Cannot organize desktop folders and pages

Question

Level 2

164 points

Cannot organize desktop folders and pages

I used to have my desktop set to save recently modified items all to the right side of my screen, descending from the top corner new to old. After the last update to Sequoia 15.6. All my folders (not single docs) are all organized along the right side of my screen and do not move. Pages, Notes, Spreadsheets etc do organize according to Last Modified but after these folders and in the middle of my screen since I have many folders. I work on multiple items simultaneously on my desktop; in the past I could save and retrieve the most recents easily by seeing them in the upper corner of my screen. Now I have to drag or close windows to access the recent items underneath my work. Very inconvenient. How do I make everything on my desktop respond to Date Last Modified (or Created etc).

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 15.4

Posted on Aug 12, 2025 09:33 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 12, 2025 10:04 AM in response to dogsnack

The setting is in Finder > View menu > Sort By. If you select Date Added, for example, files and folders will be kept sorted from the top right, and if you add a new file/folder to the desktop it will displace everything down then left from the upper right (if you have mounted disks set to show on your desktop, those will remain in the top right positions, taking precedence over files/folders).

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Answer 2

Aug 12, 2025 10:38 AM in response to dogsnack

If you Control click on the Desktop you see the contextual menu...

make some changes if necessary

ref:

Ways to organize files on your Mac desktop - Apple Support

Organize files in folders on Mac - Apple Support

Organize your Mac desktop with Stage Manager I would turn this new feature off

Use desktop stacks on Mac

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Answer 3

dogsnack Author

Level 2

164 points

Aug 12, 2025 10:49 AM in response to leroydouglas

None of these work. The Folders remain on right side and will move according rto Sort by>Created,Modified, etc. They act as their own entity on the desktop. All the other items -photos, docs, spreadsheets etc do the same but only in their group. I cannot close a doc and have it go to the upper right before /above the folders. They organize next to the folders. I need to have the folders and other docs respond together to sorting. Thank you

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Answer 4

Aug 12, 2025 12:03 PM in response to dogsnack

dogsnack wrote:

After the last update to Sequoia 15.6.

None of these work. The Folders remain on right side and will move according rto Sort by>Created,Modified, etc. They act as their own entity on the desktop. All the other items -photos, docs, spreadsheets etc do the same but only in their group. I cannot close a doc and have it go to the upper right before /above the folders. They organize next to the folders. I need to have the folders and other docs respond together to sorting. Thank you

Well it is unclear to me what is causing the issue— of all the reference given above, hard to understand.

I will suggest looking at these 'new' setting to see if there is some interference:

I basically have them all off in this configuration...

I would trust you have shut down and restarted more than once since your " After the last update to Sequoia 15.6."...

I will add—

A SafeBoot Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support will sort many anomalies

Login and test. Reboot as normal and test. Caches get rebuilt automatically.

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

121,250 points

Aug 18, 2025 01:38 PM in response to dogsnack

dogsnack wrote:

That still does not put recent work docs in upper corner accessible.

Did you set the view options to sort by date modified. I can’t remember exactly but I think it may say keep arranged by.

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Answer 6

dogsnack Author

Level 2

164 points

Aug 20, 2025 10:30 PM in response to dogsnack

Thank you all but none of the suggestions work. Someone told me that grouping the folders always ahead of the docs was introduced relatively recently and when I did my last update the action code came with it. i have resorted to putting all folders into one folder. i can now work on the desktop and each doc closes to the upper right corner, one after another, neatly down the right side of the screen readily - and easily-available.

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Answer 7

Barney-15E

Level 10

121,250 points

Aug 12, 2025 01:58 PM in response to dogsnack

I didn’t see anybody else posted this, but I could’ve missed it cause I’m on my phone,. Control click on the desktop and disable Use Stacks

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Answer 8

dogsnack Author

Level 2

164 points

Aug 17, 2025 09:35 PM in response to Barney-15E

That still does not put recent work docs in upper corner accessible.

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