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!