Custom Finder Label Colors?

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
#1

Greetings, folks!

Sorry to be a bother, but I have been battling with Finder label colors since OS X first came out.

In the current AppleScript dictionary for Finder, it states:

label‚n : (NOT AVAILABLE YET) A Finder label (name and color)
properties
name (text) : the name associated with the label
index (integer) : the index in the front-to-back ordering within its container
color (RGB color) : the color associated with the label

But it has been “NOT AVAILABLE YET” for a long time.

Does anyone know any way to change the Finder label colors to different colors other than the default?

I am willing to jump through serious hoops to accomplish this. (I recently used the Unsanity “Labels X” haxie for a while and loved it . . . until it stopped working and cannot be made functional again without a full erase of the hard drive, reinstall, etc. Please, let’s not start a haxies war here! :wink: )

Any advice, etc. would all be much appreciated as my work really does require either being able to significantly lighten up the label colors or not use them at all. (There are times when I even miss OS 9! :wink: )

Blessings and thank you!

Richard Fairbanks

Model: 2.33GHz MBPC2D Running OS X 10.6.6
Browser: Google Chrome 10.0.634.0 dev
Operating System: Mac OS X (10.6)

#2

Hello Richard,
are you talking about coloring finder objects like files and folders?

So here is a Script Handler:

--my LabelTheObject(theObjectAsAliasOrString, 6) -- colors from 0-7

on LabelTheObject(theObject, theLabelIndex)
	try
		set theObject to theObject as alias
		tell application "Finder" to set label index of theObject to theLabelIndex
		return true
	on error
		return false
	end try
end LabelTheObject

Hope this fits for you.

Greets from
TMA

#3

TMA, thanks for the response!

Sorry if I wasn’t clear. I know how to script changing which color is used (the index number) for individual files and folders.

I am asking about changing the actual color of each default Finder label color. For example, the default color of the second label color (the first being no color), in a Get Info list of colors, is a deep red. I need it to be a very pale red (as one example).

But thanks for responding!

Richard Fairbanks

#4

Ah, ok.
I think there is no way to change the default colors.

Greets from
TMA

#5

The Finder 10.6.7 dictionary lists a ‘label’ class with ‘name’, ‘index’, and ‘color’ properties, but this is described as “(NOT AVAILABLE YET)”. There’s no telling if or when it will be implemented. Presumably it’ll be an element of the application itself, unless labels become definable for individual items in the future.

#6

Unsanity has a haxie called Labels X that allows you to change the label colors and names.

I hate Apple’s saturated label colors so I bought this years ago and changed all the labels to very light, subtle colors.

I am running Snow Leopard and it works great. I only wish there were more labels.

#7

Thanks folks; I appreciate your efforts!

I did note the Finder’s AS dictionary entry and Labels X in my opening post. (FYI, there is more info. on the Labels X challenge HERE.)

I was just wondering if anyone had figured out a solution without requiring a GUI interface. Digging in the “naughty bits” (to quote Monty Python) has not yet been revealing. A “permanent” solution would have been fine! :wink:

Thanks again,

Richard Fairbanks