Monday, March 21, 2022

Colored Folder Icons in Finder

Ryan Dotson:

I loved using labels in ‘Classic’ Mac OS to colour-code files and folders in Finder. We lost this in the modern era, replaced by tags. In earlier versions of Mac OS X, they nearly filled the gap, because the whole name was coloured, but the dots of today’s Mac OS don’t quite fill the gap for me. I much prefer a strong visual indicator.

[…]

Manilla is a Finder extension that automates that process, making it as easy as it ever was in the old days.

It sets a custom colored icon in response to a menu command, rather than linking the color to the label/tag in the folder’s metadata.

5 Comments RSS · Twitter

Apple should bring back the colored item names for easier identification. XtraFinder and TotalFinder tried that, but are not blocked by macOS. A shame!

I'm still on Mojave so I can use XtraFinder. I just can't give up custom icons in the Finder sidebar as well as the old, Snow Leopard style Finder labels. I loathe the new Finder Tags which are just tiny coloured dots which don't stand out.

Fortunately, someone is porting TotalFinder to M1 Macs. https://twitter.com/akemin_dayo/status/1505748370270289921

This is another feature I like about using Cocotech Path Finder. The color labels still highlight the entire file name.

Oops! I meant "but are NOW blocked by macOS".

Thanks for the information. Unfortunately, TotalFinder requires to disable System Integrity Protection (SIP), which is a deal breaker!

Coctech looks excellent but its subscription only. Why would one pay $35 year after year after year? Their site says "buy" but you can't really

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