Where does Lion get the "Kind" info for Applications?

[supaflyryan]

I love the new "Sort by Kind" feature in Lion, but it behaves a little differently in the Applications folder than everywhere else.

It automatically seems to lump apps together by a genre type, but I can't seem to edit this at all. "Get Info" doesn't seem to be of any use.

Here's a screenshot of what I'm referring to:

I have a feeling this ties in to the automatic naming of folders in iOS/Launchpad... when I stack two "similar" apps to create a folder, it will sometimes automatically be named something like Games or Productivity.

Any ideas?

 

[baryon]

I don't know, but it sure is impressive! I'm guessing they have a database of popular Apps and categories, especially for ones from the App Store and the built in ones...

 

[mrapplegate]

I love the new "Sort by Kind" feature in Lion, but it behaves a little differently in the Applications folder than everywhere else.

It automatically seems to lump apps together by a genre type, but I can't seem to edit this at all. "Get Info" doesn't seem to be of any use.

Here's a screenshot of what I'm referring to:

Image

I have a feeling this ties in to the automatic naming of folders in iOS/Launchpad... when I stack two "similar" apps to create a folder, it will sometimes automatically be named something like Games or Productivity.

Any ideas?

You choose an App store category in Xcode when you make your app.

 

[haravikk]

Presumably apps without a category will be pulled from whatever they're filed under in the Mac App Store?

Has anyone tested it with intentionally unknowable apps, i.e - ones without a category that aren't on the app store?

 

[tkermit]

I'm still running Snow Leopard. But regardless, you can choose to show the contents of an application bundle and have a look at the Info.plist file in the Contents folder. For relatively recent apps, you'll find an LSApplicationCategoryType key-value-pair there.

 

[talmy]

You choose an App store category in Xcode when you make your app.

Off topic, but I find it sad that more than half the categories are different types of games. Maybe I should get out and play more.