Views, sorting, grouping, and relative dates

Choose a useful folder view, separate sorting from grouping, and show dates such as Today and Yesterday.

Choose a view for the task

Open a folder and activate its pane. Use Command-1 for List, Command-2 for Icons, Command-3 for Gallery, Command-4 for Columns, or Command-5 for Tree.
Use List for detailed comparison, Icons for thumbnails, Gallery for visual review, Columns for walking a hierarchy, and Tree for expanding subfolders in place.
Open View Options with Command-J. Adjust the options available for the current view, such as displayed metadata and folder presentation.
Leave the folder and return to check the saved result. A folder's saved format can override the global default for new or unconfigured folders.

Choose Sort By from the view controls or the folder background menu. Select a key such as Name, Kind, Size, Tags, or a date.
Choose the direction separately. Keep folders on top is independent of ascending versus descending order.
Choose Group By when you want section headings rather than one flat sequence. Group keys include names, kinds, applications, dates, size, and tags where supported.
Choose no grouping to return to a flat listing. Sorting still controls the order of items after grouping is removed.
If an option is unavailable in a remote or special view, use a supported key rather than expecting metadata the provider does not supply.

Open Preferences and select Layout.
Find Dates and choose Relative (Yesterday at 3:14 PM). Relative dates are the default for a fresh preferences configuration.
Return to a folder with a date column. Recent dates use relative labels when appropriate; older dates may still use calendar dates.
If you need a numeric or more explicit calendar format, select Short or Medium in the same Dates control. Existing saved preferences are not discarded simply because a new default changes.