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File label
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The file labels in version 10.3 of Mac OS X let the user give coloured backgrounds to file names in three different types of views, through the action menu applicable to the selected icon.
This feature existed, in a way, in Mac OS releases prior to Mac OS X. In those older versions the choice of a colour would cause the icon to completely wash itself out in that colour, losing some distinct traits in the process. The new label feature here applies colour only to the background of file names. When a labeled item is selected in Mac OS X Column View, a colored dot after the name indicates the label.
There is a choice of seven colours, which cannot easily be exchanged for other colours. The names of the colours however can be changed at will, to represent categories assigned to the label colours (both label colours and names can be customized in pre-OS X systems, however; Mac OS 8 and 9 provide this functionality through the Labels tab in the Finder Preferences dialog, while System 7 provides a separate Labels control panel). Labeled files and folders in the Dock do not show the colour of the label or the name of the file, making it hard for a user to figure out the identity of a Docked item.