How Do I Add More Tag Colours?

Comments: 2 Responses to “How Do I Add More Tag Colours?”

Gary Rosenzweig

5 years ago

So I assume you mean in the Finder for files and folders, correct?

So you can add more tags, as many as you want. But each tag can only use one of the 8 tag colors. I think the idea here is that any more would be hard to visually distinguish anyway. Maybe they could go to 10 or 12, but eventually it would be impossible. The idea is to be able to use dozens or hundreds of tags. There would be no way to tell one apart from the other at that point.

You add tags in Finder, Preferences, Tags, as you probably already know.

If you are using a lot of tags, then probably the best strategy is to use the colors only for the most important tags, like "personal" vs "work" and such. Then maybe use the white or gray for everything else. You are then relying on the actual tag name itself, not the color, to distinguish them from each other.

So think of tags in terms of the tag names. Think of the colors as something extra, like an extra layer of information. For instance, if I have three major things I do at work, I may have tags Coding, QA and IT. Since all three tags are about work, maybe they are all red. Then I have three tags Hobbies, Bowling and Block Party and those are all green, indicating they are personal.

John Griffith

5 years ago

I also have the same problem. I have a team of 8 people, and we are needing to use colors to tag files so we know who is currently working on that file. Adding new colors is the strategy that we have defined to be the most helpful here.

There are plenty of other colors that I wish I could make myself… Brown, Pink, Teal, Magenta, Maroon, Forest Green, Yellow-Green, Violet, etc.