Rethink "Last Modified" Sort for Icon and List view
Affected Version
- Version: Nautilus 40+ (potentially previous versions)
- Also affects development version: Yes
Use Cases
The Last Modified
sort option in Nautilus sorts files solely by their Modified
date.
A typical workflow for downloading an archive can show the following situation:
- The
Downloads
directory of a user is set to be sorted byLast Modified
- An archive is downloaded to
~/Downloads
- The archive is extracted, the files are sorted into the Icon/List view by their original
Modified
date and Nautilus scrolls to the extracted files - The user closes Nautilus or switches directories and comes back to the
Downloads
directory at a later time - The user remembers the recently extracted files but has a hard time locating the recently extracted files in the Icon/List view as they are potentially sorted deep into the directory.
Available Workarounds
Staying with the example above:
Modifying or touching the files after extraction will update their Modified
date and bring them closer to the "expected" position of the user. Though, the modification might have unintended sideeffects, like accidently adding content to the file by the user or the file relying on it's Modified
date (for sync or upgrade purposes).
Difficulties
Users might have an expectation of finding recent files on top of the list when sorting by Last Modified
. Sorting extracted files by their original Modified
date is often times misunderstood by the user ("Why is this picture I extracted yesterday way down the list?").
Users previously using other filemanagers (like Windows-Explorer or MacOS Finder) have the expectation of extracted files been sorted to the top, right after extraction. The implementation of these filemanagers is not open, but a combination of Creation Date and Modification Date is to be assumed from their behaviour.
Suggested Enhancements
A possible solution could be to combine the Created
and Modified
date of a file or directory when sorting. Using the newer of the two dates would be closer to the expectation of the user.
An additional challenge is the availability of the Created
attribute. Not all filesystems or filesystem versions support this attribute.
Proposals:
- Rename
Last Modified
sorting option toLast Changed
and use bothModified
andCreated
(if available, else only useModified
) date. - Introduce a separate sorting option
Last Changed
which uses bothModified
andCreated
(if available, else only useModified
) date. - Introduce a separate sorting option
Last Changed
which combinesCreated
andModified
date and is only available ifCreated
attributes are supported for the current directory's filesystem.
Shoutout to @antoniof for the possible wording of a new sorting option. Suggestions: Last Modified or Created
, Last Changed
, Last Touched