Learn how to enhance your Mac’s organization and boost productivity by creating and using Smart Folders in Finder.
The Smart Folder feature in Finder on macOS is a useful way to automatically place items into a folder for you. This saves you time, reduces the risk of missing items, and helps you work more efficiently on your Apple computer.
Create a Smart Folder
To get started, open Finder on your Mac and click File > New Smart Folder in the top menu bar.
When the New Smart Folder window/tab opens, choose where the items for the folder should come from, such as This Mac. Then, click the plus sign on the right to add attributes for the Smart Folder.
Folder by kind
One important criterion you see is for Kind. In the box next to it, you can choose the kind with options for application, document, folder, image, and others.
So, say you want to have a special folder for all of the presentations you create because you have them scattered in various folders—you can select Kind is Presentation.
Then, whenever you create a new presentation, regardless of where you save it, you’ll be able to access it from the new Smart Folder as well.
Folder by date
If you don’t want to use Kind, you can click the drop-down box for additional options. You’ll see that you can create a Smart Folder using dates like Last opened date, Last modified date, or Created date.
This can be convenient for having quick access to your most recent items, for example. For this type of folder, select Last opened date. And say you want all items opened on the previous day, so pick yesterday in the next drop-down box.
Now, each day, you’ll see the items you opened yesterday in your new Smart Folder.
Folder by name
Another option for your Smart Folder is to use Name. So, whenever an item contains, matches, begins with, ends with, or whatever you choose, it will pop into that folder.
For instance, if you want all items with the word “Work“ anywhere in their name to go into the folder, select Name in the first drop-down box, Contains in the second one, and then type Work into the text box.
Whenever an item has the word you choose in the name of it, you’ll see it in your Smart Folder.
Folder by contents
Maybe the names of items don’t always contain the word or phrase you want for automated transfer to the Smart Folder, but the contents usually do. So, you can choose Contents instead.
As an example, say you want items with the word “Taxes” to go into your Smart Folder. Select Contents from the drop-down box and then type Taxes in the Contains text box.
Now, any time you have an item with that word inside of the contents, you can access it from the Smart Folder in addition to the location you saved it.
Folder by other
If none of the default options match your needs for the Smart Folder, don’t worry—there are plenty of additional attributes available. Select Other from the drop-down box to open a pop-up window with a wide range of attributes, such as Album, Headline, URL, File Size, File Extension, Filename, Where From, and more. Each attribute includes a brief description to help you understand its purpose.
Check the boxes for the attributes you want, and they’ll appear as additional options in the criteria section’s drop-down menu. Choose your desired attribute and fill in the relevant details.
Combining attributes and criteria
While using one set of criteria for your Smart Folder may be enough, there may be times when you want to get more specific.
For instance, we’ll use our Presentations Smart Folder example above. Maybe you do want all presentations that you create to go into the folder, but only want those that you’ve created in the last month. You would simply add another criterion set for the date part.
1) Select Kind > Presentation.
2) Click the plus icon on the right to add another attribute.
3) Select Created date is within last 1 months.
This is just one example of combining the attributes to create your Smart Folder. Experiment with different combinations as you need to, and remember that you can continue adding sections for the criteria as needed.
If at some point you decide you don’t need a set of criteria, just click the minus sign on the right to delete it.
Save your Smart Folder
After you enter the attributes for your Smart Folder, click the Save button on the top right. You’ll then be prompted to type a folder name, select its location, and optionally add it to the Finder Sidebar. Click Save when you finish.
Smart Folders on Mac are incredibly useful. You can set one up for things like all of your screenshots or, as mentioned earlier, your most recent items. Will you be using this feature to create a Smart Folder? Let us know!
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