Keep Folders on Top

In this video, I’m going to show you a different way to keep our files and folders arranged on our Mac. What we’re able to do is separate our files from our folders. We can keep all of our folders on top of our files. Let’s see what I mean. Let’s go to my Mac. So I’m looking at my documents folder here.

And if we look, you’re going to see; I have various files and folders here. Now that they’re sorted alphabetically, I have a couple of files and then a folder and then some more files and then another folder. It is intermixing my files and my folders. What I would like to do is I would like to separate those.

The way we do this on the Mac is we tell the Mac to keep the folders on top. It will then group all of my folders at the top of my list and then have all of my files below those folders. So then I can easily see all of my folders. And then I can easily see all of my files.

So how do we do that? Well, what we need to do is we need to go to our finder preferences. Now I go up to find her in the menu bar, and then we go over to preferences. We have a new window that opens up, and we need to go to advanced from here. You’re going to see keep folders on top. Now we have two options here.

Let’s first look at the first option. The first option is for in windows. When sorting by name, I’m going to move this to the side here. When I turn this on, what this is telling me is it’s going to keep my folders on top. In my windows when they’re sorted by name. So when I go back over to my documents here, this is in a window, and it is also sorted by name.

So now, when I go over and select this, watch what happens. I now have my folders on top with my files below. They are still arranged alphabetically, but it’s just keeping my folders on top of my files. Again, this only works when I’m in a window here, and they need to be sorted by name. It does work in other views as well.

If I go over to my column view, watch what happens. I still have my folders on top of my files below. I go de-select this. We can see it. Just move my folders among all of my files. I selected it again. Now my folders are on top. We can do the same thing on our desktop. Let’s go and move a few of these over to my desktop.

So I’m going to move Dan’s folder here to my desktop. Let’s go and movie, a few of these images here, and let’s go with another folder. When we go over to the desktop, let’s go and close this. You’re going to see; I have a folder at the top. As well as a folder at the bottom with two files in between. Now, what I do is I go over to my second option; here again, I’m in my finder preferences.

I go over to my second option here, where it says on desktop, watch what happens when I select us, and move my two folders to the top. And then all of my files below that. So that’s how we can keep our folders on top. When we’re looking at our files and folders on the Mac, we can keep folders on top when we’re looking at our files and folders in a window, as long as they’re sorted by name.

And then we can also with our desktop, the way that we do this, as we go to our finder preferences, we go over to advanced and then you’ll see, keep folders on top. So that’s how we can keep our folders on top of our different files when we’re looking at them on the Mac.