How to Align Mac OS Desktop Icons to the Grid

Have you ever found that moving icons around on your Mac’s desktop leaves with an unaligned mess of shortcuts and files?

This can also happen when you switch monitors or reboot your Mac.To avoid this all you have to do is tell Mac OS to automatically align desktop icons to the grid.

Aligning icons to the grid is a view option available in Mac OS. In the steps below I will show you how to align desktop icons to the grid as well as how to adjust grid spacing.

How to Align Mac OS Desktop Icons to the Grid

Note: These instructions will also apply to Finder while viewing the contents of folders.

1. Right-click the Desktop and click Show View Options when the menu appears.

2. In the Desktop options Inspector, click to open the Sort by drop-down and select Snap to Grid as the default.

Close Inspector to return to the Desktop.

Now when you move icons around on the Desktop you will notice that they will automatically snap to the grid.

Note: You can adjust icon spacing by returning to Desktop View Options and using the slider to adjust Grid spacing.

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Software/Hardware used: Mac OS X Lion.