Find your way around Little Tagger
Locate the workspace, inspector, toolbar, and the separate windows for managing tags and presets.
Last updated: 2026-09-10
Quick answer
Choose View > Standard to show the sidebar, workspace, and inspector together. The sidebar contains saved presets and workflows. The workspace contains your current files. The inspector contains Tags, Filters, AI, and Workflow. Open Actions > Manage Tags... or Actions > Manage Presets... for the management windows.
Find the main controls
Video walkthrough coming soon. Follow the steps below.
Start with the Standard view
In Little Tagger's menu bar, choose View > Standard. This shows both the sidebar and the inspector around the workspace.
| Area | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Sidebar | Choose saved presets and workflows, including favorites and organized preset categories. |
| Workspace | Work with files you have added for the current tagging task. Search them, select them, and see their tags. |
| Inspector | Prepare tags, set filters, request AI suggestions, or inspect the selected workflow. |
| Toolbar | Add or clear files, choose execution timing, apply an action, import Finder tags, and change the view. |
| Status bar | Check file and selection counts, progress, results, and reported problems. It appears when there are files or status information to show. |
The workspace is not a Finder folder or a copy of your files. It is Little Tagger's working list of the original files you have added.
Use the inspector
The inspector is the panel beside the workspace. Click one of its tab icons, or choose View > Inspector and the tab name from the menu.
| Tab | What you do there |
|---|---|
| Tags | Prepare the selected tags, use recent tags and groups, and choose whether to add, remove, or replace tags. |
| Filters | Narrow eligible files by the available file conditions and control subfolder and alias inclusion. |
| AI | Generate and review tag suggestions. Apple Intelligence-powered generation needs a supported system and an available model. |
| Workflow | Review the selected workflow's presets in their execution order. Select a workflow in the sidebar to show its steps. |
Hover over a tab icon to see its name. The inspector's Selected Tags area is the tag selection for an action, not a complete inventory of tags already on every highlighted file.
Find the main toolbar controls
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Apply — play triangle | Runs the prepared tagging action or selected preset/workflow, using the current execution timing. |
| Execution timing — beside Apply | Chooses Manually, Immediately, After 3s, or After 10s. |
| Add Files — plus | Opens the file picker for adding files and folders to the workspace. |
| Remove Selected Files — minus | Removes the selected files from the working list. |
| Clear Files | Empties the workspace and cancels a pending timed run. It does not undo completed tagging. |
| Import Tags — downward arrow into a tray | Imports or refreshes the Finder tag library. This does not add files to the workspace. |
| List view / Grid view | Changes how files are presented. |
| Show Inspector / Hide Inspector | Shows or hides the inspector panel. |
Some controls display icons rather than their full names. Hover over an icon for its label, or use the menu commands where available.
Open tag or preset management
Choose Actions > Manage Tags... to work with the tag library and its groups, cleanup tools, and saved locations. In the Tags inspector, Manage Tags... opens the same management area.
Choose Actions > Manage Presets... to manage preset organization and workflows. This is separate from the main workspace, where you select a saved item and run it on files.
For general application preferences, choose Little Tagger > Settings.... The About tab in Settings shows the app version and build when available.
Change how the workspace looks
Choose View > List View for a list or View > Grid View for a grid. You can also use the view control in the toolbar.
Choose View > Compact to hide the sidebar and inspector and leave more room for files. Choose View > Standard to show both again. To change just one panel, use View > Show Sidebar or View > Show Inspector; the corresponding menu item changes to Hide while that panel is visible.
Keep these actions separate
Add Files adds original files to the working list. Import Tags adds Finder tag names to the library. Neither is a substitute for the other.
Selected Tags prepares an action. Apply writes the chosen action to the target files. Removing a prepared tag from Selected Tags is different from removing a tag from a file.
Remove Selected Files and Clear Files remove workspace entries. They do not delete the original files or reverse completed tag changes.
Selecting a saved preset loads its settings. Editing those settings changes the preset. Choose Actions > Clear Selected Preset before preparing a separate one-off action.
When a panel or control is missing
The sidebar or inspector has disappeared
Choose View > Standard. To show only one missing panel, use the corresponding Show Sidebar or Show Inspector command.
The Workflow inspector says No Workflow Selected
Select a workflow in the sidebar. Merely opening the Workflow tab does not create or select a workflow.
You need the name of an icon
Hover over it and wait for the help label. The Actions and View menus also expose the main operations by name.