I’ll say that as much as I love Apple and macOS, Finder has some pretty terrible defaults that make file management pretty difficult for the average user. The default “All Files” view is atrocious.
No. You cannot and will not shame me for something that is not shame worthy. Shame on you for trying.No good intuitive way to set defaults for ALL folders at once
You should be extra ashamed for not being ashamed and additionally shamed for taking this so seriously that you feel it necessary to attempt to shame someone who cheekily said you should be ashamed.
Do tell oh wise one. I’ve been using MacOS for over 15 years, and would love to learn the ways of a master such as yourself
Let me ChatGPT that for you without giving a shit how this formats, followed by more shame for relaxing your struggle with things because you lack the gumption to figure these things out in your own despite 15 years of use.
Open a Finder Window
Pick any folder (usually your Home folder is a good starting point).
⸻
Set the View You Want
• Choose your preferred view style:
• Icons: ⌘1
• List: ⌘2
• Columns: ⌘3
• Gallery: ⌘4
Then adjust things like:
• Column widths
• Sorting / Arrange by
• Sidebar visibility
• Preview pane visibility
⸻
Apply with “Show View Options”
With the folder open, press ⌘J (or go to View → Show View Options).
At the bottom of the panel, you’ll see:
• Use as Defaults (for List, Icon, or Gallery views)
• Always open in … view
Click Use as Defaults → this sets your chosen view/layout for all folders of that type.
Because if you’re looking for a subfolder you’re not looking for a file, and vice versa? It doesn’t matter much in sparse directories, but it annoys me having to scroll through a ton of files to find the folder I want in directories with both.
I too like a lot of things about Mac, but finder could be improved, for sure.
(I have gotten used to a lot of its features and hate Windows’ defaults too, so there’s that. I don’t think an ideal exists, unless it’s in Linux somewhere and I just need to dual boot the desktop and get it over with)
On macOS I just type the first few letters of the file/folder and because it’s in alphabetical order, I find it immediately. I don’t want to have to think “oh is this a file or a folder” then scroll around to the appropriate area.
This reminds me of users who complain about <select> fields on websites: they always want some weird sorting instead of just tabbing into the field and typing a few letters.
Thar makes sense, although I am generally not trying to use the keyboard at the same time (to be honest I was not aware you could filter a finder view like that, I thought it only ran search and I have never found MacOS’s search to be satisfactory)
I grew up on Windows but when I came to macOS I went hard into key commands; the UI is a lot more uniform so using a combination of key commands and Trackpad gestures you can fly through tasks pretty quickly.
I’ll say that as much as I love Apple and macOS, Finder has some pretty terrible defaults that make file management pretty difficult for the average user. The default “All Files” view is atrocious.
What is a spring-loaded folder?
This is a aweful windows only thing. Anyone who likes it should be ashamed.
This is inexperience with the finder because it’s ridiculously easy to set this.
No. You cannot and will not shame me for something that is not shame worthy. Shame on you for trying.
Do tell oh wise one. I’ve been using MacOS for over 15 years, and would love to learn the ways of a master such as yourself.
🙄
You should be extra ashamed for not being ashamed and additionally shamed for taking this so seriously that you feel it necessary to attempt to shame someone who cheekily said you should be ashamed.
Let me ChatGPT that for you without giving a shit how this formats, followed by more shame for relaxing your struggle with things because you lack the gumption to figure these things out in your own despite 15 years of use.
Pick any folder (usually your Home folder is a good starting point).
⸻
Then adjust things like: • Column widths • Sorting / Arrange by • Sidebar visibility • Preview pane visibility
⸻
I HATE that windows will sort folders at the top instead of alphabetically with everything else. I guess it comes from using a Mac for so long.
I agree about .DS_Store in any mixed os environment though.
Yeah, I don’t know why having folders at the top would make anything easier.
Because if you’re looking for a subfolder you’re not looking for a file, and vice versa? It doesn’t matter much in sparse directories, but it annoys me having to scroll through a ton of files to find the folder I want in directories with both.
I too like a lot of things about Mac, but finder could be improved, for sure.
(I have gotten used to a lot of its features and hate Windows’ defaults too, so there’s that. I don’t think an ideal exists, unless it’s in Linux somewhere and I just need to dual boot the desktop and get it over with)
On macOS I just type the first few letters of the file/folder and because it’s in alphabetical order, I find it immediately. I don’t want to have to think “oh is this a file or a folder” then scroll around to the appropriate area.
This reminds me of users who complain about
<select>fields on websites: they always want some weird sorting instead of just tabbing into the field and typing a few letters.Thar makes sense, although I am generally not trying to use the keyboard at the same time (to be honest I was not aware you could filter a finder view like that, I thought it only ran search and I have never found MacOS’s search to be satisfactory)
I grew up on Windows but when I came to macOS I went hard into key commands; the UI is a lot more uniform so using a combination of key commands and Trackpad gestures you can fly through tasks pretty quickly.