Patent ID: 8091044

Claim:
A method for using filtering criteria in the display of file objects in a graphical user interface (GUI), the method comprising: displaying a plurality of selectable items responsive to user input, wherein each of the selectable items describes a different filtering criterion and corresponds to a different range of values, and wherein the different ranges of values for the selectable items are based on the file objects present in a file object set that is being filtered for display of the file objects; receiving the user input from a user to at least one selected item of the selectable items to describe one or more filtering criteria for the display of the file objects; and filtering the display of the file objects in the file object set according to the user input and the at least one selected item; wherein the different ranges of values for the selectable items are based on actual ranges of an associated characteristic of the file objects of the file object set and on the distribution of the actual values of the associated characteristic in the file object set, wherein the different ranges are evenly divided between two extreme values that surround at least some of the actual values of the associated characteristic.