Sorting Folder Contents

[Hareball]

Does anyone know how to sort the contents of a folder in the Android OS? I have tried to drag / drop but that just pulls the icon out of the folder and back to the home screen.

 

[wscato]

I haven't figured this one out either.

 

[jfndkjfndsj]

I cant believe this question has not come up more often. This is the only place I have found anyone besides myself interested in this. I have figured out a work around. It sucks, but it works. Motorola and or Goodgle needs to add this functionality, oh and by the way, how about subfolders!!!

OK, so here is how we can re-orginize our home page:
I am pretty sure it sorts based on the order items were added to the screen, so possibly deleteing everything and re-adding would work, but I used the sledgehammer method.

Step 1: PLAN! This will take some time, and if you miss something early on, you will have to start all over again... I spent 2 hours getting mine right because of this. Layout where you want everything in your folders (I used excel).

Step 2: Wipe the home page. Go into Settings, Applications, Manage Applications, Click Menu, Filter, Running. Scroll down to HOME and click it. select Clear Data. This will reset the Home screen (your desktop) back to factory default.

Step 3: Build your Home screen, add your folders, and 1 by 1 add the items into the folders in the order in which you want them to appear. This is why step 1 is so important.

Since this is a long and involved process, I recomend you get all the apps and play with your phone for a while before you organize. Remember after this is done, all new apps you add will be at the bottom of your folders, or you can spend an hour everytime you add a app.

 

[Mateles]

If you take something out of the folder and put it back in, it goes to the end. It's still not what we want, but it may be easier than clearing everything and starting from scratch.

 

[jfndkjfndsj]

If you take something out of the folder and put it back in, it goes to the end. It's still not what we want, but it may be easier than clearing everything and starting from scratch.

Really... i tried that first.... restart your phone and see if the new order holds.... it wouldnt on mine...

 

[kevinosborn]

Agree. How difficult would it be to add a sort feature to a context menu or at least allow drag and drop inside the folder.

 

[T1TAN23]

I certainly agree that this feature should be intrinsic to the OS and Google has done a real bang up job so far I feel like I have to cut them some slack for missing this. The workaround I have found is installing an app to do it. There are 2 available in the market that are free
Apps Organizer
Folder Organizer Lite
I have found that the Apps Organizer is much faster than the Folder Organizer and Folder Organizer Lite is add supported and requires a lot of permissions that Apps Organizer does not. I have settled in with Apps Organizer for the speed, no special permissions and no adds.

 

[trestevenson]

I just stumbled upon this issue yesterday, and I must say that this lack of functionality within the OS is retarded! Having to download an app to do something so simple is ridiculous! I wonder if it has been addressed in ICS?

Edit: I just went to the Android Issues page and voted for this particular problem to be addressed in a minor update. Having more people do so would increase its priority and encourage Google to address the issue.