'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?
ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
How to enable folder colors in Ubuntu-based Linux distributions
See also
One feature that I depend on heavily within Google Drive is the ability to change the color of specific folders. I've set certain colors for specific clients, so I can navigate within that directory structure more efficiently.
By doing this I've made it so I don't even have to read folder names -- I just have to look for the color.
It's far more efficient, especially if you work at a very demanding pace.
Fortunately, a Linux developer took a cue from such a feature and made it so that adding folder colors to the built-in file manager is quite easy.
Also: How to organize your Google Drive with these 5 tips
The result of adding folder colors is that you can more quickly discern what folder is what.
How to enable folder colors in Ubuntu-based Linux distributions
But how do you make this work? It's quite simple. Let me show you how.
Requirements
One thing to keep in mind is that this feature only works with two Linux file managers, Caja and Nautilus. That means you'll need either the Mate or Gnome desktop environments. If you work with either one of those desktops, you should be able to add the Folder's Color feature. You'll also need a user with sudo privileges.
That's it, let's add some color to your file manager.
1. Open a terminal window
Click your desktop menu (in Ubuntu Mate or Linux Mint with Mate) or Application Overview (in Ubuntu) and locate the terminal entry. If you're using Ubuntu, you can simply open the Application Overview, type terminal, and hit Enter on your keyboard.
Opening a terminal window from the Ubuntu Application Overview.
2. Add the required repository
To install Folder's Color, you must first add the required software repository, which can be done with the command shown below.
Also: How to organize your Windows 11 Start menu with folders
You'll be prompted for your sudo password before the command can run.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:costales/folder-color
3. Install Folder's Color
With the repository added, you can then install Folder's Color with the command shown below.
sudo apt install folder-color -y
4. Restart Nautilus
If you're using Ubuntu, you'll need to restart Nautilus with the command shown below.
nautilus -q
5. Log out of Mate
If you're using either Linux Mint with Mate or Ubuntu Mate, log out of the desktop and log back in.
Changing a folder's color
To change a folder's color, right-click the folder in question and click Folder's Color from the pop-up menu.
Changing the color of the Public folder in Ubuntu 22.10.
From the resulting menu, select the color you want to use for the folder.
Also: How to share folders to your network from Linux
You can also add an emblem to the folder to represent Important, In Progress, Favorite, Finished, or New.
There are a number of options available for Folder's Color.
And that's all there is to it. You can now change the color of any folder in the file manager to make it even easier to find what you're looking for.