“How the heck do I change the sort order of my files in Open and Save dialogs?” We get this question a lot, and I can’t blame you for being confused. The controls for sorting the list of files in Open and Save dialogs are a bit of a mess. They’re the result of new features being layered on top of older user interface controls, leaving you with some odd and confusing combinations.

In the beginning – well, OK, not The Beginning beginning, but quite a few years ago – you could only sort in file dialogs by clicking on the top of the columns in list view.

If you want to sort by date, you click on the “Date Modified” column header. The little triangle at the right side of the header shows you whether you’re sorting in ascending or descending order. Clicking the header again toggles between ascending and descending. To sort by name, click on the “Name” header. Pretty simple, right?

Wait, what column headers?That original method still works today, but only in List View, because there aren’t any column headers in Column View or Icon View. I know, you may not even be aware that there are different views in file dialogs. This is column view:

Click on those little buttons I’ve marked in red to change views. Note that they’re on the bottom of the file dialog in some applications, but at the top of the dialog in others. Don’t ask – that’s just the way it is.

So.. Method #1 for sorting your files: Click on the List View button and then on the column header you want to sort by.

But that doesn’t always work. Yeah, I just told you how to do what you want, but now I’ll screw it all up by showing you the new sorting controls, which completely disable method #1. In Mac OS 10.7 and later, there’s this nifty little sorting button at the top of the file dialog:

Selecting a sorting method from this menu gives you the new Finder-style sorting with interspersed headers saying “Today”, “Yesterday”, “Previous 30 Days”, “Earlier” etc – you can see them in the screenshot above. The confusing thing is that this will also sort List View windows that way, and will completely disable your ability to click on the column headers to sort the Old Way (what I called method #1).

So… Method #2 for sorting your files: Click on the Sort Menu button and select a sorting method.

And now the inevitable question: What if I don’t want those “Today, Yesterday, Previous 30 days” things in the way? I’m glad you asked – mostly because I don’t like them myself 🙂 If you want to go back to the Old Way of sorting in list views, start with the Sort menu and choose “None”. Then click on the List View button and click the column headers to select your sort method.

Someone asked about this today – it’s useful stuff that’s not obvious, so I figured I’d share it here. If there are navigation keys or shortcuts that I’ve missed, please comment.

There are a number of keyboard navigation keys that are standard in all Open and Save dialogs, but they vary a bit depending on the view mode you’ve got selected.

In List View:

• Up and down arrows move up and down the file listing
• ⌘+Right-Arrow displays the contents of a folder without opening it (it turns the little twisty-arrow next to the folder)
• ⌘+Up-Arrow goes up to the parent folder
• ⌘+Down-Arrow opens the selected item

In Column View:

• Up and down arrows move up and down the file listing
• Left and right arrows traverse left and right in the column listing
• ⌘+Up-Arrow goes up to the parent folder (when you’ve gotten all the way to the leftmost column)
• ⌘+Down-Arrow opens the selected item

In Icon View:

• Up, down, left and right arrows traverse among files
• ⌘+Up-Arrow goes up to the parent folder
• ⌘+Down-Arrow opens the selected item

And of course, when keyboard focus is on the file list, typing the first few letters of a file or folder’s name selects it. Note that in Save dialogs, this requires tabbing 3 times (usually) to get the keyboard focus from the filename edit box to the file list.

There are also some command key shortcuts, I’ve borrowed this list from http://www.productivityorchard.com/keyboard-shortcuts-for-mac-os-x-open-save-dialog

• Spacebar – View the selected item in Quick Look
• ⌘+D – changes focus to your Desktop
• ⌘+Shift+A – Changes focus to your Applications directory
• ⌘+Shift+H – changes focus to your Home directory
• ⌘+Shift+N – Creates a new folder.
• ⌘+Shift+Period (.) – Toggle hidden files & folders on and off.
• ⌘+Shift+G – Brings up Go To Folder window
• Tab – Tab key auto-completes paths and file names from the aforementioned Go To window
• ⌘+R – Reveals the file in Finder
• ⌘+F – Move the cursor to the Find field
• ⌘+Period (.) – Close the Open/Save dialog window

From time to time I get requests to make Default Folder X automatically type the date or some other information into new filenames in Save dialogs. While this may be a good idea for a handful of people, the complexity and number of variations I’d have to support would result in a lot of additional settings in Default Folder X’s already crowded preferences.

Not only would it add complexity to Default Folder X, but there is already an easy solution to this – text macro utilities. I personally add the date to some filenames using Typinator, a “text expander” application from Ergonis Software. I just type “dt” and it automatically expands to the current date – and not just when I’m typing a name for a file in a Save As dialog – it’ll expand that shortcut wherever I type it on my Mac.

If you need this sort of shortcut when you’re saving files – or writing emails, filling in web forms, taking notes, etc – check out one of these tools (there are others – these are just a few of the major ones):

Typinator
TypeIt4Me
Keyboard Maestro
TextExpander

If you’ve got others you think should be added here, don’t hesitate to post a comment or give me a shout @stclairsoft

– Jon