Smart Folders

Hello there,

I have created a Smart Folder to record documents created with AppleWorks during the last three months.

This works fine but when the Smart Folder is opened the documents are listed in alphabetical order of the document title.

I would prefer to have them listed in the order of their creation dates – latest first.

Is this possible please.

With many thanks,

Cheerio,

Terence Casey

Yep-

Command-2, or click the List View button in the toolbar. See attached. And then, of course, click the Date Modified column header.

OK, smart folders question: What exactly are they, how do you set them up and so forth... I noticed them in macmail as well and I'm curious as to the benefit and managment of them... Thanks!

They are a persistant search result. Instead of rebuilding your complex search (rules and filters), you just open the Smart Folder. It wil re-run the search again for you automagically.

So for instance if you always want a folder in mail that shows every outgoing email with INVOICE in the subject, you can do so.
You keep the messages in your SENT box. But the Smart Folder will always show you the invoices sent.

Same deal for finder. If you want to view a folder for say... new JPGs...
you search the folder for ".jpg" and save it as a Smart Folder. Whenever you want to look for new jpgs, open the smart folder and sort by modified desc.

Apple describes it better:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/finder/
Smart Folders contain documents grouped together based on search criteria that you define instead of their physical location. Computer file systems are rigid: a file can only be in one folder inside a hierarchy of other folders on your disk. Smart Folders fundamentally change the way you organize your stuff because now a file can literally be in two folders (or many) at once without duplicating or moving the underlying file.
Like Smart Playlists in iTunes, Smart Folders automatically update in real time when you add or remove documents from your Mac. They can contain documents from anywhere in your home directory and external drives, and creating one is as easy as saving a search in the Finder.

Thanks for the input... sounds like I've got some setting up to do...

There's a video of how they work here.

In the video, "Need to be finsihed" is spelled wrong.

BTW, this is in no way a new idea. BeOS has been doing this since the late 90s.

Giulio,

Many thanks for your help.

Terence Casey