How to Sort, Filter and Group Files in ComfortFiles

Click a column header to sort by it; click again to reverse the direction. The part that matters if you came from Windows: folders stay on top on every column, in both directions — not only when sorting by name.

Sort by any column

Three ways in, whichever your hands reach for:

• Click a column header — click again to flip between ascending and descending.
• Right-click the empty space in the file list → Sort by → Name, Date modified, Type or Size, and Ascending / Descending.
• The Sort button in the command bar — the row of commands under the address bar — opens the same menu, and it names the sort you are on: the button reads Sort: Name ↑ rather than just Sort.

Sorting applies to the icon view as well, not only the details list.

Folders stay first — on every column

This is the behaviour Finder cannot reproduce. macOS offers “Keep folders on top” only for name sorting; sort by date there and folders scatter among the files.

ComfortFiles splits folders from files first and sorts each group afterwards, so sorting by Date modified gives you the newest folders, then the newest files. Reversing the direction keeps folders on top too — they never mix in. If you want the Finder side of the story, see how folders-first works in Finder.

Choose which columns you see

Right-click any column header. The menu lists every column available in this view, with a checkmark next to the visible ones; click one to show or hide it.

The details list offers Name, Type, Date modified, Created and Size. Looking at a list of drives adds Total size and Free space.

The columns are the same everywhere. Show, hide, drag or widen a column in one tab and every tab and window follows — new windows open with it, and it comes back after a restart. Each kind of list has its own set, because they offer different columns: folders, Recents and search results, the list of drives, Storage. The sort stays with each tab. A folder that should look different can keep columns of its own.

Filter a column

Hover a column header: a small button appears at its right edge. Click it and a panel drops down listing the values actually present in this folder — file types, date ranges, size buckets, name groups — each with a checkbox.

Tick what you want to see and the list narrows immediately. Filters on different columns combine, so “documents modified this week” is two clicks in two headers rather than a search query. Clear the checkboxes to bring everything back.

Group the list

Right-click the empty space in the file list → Group by → None, Name, Date modified, Type or Size. The Group button in the command bar opens the same menu, and names the grouping while one is on — it reads Group: Type ↑ rather than just Group, the way the Sort button names the sort. With no grouping it stays one word, because “Group: None” would be naming the absence of a thing. The list splits into labelled sections, and each section header collapses when you click it — useful in a downloads folder where you want today’s files apart from everything older.

Each tab remembers its grouping, and which groups you folded away, so after a restart it comes back exactly as you left it. New tabs start with the grouping you choose in Settings ▸ View ▸ New tabs are grouped by — right below New tabs are sorted by, which does the same for the sort.

Selecting works across groups the way it does in a plain list: Shift-click selects every file between two, from one group into the next, and the arrow keys step over the section headers. A group folds only when you click its header.

Give a folder a view of its own

Some folders read best one way and others another — photos by date in large icons, invoices by name in a list. A folder can keep its own view — view mode, icon size, sort, grouping and its columns — so it opens that way every time:

1. Open the folder and set it up the way you want it.
2. Click the folder button in the command bar, to the left of the list and icon buttons. It lights up: this folder now keeps its view.

A change you make there is for now. Sort the folder by name for a minute to find a file, and next time it opens the way you set it up. While the view on screen differs from the folder’s own, a small blue dot sits on the button; click it to Keep This View for This Folder, Put Back This Folder’s View at once, or stop using the folder’s own view.

Every other folder shows the tab’s view, which follows you from folder to folder as it always has. Walk out of a folder with its own view and the tab’s comes back — not the last folder’s.

Click the lit button to see the tab’s view in that folder again. The folder’s own is put aside, not thrown away: click once more and it comes back. A folder keeps its view when you rename it or move it elsewhere on the same disk.

Places that are not folders on your disk — My Mac, Recents, the inside of an archive, search results, Storage — keep their own rules; the button is dimmed there. Folded groups stay with the tab.

Frequently asked questions

Can a folder remember its own sort and view?

Yes, when you ask it to. Set the folder up the way you want it — icons or list, the sort, the grouping, the columns — and click the folder button in the command bar, to the left of the list and icon buttons. From then on that folder opens that way. A change you make there later lasts until you leave the folder — keep it from the button if you want it for good. Click the button again to see the tab's usual view; click it once more and the folder's own comes back.

Do folders stay on top when sorting by date or size?

Yes. ComfortFiles separates folders from files before it applies the sort, so folders come first on every column and in both directions — by name, date modified, created, type or size, ascending or descending. Finder only offers folders-first when sorting by name.

Can I hide the columns I never use?

Right-click any column header and click a column to show or hide it. A checkmark marks the ones currently visible.

Are my column choices remembered?

Yes, everywhere at once. Which columns you see, their order and their widths are the same in every tab and window — new ones too — and come back after a restart. Change them in one tab and the others follow. A folder that keeps a view of its own keeps its own columns as well.

Does ComfortFiles remember how a folder is grouped?

Each tab does. A tab keeps its grouping — and which groups you folded away — through a restart, and comes back the way you left it. New tabs start with the grouping you pick in Settings ▸ View ▸ New tabs are grouped by.

How do I filter by type or date without searching?

Hover a column header and click the small button at its right edge. A panel lists the values present in this folder as checkboxes. Filters on several columns combine, and the file list narrows immediately — no search query involved.