Mac Basics: Stacks

Stacks

A stack is a Dock item that gives you fast access to a folder. When you click a Stack, the files and folders within spring from the Dock in a fan or a grid, depending on the number of items (or the preference you set). OS X starts you off with the Downloads Stack. The Downloads Stack contains files you download from Safari, Mail, and Messages. You can create as many Stacks as you wish simply by dragging folders to the right side of your Dock.

You can customize a Stack by right-clicking or control-clicking on the stack. The customize menu includes the following options:

• Sort by - You can select to have items sorted by Name, Date Added, Date Modified, Date Created, or Kind.
• Display as - Displays the icon in the Dock as the folder's actual icon or as a stack of icons of the folder contents.
• View content as - Determines what Stack type is used when you click the icon:
  • Fan - Shows folder content in the Fan stack, organized by your sort option.
  • Grid - Shows folder content in the Grid stack, organized by your sort option.
  • List - Shows the folder contents as a list, organized by your sort option. Each sub-folder opens another list and so on, until you reach the end of the directory structure. To open an application or document, simply click it.
  • Automatic - This lets OS X determine the best view content option. When there are a few items, the Fan stack is used. Once you have loaded your folder with enough items, OS X changes your view content type to the Grid stack.

Tip: Within the Stack, you can click and drag on the icons in your fan or grid stack to another folder, the Trash, an external drive icon, your desktop, or other locations.

Fan

Fan Stacks show a portion of your folder content and arrange the icons so that the closest icon to the Dock is based on the order of the "Sort by" option you have selected.

For example, if you select the "Sort by" option of "Date Added", the Fan Stack expands showing the icons of the most recently added items closest to the Dock. This is the default setting of your Downloads folder, making it easy to open, copy, or move your latest download.

Fan Stack elements

1. Open Finder icon - Click it to open the stack in a Finder window.
2. Items in the Stack - Click an item to open it.

Grid

Grid Stacks show the folder content as a matrix of icons arranged by your "Sort by" option.

Grid Stacks are scrollable and allow you to navigate folders. You can click a folder in the Stack to open that folder. An arrow button appears in the upper left of the Stack you just opened. Click it to go back to the folder you came from. If there are more icons than can be shown, a scroll bar appears.

Grid Stack elements

1. Return to parent folder arrow - Click it to return to the parent folder.
2. Items in the Stack - Click an item to open it.
3. Open Finder icon - Click it to open the stack in a Finder window.
4. Scroll bar - Present only when there are more icons to show.