Why aren't my files alphabetized?

[AJP24]

I don't understand why my files aren't automatically alphabetizing, despite attempting to organize them as such? Have restarted my computer so it must be something simple that I'm not doing correctly.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

What version of macOS are you on? The files are in the correct alphabetical order on my MBP running Catalina 10.15.1.

 

[krs]

I'm on a Mini with ElCapitan - also have the files in the correct order.
I can't even get them in an "incorrect" order by trying different "Arrange By" options.
Maybe you should check what "Arrange By" is set to and see if changing that does anything.

 

[IWT]

@AJP

When you say put in alphabetical order - do you really mean NUMERICAL order? Because they all start Garden Report which is alphabetically correct.

If you want them in NUMERICAL order, then, you need to put the numbers first as in - 01, 02. 03 etc then Garden Reports.

HTP

Ian

 

[krs]

@AJP

When you say put in alphabetical order - do you really mean NUMERICAL order? Because they all start Garden Report which is alphabetically correct.

If you want them in NUMERICAL order, then, you need to put the numbers first as in - 01, 02. 03 etc then Garden Reports.

HTP

Ian

I don't think that is true in this specific case.

As long as the text in front of the numbers is exactly the same, it should sort by the number the way I see that set up.

Always worked for me - jut tried it with 10 jpgs which are "same texT and then a number from 1 to 10, sorts perfectly.

The only time it ever didn't was when the text looked the same but in fact were not when I checked carefully.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Ian, that was my initial hunch as well, but when I created dummy files using the same naming scheme as the OP, it worked for me. It must be using the entire name of the file to sort them.

 

[IWT]

Ah, okay. Just a thought. So in fact the numbers at the end, you say, should be in numerical order if the preceding text is identical. I didn't realise it worked that way. But there you go, learn something new

Ian

 

[krs]

Ian, that was my initial hunch as well, but when I created dummy files using the same naming scheme as the OP, it worked for me. It must be using the entire name of the file to sort them.

Yes, sorting is left to right.

In the OP's post, I can't see the screen shot clearly enough, but it seems some entries have an extra space - that would change to sort order.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

El Capitan has a pair of file arrangement options: "Sort by" and "Arrange by". You'd think these were the same, but they aren't. Go to the menubar in Finder, click View, then View Options. Make sure they are both set to "Name". See the Macworld article linked below for more information.
How to arrange and sort files in OS X El Capitan’s Finder | Macworld

 

[AJP24]

El Capitan has a pair of file arrangement options: "Sort by" and "Arrange by". You'd think these were the same, but they aren't. Go to the menubar in Finder, click View, then View Options. Make sure they are both set to "Name". See the Macworld article linked below for more information.
How to arrange and sort files in OS X El Capitan’s Finder | Macworld

HERO!!! This worked. Thank you so much!

 

[RadDave]

Ian, that was my initial hunch as well, but when I created dummy files using the same naming scheme as the OP, it worked for me. It must be using the entire name of the file to sort them.

Agree that the 'sort order' depends on the last letters/numbers/etc. - pic below from a recent trip to the Carolina coast; the sorting is dependent on the next to last capital letter, then the number in the last position (i.e. before the .jpg).

SO @ the OP, notice that my sort is done by 'Name' - have you given that option a try; although I'm on Catalina, this feature has been constant in recent versions of macOS - let us know. Dave

 

[IWT]

El Capitan has a pair of file arrangement options: "Sort by" and "Arrange by". You'd think these were the same, but they aren't. Go to the menubar in Finder, click View, then View Options. Make sure they are both set to "Name". See the Macworld article linked below for more information.
How to arrange and sort files in OS X El Capitan’s Finder | Macworld

Bravo! Can't give Rep points but can say a public "thank you". I should have thought of that.

Ian

 

[krs]

AFAIK, on the Mac the sort order is simply left to right and sequential the way people would sort, ie 8, 9, 10, 11 when it comes to numbers.
Windows used to sort numbers differently, they put 10 and 11 ahead of 8 and 9 since the teated the "10" as a 1 and a 0
Don't know if that is still true, it's certainly still that on Acrobat 9 that I use.

There must be an Apple document somewhere that specifies the sort order when it comes to letters vs numbers bs special characters etc.
From what I see with a little bit of testing is that numbers are sorted ahead of letters, a space is sorted ahead of either one, capital and lower case letters are treated the same in sorting.
Pretty much the same way I would sort manually