Mac 101: Mimic Stacks in Tiger

Here's a simple trick that will let you approximate Leopard's "Stacks" feature in Tiger (without all the cool eye candy, of course).

Lifehacker suggests moving your documents folder, a download folder, etc. into the dock. Then right click that folder (or Control-click or simply click and hold...whichever you prefer) to see that folder's contents.

That's fine, but if you want to get fancy, create a smart folder to live in your dock. I made one to mimic Steve's collection of recent images:

1. From the Finder's "File" menu, select "New Smart Folder"

2. Set the criteria to be "Created = Today" and "Kind = Images"

3. Give your folder a descriptive name (like "Today's Images"), save it and drag it into the dock!

Now you have a folder that will automatically populate itself with all of the images you create on a given day. I clicked the folder window's chicklet (upper right hand corner) to give it more of a "Stacks panel mode" feel by eliminating the toolbar and sidebar.

Yes, this only the most modest approximation of the most superficial functionality of stacks, but it's the best we have until October.