Macos – How to sort a folder in OS X Lion without having to group files as done with “Arrange By”

findermacososx lionsorting

I'm sorry to say there are several things I liked better in Snow Leopard. Sorting files in Finder is one of those things.

If I "Arrange By" -> "None" it does not group items and it looks like 10.6. I like this. I can still click on the bar to sort by name, etc., and it looks fine and does not group:

enter image description here

However, if I select "Arrange By" and choose another option, the folder starts looking different (column headers) and it starts grouping things:

enter image description here

  1. I don't want them grouped.
  2. I want to use the old keyboard shortcuts, I think they were alt+1 – alt+6 to change the sort order. Also, pressing the keyboard shortcut again would toggle the sort order from ascending to descending.

How can I make my life better on Lion? Applescript would be an acceptable solution, but maybe editing the default plist file could also work or unlock some hidden option.

Best Answer

You need to press Ctrl-Opt-Cmd-Number instead of Ctrl-Cmd-Number.

To get the sorting (instead of arranging) menu items, hold down Option. The implemented the Sort by/Arange by submenu somewhat oddly though, so pressing Option while it's already visible won't change the menu items.

enter image description here

Related Question