How to Use macOS Finder Tags to Organise Files by Colour

The Folder Labyrinth

Traditional file organisation on any computer follows a rigid hierarchy: you create a folder called “Work,” inside it you create “Projects,” inside that you create “Project Alpha,” and inside that you place your files. This works until a single file belongs to two categories simultaneously.

Imagine you have a contract PDF that is relevant to both “Project Alpha” and “Legal Documents.” In a strict folder system, you must either duplicate the file (creating a version control nightmare) or pick one folder and hope you remember where you put it later.

macOS solves this fundamental limitation with a feature called Finder Tags. Tags are colour-coded labels that you can attach to any file or folder, regardless of where it physically sits on your hard drive. A single file can have multiple tags, allowing it to belong to multiple virtual categories without being duplicated or moved.

Applying Tags to Files

Tagging a file takes less than two seconds.

1. Open Finder and locate the file you want to tag.
2. Right-click (or Control-click) the file.
3. At the very top of the right-click menu, you will see a row of coloured circles (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Grey). Click the colour you want.

A small coloured dot will instantly appear next to the file name in Finder, providing an immediate visual indicator of its status.

You can also apply tags by selecting a file and pressing Command + I (Get Info), then clicking the “Tags” field in the info window to type or select tags.

Creating Custom Tag Names

The default coloured dots are useful for quick visual sorting, but they become truly powerful when you rename them to match your workflow.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the top menu bar, click Finder > Settings (or Preferences on older macOS versions).
3. Click the Tags tab.

You will see the list of all seven default colour tags. Click on the name next to any colour to rename it. For example:

• Rename Red to Urgent
• Rename Orange to In Progress
• Rename Green to Completed
• Rename Blue to Client A
• Rename Purple to Client B

Now, when you right-click any file, the colour circles will show their custom names, making the tagging system immediately meaningful.

Finding Tagged Files Instantly

The true power of tags is retrieval. You no longer need to remember which folder you buried a file in.

Look at the left sidebar of any Finder window. Below “Favourites” and “iCloud,” you will see a Tags section listing all your custom tags by colour and name.

Click on “Urgent” (your renamed Red tag). Finder will instantly display every single file on your entire Mac that has the Red/Urgent tag applied, regardless of which folder they are physically stored in. Files from your Desktop, Documents, Downloads, and even external drives will all appear in a single, unified list.

Applying Multiple Tags

This is where tags fundamentally outperform folders. A contract PDF can be tagged as both “Client A” (Blue) and “Urgent” (Red) simultaneously.

1. Right-click the file.
2. Click the Blue circle (Client A).
3. Right-click the file again.
4. Click the Red circle (Urgent).

Now, both a blue and red dot appear next to the file name. If you click “Client A” in the sidebar, the contract appears. If you click “Urgent” in the sidebar, the same contract also appears. The file lives in one physical location but is discoverable through multiple virtual categories.

Conclusion

Stop wasting time building deeply nested folder hierarchies and duplicating files across multiple directories. By adopting macOS Finder Tags, you create a flexible, colour-coded metadata layer that lets you instantly find any file through multiple contextual lenses.