How to Organize Icon view

1 Arrange by…

Ctrl–click in an empty space or click the Arrange tool (a grid of tiny rectangles) to pick an order. Items are automatically arranged from the top left of the window in as many columns as will fit at the current icon size.

2 Go freeform

If you choose Arrange By > None, you can drag icons wherever you want within an autosizing canvas that can be bigger than the window. If you arrange on another attribute, returning to None restores items’ positions.

3 Icon formatting

Press Cmd+J to open the View Options window, where you can set icon size and grid spacing. The grid applies even with Arrange By > None selected. The tightest grid spacing still wastes a lot of vertical space, though.

4 Text size and position

The text size setting governs the label shown under each icon. A largely ignored option is to switch it to the right; try this with smaller icons and wider grid spacing for an information–rich alternative to List view.

5 Item info

Check ‘Show item info’ to add further details in smaller text under the label. This shows the pixel dimensions of images, how many items are in the selected folders, and ‘In progress’ or ‘Up to date’ for Dropbox sync statuses, for example.

6 Icon previews

Icon previews show thumbnails of images and docs. Displaying these can slightly slow down older Macs. If you turn this off, press Cmd+A, then Cmd+Y, and use the arrow keys to preview any files in Quick Look prior to you opening them.