The Power of Smart Folders To Organize Files in MacOS

[@toddowen7590]

Thanks for the video. I've been migrating to the Apple ecosystem over the last six months after using Windows since the early 1990's. These sorts of videos are great for learning the best practices of using MacOS. Thanks!

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the feedback and good luck with MacOS

[@hawkleybroccoli4770]

This was very thorough, thank you!

[@cristianmoldovanu]

Keep up the good work, Craig. you have really great content. I’ll keep watching 👍

[@craigneidel]

Appreciate the kind words, thanks.

[@rickbooks428]

Just tried this with the extension option and what's even cooler is, I made it in the root level of my "Marketing" folder and it finds any file with any given extension not only in that folder, but all the sub folders within it. This is going to be a HUGE time saver when I'm looking for a certain file. Thanks for the video, awesome stuff!

[@craigneidel]

Nice and thanks for sharing that tip with us.

[@inghilt]

a very useful tricks , I love your clear explanation as always. 💛 thank you

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the feedback.

[@vivian9803]

So this is basically a saved search for specific file types acting as a virtual folder. I set one up for image files and one for pdfs and I love the convenience of it referencing everything on my hard drive for the types I specified. Thank you for the tips and the how to!

[@craigneidel]

You got it. Yes, it's a nice little feature to learn for sure.

[@colinkulowcreative]

I’ve been procrastinating on learning about smart folders but now it makes total sense to me. 👏

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching

[@ronaldkinder3498]

Keep them coming!

[@craigneidel]

Thank you.

[@ron_king]

Nice tip!

[@craigneidel]

Thank you

[@huwevans4452]

Love this kind of content Craig - Thank you.

[@craigneidel]

Welcome, and thanks for watching the channel.

[@Leo-d5n3y]

very good insights, thanks

[@craigneidel]

Thank you.

[@davidpotsdam]

A joy to learn this

[@craigneidel]

They can help with a few things for sure.

[@ThomasTamine]

Thank you! Your videos are so good and helpful

[@craigneidel]

Appreciate that. Thanks

[@crusher70]

Very clear and easy to understand. Thank you.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the feedback.

[@ChandraWoodard]

Thanks for this time saver, it's much needed.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching.

[@madasameee1]

Really a good one

[@craigneidel]

Thanks.

[@LafeSpace]

Very informative. I had no idea this was available on my Mac and I've used Macs for years.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching

[@adamnelson9661]

Thanks Craig this is awesome! For a brand new Mac user I appreciate it! Yes KEEP UP THIS CONTENT!! Thanks again. Do you think you can do a video about how to use an external ssd to save internal mac storage? That would be awesome

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching. I have at least 20 videos on my channel about building external stroage if you go back and check out past videos. Thanks.

[@CorkyBallasdancewithme]

Is there a way to create a folder that will search for all jpg, pdf, tiff, txt, and only see those files? Of do u have to do the smartFolder trick everyTime. Just wondered if there was a Way to do a search for specific types on EXTERNAL and INTERNAL, drive, hope I'm making sensse. Thanks for sharing .

[@craigneidel]

You could create a folder where all those are automatically stored I would assume and then when you open it they are all there.

[@williameverets2736]

Thank You

[@craigneidel]

Thanks William.

[@jaykaslo]

Smart folders are great. I just have one question though: After you've created a smart folder, is there any way to actually EDIT it?? Like if you wanna tweak any of the parameters, seems like you're just *stuck* with it. 😕

[@craigneidel]

Yeah, I think you need to just create a new one if you set it up wrong the first time. If I find anything I'll let you know.

[@Pauli669-o8b]

Right click on smart folder → Show Search Criteria

[@jaykaslo]

@@Pauli669-o8b That "Show Search Criteria" doesn't show up when I right click one of my smart folders. I'm on Sonoma though. Is that something new in Sequoia?

[@mendodsoregonbackroads6632]

I’ll have to give another crack at smart folders. I usually put each file somewhere but I could see this being good for finding things in a folder with sub folders perhaps?

[@craigneidel]

Yes, it's a nice way to organize things for sure.

[@Pterodactyl-kn3ve]

Virtual folders with shortcuts to the original file.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching.

[@LordAlucar01]

i can't find a use for this feature, yes it is usable but for me i know what i keep in my mac so whats the point if all is just 2 clicks away instead of 1

[@craigneidel]

Yes, if you keep stuff tidy you may not need it.

[@rayanmotovlog]

Your killing it
I have 1 question
I have 2tb HHD and it contains more than 50k photos and videos I guess
So it's almost full and now I am rearranging everything and I found out it takes so much time to do it
So how can I rearrange it
Like is there any face recognition option where I can select only my photos where I am and move in a new folder
I guess you understand what I mean
Thank you

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the post. I don't know of anything out there like that but I'm sure something using Ai might be able to do that in the future. Although I just have not really been looking for that either so not sure. If you didn't label it from the start it can be difficult to sort out for sure.

[@chasvox2]

Thanks for this insightful presentation.....If I understand this correctly, the précis is: a smart folder is an aggregate of file aliases on steroids. Correct?

[@craigneidel]

I guess that is correct - funny.

[@digitalmarketinghumans]

Is that a new mic?

[@craigneidel]

No I just was setting up a backup since other mic battery was low. I have tested quite a few in the past.