Change the sidebar's format to a tree view

OS X 10.8.3

I'm not a big fan of the view provided in the Sidebar of a Finder window. I like the detail you used to get in Windows before Vista.

Is there a utility out there that can change the display of the sidebar to a tree type view?

I've got a project in mind, specifically a hard drive organization plan, that needs a tree view in the side bar to work.

Thanks.

No, not that I know of. The Mac isn't a PC, it doesn't really use tree view much. The sidebar is not meant to be an entire system map, it's meant only as a holder for aliases to frequently-accessed destinations and smart folders (saved searches, like "all photos" or "MS Office documents opened in the last two weeks" that sort of thing).

Macs also don't really require a "hard drive organization plan." Your machine came with a few basic folders (Pictures, Music, Movies, Documents) in your home folder. You can certainly add to that list, or make subfolders inside say Documents for example. Thanks to features like Spotlight, the dock and pre-existing folders, I can find pretty much anything I want in a click or at most, two.

chas_m said:

No, not that I know of. The Mac isn't a PC, it doesn't really use tree view much. The sidebar is not meant to be an entire system map, it's meant only as a holder for aliases to frequently-accessed destinations and smart folders (saved searches, like "all photos" or "MS Office documents opened in the last two weeks" that sort of thing).

Click to expand...

Just to be a muckraker/stirrer of the pot, this is a PC. PC originally meant Personal Computer, not Windows.

With my desire/effort to mimic the Windows 7/8 Libraries function, a tree view is needed. I've not been able to devise a different way to get at my goal. Other than a dedicated software program, which would limit the usefulness.

Given the tree view request here, and the libraries function I've posted about in another thread, would it be useful to state what I'm trying to accomplish? It would be a lo-o-o-ong post.

chas_m said:

Macs also don't really require a "hard drive organization plan." Your machine came with a few basic folders (Pictures, Music, Movies, Documents) in your home folder. You can certainly add to that list, or make subfolders inside say Documents for example. Thanks to features like Spotlight, the dock and pre-existing folders, I can find pretty much anything I want in a click or at most, two.

Click to expand...

Respectfully, I disagree wholeheartedly. Most people don't just put stuff hither and yon in their house, why would you do the same with data on your computer?

Finding something isn't the problem, grouping like files is. It's been suggested to me to use Smart Folders (which I take is just an automatically updated saved search), but to do what I want could end up with tens and hundreds of Smart Folders. The number of search parameters could also become onerous. Not a practical solution.

This is the companion thread to my Windows Libraries thread.