer
552
views
Tagged items not appearing correctly in Mavericks?
I'm running OS X 10.9.5. Recently, I used Handbrake 0.9.9 x86_64 (2013051800) to convert some WMVs to MP4s. There are roughly 150 videos, and I have attempted to tag them all. When in their respective ...
- 816
2
votes
3
answers
3k
views
How to list all untagged files in Mavericks Finder?
I'm trying to start using Mavericks tagging system, even though it has its bugs…
I'm also evaluating Yep to better organize my docs, but maybe I can do without, if I can find how to display all the ...
- 191
2
votes
2
answers
2k
views
How can I change Finder tag name or color?
There are some tags in Finder by default. I want rename their name from color. How can I do this?
- 207
2
votes
1
answer
344
views
Automatically tagging files that were last opened more than x days ago
I want to set up a process to run each day and identify files that were last opened x days ago, then apply a tag like "to review" to those files. Those files would appear tagged in Finder with the ...
- 23
2
votes
2
answers
66
views
Prevent Finder from truncating tag names
In Finder (Sierra) if you select "All Tags..." in the Finder sidebar, it presents a list of tags. These tags, if they are above a certain length are truncated. Is there a way to prevent this from ...
- 21
2
votes
1
answer
45
views
Tag all files required by OS
My hard drive is close to full, so I am trying to delete old and unused files. I am worried that I may delete files that the operating system needs, but I don't recognize. Is there a way to tag all of ...
