Control icon captions and the date format used in the file manager.
Shaun McCance
shaunm@gnome.org
Rodolfo Ribeiro Gomes
rodolforg@gmail.com 2011

# File manager display preferences

You can control various aspects of how the file manager displays files, including captions under icons and how dates are formatted. In any file manager window, click Edit Preferences and select the Display tab.

# Icon captions

File manager icons with captions

When you use icon view, you can choose to have extra information about files and folders displayed in a caption under each icon. This is useful, for example, if you often need to see who owns a file or when it was last modified.

As you zoom in on a folder (under the View menu), the file manager will display more and more information in captions. You can choose up to three things to show in captions. The first will be displayed at most zoom levels. The last will only be shown at very large sizes.

The information you can show in icon captions is the same as the columns you can use in list view. See for more information.

If you have a file manager window open, you may have to reload for icon caption changes to take effect. Click View Reload or press Ctrl R.

# Date format

Access and modification times for files can be displayed in icon captions or in list view columns. You can choose the date format that is easiest for you from the Format drop-down list. Available formats include a verbose format like you might write by hand, an international standard format, and a format that uses relative phrases like today and yesterday. The drop-down list shows the formats by example, by showing the current date and time in that format.