Keeping track of hundreds of files on a Mac can be tricky. Fortunately, macOS makes it a little easier with a function called “labels”, enabling you to color code your files.
A brief history of Macintosh labels and tags
Coming back, the function “labels” in macOS it originated as a function called “labels” on classic Mac OS System 7 on 1991. The tagging feature allowed people to assign one of seven colors to files or folders to facilitate sorting or searching. Mac OS X did not include labels until 10.3 Pantera on 2003.
Getting started with Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, Apple changed labels to labels. With labels, each file can only have one color label at the same time. With labels, files can have more than one associated color, and you can also rename the colored labels to other names for better categorization.
How to color code tagged files in macOS
Adding tags to files is easy on macOS. First, open Finder by clicking on its icon in your Dock.
After, navigate to the folder containing the files you would like to tag. Select one of the files or folders and click “File” in the top menu bar, and then select one of the seven colored circles from the menu.
Additionally you can right click on a file and click on a colored circle in the popup menu.
Once it's tagged, you can still label it with quite a few different colors.
To quickly sort by tags, open a Finder window and scroll down the sidebar until you see the section “Labels”. Click on a tag (color) and instantly you will only see the files and folders that match that tag in the current Finder window.
Very useful! But the fun does not end here.
More labeling possibilities
Now that you are familiar with the labels, you can go further if you want.
It is possible to change the name of the labels in the Finder by opening Finder Preferences (click Finder> Preferences on the menu bar) and clicking on the tab “Labels”.
Right click on any tag entry in the listing, select “Rename” and then write the name of the new tag. Some ideas include “Photos”, “Money”, “Family” or anything you want.
Using this interface, furthermore you can add an absolutely new tag using the plus button (“+”) just below the tag list. You can assign your new label to any of the seven colors provided by macOS. Unfortunately, can't select custom color.
And finally, if at any time you want to search by tag, just open the Spotlight search by clicking the magnifying glass in the menu bar or pressing Command + Space. When the search bar appears, type your search keywords and include a tag name (or color) at tag:blue format. Or you can just search for a tag name without other search criteria.
You will instantly see all the results that match your tag search and you can click on any file, folder or app to instantly open it.
There is much more, but that's the essential. As you explore macOS more, you are likely to see pop-up tags in more places, and now you know how to use them. LABEL you are him!
RELATED: How to make macOS finder tags work for you
