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When I started my project I was happy to use Groups in Xcode rather than literal folders: Since I'm using the browser in Xcode to access everything, stuff was nicely organized and I was happy.

However, now that the project is about to be shared for version control, the project folder itself is a horror show for those trying to scan it via a terminal, about 300 files, over half of which are graphics.

I'm trying to now reorganize things, creating real folders and importing them into Xcode. Unfortunately Xcode doesn't let me work with them the way it does with groups. For example, if I right-click on an actual added folder (blue, not yellow) and choose to add existing files, it doesn't actually put them in that folder, it puts them in its root.

Similarly, I can't move a file from a faux-folder (a group) into a real folder: Xcode doesn't consider the real folders to be valid places to move stuff to.

What am I missing? How can I convince Xcode to let me use the folders the way I use groups? There's an answer here to a somewhat similar question, but it doesn't actually solve my problem since I'm working with existing files.

Affettuoso answered 10/12, 2010 at 23:24 Comment(0)

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FURTHER EDITED JUNE 2017: Xcode 9 does this automatically, no special effort required. This answer and Brandon's only apply to Xcode 8 and earlier.

EDITED DECEMBER 2016: Brandon's answer below is a better solution now. Back when this answer was created in 2010 this was the only option I could find. I now suggest Brandon's answer, below.

It turns out that moving files into real folders is certainly possible, though not as simple as it should be.

I got the basic information from a question here, Xcode organising files and folders (core data model objects - iPhone), but learned important things along the way.

##The Process

Moving the files is a two-step process with multiple sub-steps:

Tell Xcode where you want the files to be:

Right/Control-click on the file or file group that you'd like to move and choose Get Info from the contextual menu that appears. The Group Info or File Info window appears.
Click the Choose button on the far right side of the window in the Path area. A dialog box appears.
Navigate to the folder you want the files to be moved to. Create a New Folder if needed. Click the Choose button in the bottom-right corner of the dialog box, then close the Group Info/File Info window.
The names of the file/files in the group will turn red to indicate that Xcode can't find them in the place you specified.

Move the actual files

In the Finder (or Git) move the files you selected in step 1 into the actual folders you want them in.
Switch back to Xcode. The files/groups should all have turned black again. If any are still red then you've missed moving something to the right folder.

##Tips I learned a couple of important things while adjusting the ~300 files in this project:

Some files refuse to move this way; that is, when you navigate to the new destination the Choose button is disabled, as is the New Folder button. The solution, though I don't know why it makes a difference, is to first use Xcode to put those files in a Group (right/control-click the files and choose Group, and give the group a name) and then move the group to the new location. After you're actually moved the files in the Finder you can remove them from the group (by dragging them into the new parent group/folder and deleting the group).
Stop and build every few minutes, after completing step 2 for a number of files. The build will tell you if you've screwed anything up so far, making it easier to go back and fix it before you've done too much damage.
If the files won't move to where you want them to — I had a devil of a time moving some files that had been created early-on in the Classes folder — you can simply drag them out of their old place in the finder to someplace handy like the desktop, delete references to them in Xcode, and then re-import them via the right/control-click Add Existing Files option.
If in the past you've used Xcode to delete references to files without also moving them to the trash in this project, you'll find files that don't have to be moved but at just sitting there. Be careful that you don't do what I did, confusing the names of a current group of files I was moving and the older, no-longer-linked files, insisting that Xcode import them because you thought it was being dense.

Affettuoso answered 13/12, 2010 at 1:21 Comment(10)

Having all the files in the same directory was really bugging me. Thank you for this! – Garbe 17/12, 2010 at 15:2

you can also: rearrange the directory structure at will in the Finder, remove all the "red files" in the project, and then add them all back to the project using the "group in folders" option – Convertiplane 4/7, 2011 at 19:0

@Convertiplane Very true, and if all of the files in the main directory need to be in the project then that can save a lot of time. Unfortunately with projects involving multiple people or that have had a lot of releases over time, there can be any number of files there that shouldn't be added to the project. In that case you'd have to track which ones you removed in order to restore them, or something similar. – Affettuoso 5/7, 2011 at 2:22

in xcode 4 i had to do something different - didn't see any contextual 'get info' links when right clicking. instead i had to display the identity and type view (probably a name for this that i don't know). it's the right-most button in the view options in the xcode4 header bar. i move the file on the filesystem first, and then click the weird icon next to the path, and tell xcode where the new file is. – Egestion 13/9, 2011 at 18:44

The problem with moving files is that when it's already under SVN control, you need to make sure you use an app such as Versions or Cornerstone to move the files around... Or you'll end up with terrible version control issues! I wish Apple would just throw the "groups" idea away and have everything in real folders, a-la Eclipse... – Caravette 11/10, 2011 at 12:14

@Caravette Great point about version control, doing it this way will likely completely blow just about any of them. In my case I was doing all of the reshuffling right before putting under shared version control so that things made more sense, but if you're using version control from the start -- which I do now -- this'll be useless. – Affettuoso 11/10, 2011 at 16:33

Had to downvote this because the approach stopped working in XCode 4 and later versions – Mohandas 28/9, 2012 at 16:31

Its worth mentioning that you will loose git history if you move files this way. – Eastern 13/6, 2014 at 11:31

This works for all files except for storyboards... The folder selection is grayed out :( – Isadoraisadore 4/12, 2016 at 11:11

I am working on both android studio and xcode for my product app development(Android and swift) and when I see the growth of both IDE in last few years xcode is seriously very slow and missed many common basic features that's really frustating . – Popp 28/9, 2017 at 8:31

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A modern (and dead simple!) approach for 2017 (Xcode 6, 7, 8, and sometimes 9, since it does it automagically some of the time):

If you're moving a bunch of files into a new folder and are keeping the child hierarchy, it's actually a lot easier than moving each file individually:

Create new groups in the Xcode folder tree and organize your files into them however you like.
Create a matching physical folder tree in Finder and organize your physical files into them to match what you did in step 1.
All the references in Xcode should now be red (that's OK!).
From the Identity and Type manager, select the Group in Xcode that you want to relocate, then click the folder icon from the info pane:
In the Finder selection dialog, locate the equivalent new folder you created for this group in step 2. All the files inside that group will now be automagically rediscovered!

Isn't that nice? At most you'll have to repeat these 5 steps once for each new group you've created (which beats relocating each file individually!)

Bonus Points!

Say you accidentally screwed up the move and now a bunch of your files are red and can't be found: select multiple files that are broken, and using the same folder icon in the screenshot from step 4, find the correct folder that contains these files and they'll automatically resolve the missing paths.

Mcclendon answered 19/11, 2014 at 18:59 Comment(9)

Doing this however makes the files untracked in Git. Of course I can always readd the file but am I missing something? – Causalgia 14/5, 2015 at 3:48

@jeraldo not sure what flavour of git you're using but I've never had that problem. You can, however, easily do git add .. – Mcclendon 14/5, 2015 at 4:26

I'm missing something and I'm not sure what it is. Maybe I'm not understanding the meaning of the words "organize your files into them ..." in step (1)?? I assume this means "Add the files to the group by drag-and-drop or whatever". But if I do this, then of course Xcode recognizes the files and doesn't show them in red, as is stated in step (3). Any idea what I'm doing wrong? – Etruscan 10/12, 2016 at 17:21

Did you move the physical files as in step 2? – Mcclendon 10/12, 2016 at 17:28

Ah, I figured it out! Step (2) was just a bit too cryptic for me. If I were rewriting it, I'd say something to the effect of "Create a matching physical folder tree, then use Xcode's Show in Finder command to locate the files you added to the new Group in Step (1) and physically move those files into the folder you've just created." Something like that ... – Etruscan 10/12, 2016 at 18:55

wha? i have a shared library and i don't want to move it each xcode app. it will not get updates to code and i'm not about to individually go through lib. there must be a way to force xcode to find the lib. anyone have a batch file that goes and copies the references? – Prog 25/12, 2016 at 7:16

Just move the physical parent folder and relocate it within Xcode then? – Mcclendon 25/12, 2016 at 8:0

I did this, but I'm still getting warnings 'users/directory/File.* is missing'. I could ignore the errors, since the project still builds and runs fine, but should I be getting these errors? – Liddell 14/7, 2017 at 1:40

Try cleaning it? – Mcclendon 14/7, 2017 at 1:55

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