How to create folders on Samsung’s TouchWiz UI

While many users enjoy the Galaxy S III with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI, it’s far from perfect. Most notably, the app icon arrangement could use a little touching up. But we’re resourceful Android users, and so we figure out ways we can create our own logical app arrangements. And what better way to arrange your apps than into folders?

Yes, Android smartphones are blessed with multiple home screens, but many users prefer to have everything they need right on a single home screen. There are two ways to accomplish this: 1) Pare down the number of apps on the home screen, or 2) Place the icons into folders. Since the former can prove impossible, let’s take a look at how to do the latter.

Creating the folder

To create a folder in the TouchWiz UI you’ll have to start with an app. Pick an app, any app, then touch and hold it. You’ll see a new row of icons appear along the bottom of your screen. The rightmost icon says “Create folder.” As you might have guessed, you’ll want to drag the app icon here. That creates the folder. You can rename it by touching the blue text.

Populating the folder

What good is a folder with just one app in it? Now that you’ve created it you’ll want to start dragging more icons into it. Thankfully, it’s just as easy as that. Touch and hold the icon you want to move, and then drag it on over to the folder. Repeat that process until you have a folder full of apps. You can even see mini icons of those apps from the home screen, which is neat even if not useful.

From here you can repeat the entire process to create as many folders as you’d like. With plenty of home screen real estate, you can fit dozens upon dozens of apps on the home screen. With 16 icon spots, you’d need just three apps per folder to get 50 apps on the home screen — and that doesn’t even count the bottom dock.

Yes, you can add folders to those bottom dock spaces if you so wish. That comes in extra handy if you’re moving one of the icons from the bottom dock into a folder.

With all the home screens, this feature might not be necessary for everyone. But it’s nice to have around.

About the Author

Joe Pawlikowski is the Senior Editor at MobileMoo.com and has been covering the mobile industry full time since 2007. When he's not writing about the tech scene, he can be found discussing his personal love - baseball (and more specifically the New York Yankees) as well as writing on his personal blog.