Tags in the Finder on a Mac have long allowed you to mark files and folders with colors, improving ease of use. These tags are an improvement on the old ‘Labels’ and since macOS 26 the folders even get the same color as the tag.
The purpose of tags is to group folders, files and documents. For example, you can give all the content of your work a certain tag. By sorting by this tag you can see all linked files at a glance. Thanks to the corresponding folder color, you can immediately recognize and personalize the different folders.
Create and display tags in Finder
You can create and manage tags via the Finder settings. To do this, follow the steps below:
- Open Finder
- Click on ‘Finder’ in the menu bar
- Choose ‘Settings’
- Open the ‘Tags’ tab
You can edit existing tags or add new ones with the plus button. Use the minus button to delete selected tags. Check the tags you want to show in the Finder sidebar. Drag your seven favorite tags to the box at the bottom of the window; these tags appear in the context menu of Finder. You can change the color by clicking on the colored circle in front of the tag. Unfortunately you cannot create additional colors.
Add Finder tags to a file or folder
To assign a tag to a file or folder, select it, use a secondary mouse click to open the context menu and select the desired tag. In addition, you can also immediately drag the file or folder in the sidebar to the desired tag; the tag is automatically assigned to the file or folder. Click on ‘Customize folder’ to change the color and possibly link a symbol or emoji to the folder.
View tagged files and folders
Open Finder and click the color and tag you want to view in the sidebar. All files that have been assigned this tag are immediately shown. You can also use the search function cmd⌘ + F also use the tags as criteria (choose the ‘Other’ option and search for ‘Tags’).