Setting one "View Options" for all folders system wide.

[JippaLippa]

Hello.

I have been using macOS since Snow Leopard and I love it!

One thing I have always found annoying, though, is the impossibility of setting one "View Options" settings for all folders.
Even after having set one view option as default, whenever I open a subfolder or an other folder alltogether, the finder windows is of a different size and the view options haven't been kept, leading to an annoying and very messy experience.

I find it ridiculous that there's no "set view options" for every single finder window open setting.
I'd like to set a folder size and viewing mode (spacing, grid, sorting ecc...) for every single finder window and subfolder open.

Is there a way to achieve this, or do I need to wait for a future release of macOS to add this functionality?
I remember older macOS had an option "use in subfolders" or something like that...is my memory off or do I recall this correctly?

I'm currently on macOS Sonoma 14.6.1
Thanks!

 

[tensixturtle]

Hi @JippaLippa,

I also find the inconsistency of Finder view options can be bothersome! Although it isn't an elegant solution, what I found easiest was to make a simple Workflow in Automator that sets the Finder view for selected folders and subfolders.

One thing to note is that selecting a directory such as the home folder or higher includes the ~/Library directory and seems to take forever to run (even on my M2 MBA -- I gave up after an hour!) so it's better to not include that.

There is a Lifewire article explaining the Workflow and other options in case it's helpful.

 

[Gregg2]

I'd like to set a folder size and viewing mode (spacing, grid, sorting ecc...) for every single finder window and subfolder open.

Buy a new Mac, then you can do it right from the beginning. Let me explain…

The way it used to work, and I think still does, is that you set the "top-level" folder to have the settings you want all folders to have, then click Use As Default. This should work for all subfolders - on a new Mac.

But it doesn't work for folders that you have changed manually. I guess the programmers assumed a user would not like discovering that all of the meticulously arranged folder settings they had labored to set up got suddenly wiped away when they absentmindedly clicked that button.

In your situation, the best you can do is the above, then start opening folders to see which ones conform to your settings. Keep going down a level systematically until you discover all the ones that are not conforming, which will be ones that you tweaked previously, and fix them manually.

Beware if you decide that you want something a bit different down the road. You'll have to repeat the process.

As far as every Finder Window always opening at the same size, I haven't ever been able to do that in OSX. It was possible in OS9.

 

[JippaLippa]

Hi @JippaLippa,

I also find the inconsistency of Finder view options can be bothersome! Although it isn't an elegant solution, what I found easiest was to make a simple Workflow in Automator that sets the Finder view for selected folders and subfolders.
- cut -
One thing to note is that selecting a directory such as the home folder or higher includes the ~/Library directory and seems to take forever to run (even on my M2 MBA -- I gave up after an hour!) so it's better to not include that.

There is a Lifewire article explaining the Workflow and other options in case it's helpful.

Thanks!

As far as every Finder Window always opening at the same size, I haven't ever been able to do that in OSX. It was possible in OS9.

Beyond ridiculous that they removed this functionality...

 

[frou]

I wrote a script (nuke-ds-stores) that I use to remove any customised view settings for folders other than my Home directory (which I use as the home base for my "Use as Defaults" view settings).

But this script deletes files so I'm not actually recommending you run it unless you can first verify that it's written properly and doesn't have any mistakes.

#!/usr/bin/env bash

PEST=".DS_Store"

killall Finder
sleep 5

find -x / \
    -path "/System/Volumes/Data" -prune \
    -o -path "${HOME}/${PEST}" -prune \
    -o -type f -name "${PEST}" -print0 \
    2>/dev/null | xargs -0 rm

sleep 5
killall cfprefsd
killall Finder

 

[BrianBaughn]

Is there a Finder alternative app that has that functionality? There might be other features of such an app that would make the switch worthwhile.

I've tried a couple but don't remember all the features and didn't want to switch.

 

[MacGizmo]

Try using FinderFix, it works amazingly well to not only set every window you open in the Finder at the same (customizable) size, but the location on the screen as well. You can also set your preferred sidebar size.

It's a darn shame we have to use apps like this, but I'm thankful they're out there to be used. Unfortunately it only works on Finder windows, and this problem goes far beyond just Finder windows.

 

[JippaLippa]

Try using FinderFix, it works amazingly well to not only set every window you open in the Finder at the same (customizable) size, but the location on the screen as well. You can also set your preferred sidebar size.

It's a darn shame we have to use apps like this, but I'm thankful they're out there to be used. Unfortunately it only works on Finder windows, and this problem goes far beyond just Finder windows.

I will check it out for sure.
Thanks!

 

[RazorBackXX]

Buy a new Mac, then you can do it right from the beginning. Let me explain…

The way it used to work, and I think still does, is that you set the "top-level" folder to have the settings you want all folders to have, then click Use As Default. This should work for all subfolders - on a new Mac.

But it doesn't work for folders that you have changed manually. I guess the programmers assumed a user would not like discovering that all of the meticulously arranged folder settings they had labored to set up got suddenly wiped away when they absentmindedly clicked that button.

In your situation, the best you can do is the above, then start opening folders to see which ones conform to your settings. Keep going down a level systematically until you discover all the ones that are not conforming, which will be ones that you tweaked previously, and fix them manually.

Beware if you decide that you want something a bit different down the road. You'll have to repeat the process.

As far as every Finder Window always opening at the same size, I haven't ever been able to do that in OSX. It was possible in OS9.

thats what I did brother & it still changes on me.

 

[RazorBackXX]

I will check it out for sure.
Thanks!

its beta but its better then nothing

 

[RazorBackXX]

Try using FinderFix, it works amazingly well to not only set every window you open in the Finder at the same (customizable) size, but the location on the screen as well. You can also set your preferred sidebar size.

It's a darn shame we have to use apps like this, but I'm thankful they're out there to be used. Unfortunately it only works on Finder windows, and this problem goes far beyond just Finder windows.

hey brother, I just downloaded it & see its in beta. have you had any issues at all?

 

[MacGizmo]

hey brother, I just downloaded it & see its in beta. have you had any issues at all?

It's been in beta for a few years now, but I haven't had any problems using it at all.

The only issue (which makes sense and is probably not the fault of the app) is that if the Finder itself crashes, quits or is otherwise restarted, FinderFix automatically quits and you have to relaunch it.

 

[Gregg2]

thats what I did brother & it still changes on me.

OK, I have the solution! (from another thread on this topic in a different forum)

Open your Finder Window from the Macintosh HD icon, and go into Show View Options.

Set all of the attributes the way you want them.

Now hold down the Option key. You'll notice that the Use as Defaults button changes to Restore as Defaults.

This should change every Finder Window to look like the one you just set up.

 

[tensixturtle]

OK, I have the solution! (from another thread on this topic in a different forum)

Open your Finder Window from the Macintosh HD icon, and go into Show View Options.

Set all of the attributes the way you want them.

Now hold down the Option key. You'll notice that the Use as Defaults button changes to Restore as Defaults.

This should change every Finder Window to look like the one you just set up.

@Gregg2 that is a good point you bring up. I just tested this once again in clean installs of macOS Sonoma 14.6.1 and Sequoia 15.0.1.

In macOS Sonoma, which was the latest macOS when this thread was started, the folder view options settings were either very convoluted, very buggy, or both. Due to that, selecting "Use as defaults" only seems to change the view options for folders that don't have a view set for them, which is not effective.

However, in macOS Sequoia, it appears that Apple has fixed the bug, because setting the view options (including selecting "Always open in _____ view" and "Use as defaults") seems to actually propagate to other folders correctly! That's a lot easier!

 

[JippaLippa]

@Gregg2 that is a good point you bring up. I just tested this once again in clean installs of macOS Sonoma 14.6.1 and Sequoia 15.0.1.

In macOS Sonoma, which was the latest macOS when this thread was started, the folder view options settings were either very convoluted, very buggy, or both. Due to that, selecting "Use as defaults" only seems to change the view options for folders that don't have a view set for them, which is not effective.

However, in macOS Sequoia, it appears that Apple has fixed the bug, because setting the view options (including selecting "Always open in _____ view" and "Use as defaults") seems to actually propagate to other folders correctly! That's a lot easier!

So glad to hear this!
I'm switching to Sequoia as soon as the 15.1 version is released (which should happen in a few days).

 

[tensixturtle]

So glad to hear this!
I'm switching to Sequoia as soon as the 15.1 version is released (which should happen in a few days).

Let me know if it seems to fix things for you. Fingers crossed!