Know and Control Your Options for the Finder's Icon View GA S REGULAR Menu Lifewire Tech for Humans Newsletter! Search Close GO Computers, Laptops & Tablets > Apple
Control Your Folder Icons Appearance With the Finder's Icon View
By Tom Nelson Tom Nelson Writer Tom Nelson is an engineer, programmer, network manager, and computer network and systems designer who has written for Other World Computing,and others. Tom is also president of Coyote Moon, Inc., a Macintosh and Windows consulting firm. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on November 5, 2019 Tweet Share Email Apple, inc. Tweet Share Email Apple Macs iPad The Finder’s Icon view is the default view for folders. In Icon view, each object in a folder is represented by icons. This lets you quickly and easily identify what an object is. For instance, folders stand out because of the folder icon they use. Microsoft Word files have their own icon, or if your Mac supports it, Word files may display a thumbnail view of the first page of the document. Icon view has a lot going for it. You can rearrange icons in any order you wish, quickly sort icons, and clean up any mess you may have created in arranging icons. You can also control a great deal about how the icons look and behave. Icon View Options
To control how your icons will look and behave, open a folder in a Finder window, then right-click in any blank area of the window and select Show View Options. If you prefer, you can bring up the same view options by selecting View, Show View Options from the Finder menus. Always open in icon view: Placing a checkmark next to this option will cause this folder to always use Icon view when you first open the folder. You can, of course, use the Finder view buttons to change the view type after you open the folder in the Finder. Group By: Use this option to set how you would like your folders to be grouped. Options include: Name, Kind, Application, Date Last Opened, Date Added, Date Modified, Date Created, Size, and Tags. Sort By: You can further organize your icons by sorting them by: Name, Kind, Date Last Opened, Date Added, Date Modified, Date Created, Size, and Tags. Icon size: Use this slider to dynamically adjust the size of the icons in this folder. The larger the icon, the easier it is to see the thumbnail previews. Of course the larger they are, the more room they take up. Grid spacing: Use the grid spacing slider to adjust how far apart icons can be. Grid spacing does not prevent you from dragging icons around anywhere you wish. Instead, it specifies the spacing that will be used when you select the cleanup option to get your icons back to a more orderly presentation. Text size: This drop-down menu lets you specify the text size used for an icon’s name. Show item info: Placing a checkmark here will cause icons (mostly folders and images) to display additional information, such as the number of items in a folder or the size of an image. Show icon preview: This option enables or disables the ability of icons to show a thumbnail preview of the icon’s content. With a checkmark in place, the icons will show a preview; with the checkmark removed, the file’s default icon will display. Background: There are three background options: White, Color, or Picture. White is the default, and the background most people choose to use. If you select Color, a color well (small rectangle) will display. Click on the color well to use the Color Picker to select the color of your choice for the background. If you select Picture, you can use any image on your Mac as a background for the Finder window. Before you get carried away, be aware that using a background picture will slow down the opening and moving of Finder windows, because your Mac must redraw the picture every time the folder moves or changes size. Use as Defaults: Clicking this button will cause the current folder’s view options to be used as the default for all Finder windows. If you click this button by accident, you may not be pleased to discover that every Finder window has a strange color background, really small or large text, or some other parameter that you changed. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire How to Use Column View Options in Finder on the Mac Using the Finder's List View Option How to Change Folder Color on Mac How to Modify the Mac Finder Sidebar 16 Ways to Fix It When Windows 11 Folder Thumbnails Aren't Showing Up How to Control Your Mac's Cover Flow View Options How to Use Spotlight, the Finder Search Window How to Set Finder Views for Folders and Sub-Folders How to Change the Desktop Background in Windows 11 What Is the Control Panel in Windows? How to Change a Login Picture on Mac How to Use the Motorola Camera App How to Zoom in or out on Windows or a Mac How to Make a GIF in Photoshop How to Change the Font Size on Your Screen How to Change Folder Icons on a Mac Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies