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Finder Window: use as defaults
#6592 12/11/09 03:57 PM
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kevs Offline OP
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People have suggested that if I do command J, tweak a finder window way I want it, click, choose as defaults, then all my finder windows will have those settings. It has not worked. I've never seen it affect other finder windows. Am I doing something wrong? I really would like to have folder text at 13pt for all my several hundred windows instantly. thanks.

Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
kevs #6601 12/11/09 06:23 PM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
People have suggested that if I do command J, tweak a finder window way I want it, click, choose as defaults, then all my finder windows will have those settings.

Not quite accurate.

Saving some view as a default will not affect any windows which are already sporting their own *custom* view. For those, one would need to manually clear out that customization. I.e., one-by-one... open their view options and (by holding the option key, to toggle 'Use as Defaults') click on Restore to Defaults.


Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
Hal Itosis #6607 12/11/09 09:18 PM
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Hal,
I think I understood the first part. I will have to customize all my finder windows one by one. fine. correct?

Did not get the shift key thing, what did that mean thanks.

Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
kevs #6613 12/12/09 12:18 AM
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I don't know how else to say it. [i spent a long time carefully wording that first post... try reading it again maybe.]

Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
kevs #6629 12/12/09 04:42 PM
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No, you need to "un-customize" windows that you have already customized if you want them to be affected by choosing Use as Defaults. Follow Hal's instructions to restore customized windows to the factory defaults: Hold down the Option key (not shift) and the Use as Defaults button changes to Restore to Defaults.

Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
Gregg #6632 12/12/09 05:36 PM
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Gregg, thanks.
You are saying that if I uncustomize all my customized windows then I could take one widow, customize it, and it would effect all other windows perfectly.

Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
kevs #6637 12/12/09 08:44 PM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
You are saying that if I uncustomize all my customized windows then I could take one widow, customize it, and it would effect all other windows perfectly.

Yes.

[There's no actual need to uncustomize all customized windows "first". Just know that if you encounter some window that isn't displaying the default, then that's simply because it's customized. And now you know how to fix that.]

Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
Hal Itosis #6638 12/12/09 09:28 PM
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Ok, got it thanks.
That said, clearly, for the 50 folders I currently have they will have to be adjusted one by one.

Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
kevs #6663 12/13/09 02:53 PM
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you can delete store files (.DS_Store) that are in each folder to delete folder customization for each of them. terminal command available on request



I work for the Department of Redundancy Department
Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
Virtual1 #6667 12/13/09 05:19 PM
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Virtual,
this would tell the computer to throw out all past settings? Then I could make a new default, and when I open all old windows would have this setting?
if so I'll take the terminal code, thanks.

Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
kevs #6668 12/13/09 05:50 PM
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This one just does your home folder (and all of its subfolders):

find -x ~ -name .DS_Store -exec rm -fv {} +

I used "-exec rm -fv {} +" instead of "-delete" there, so you'd get full visual feedback/confirmation.

[i'd advise restarting right after, just in case Finder caches some of that stuff in RAM.]

Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
Hal Itosis #6670 12/13/09 06:27 PM
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Hal, I'll wait until someone has one computer wide.
Honestly, my home folder is just 10% of my folders
Surprising that Apple just doesn't have a reset for all folders.

Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
kevs #6674 12/13/09 07:43 PM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
Hal, I'll wait until someone has one computer wide.

Until "someone" has what now?


Originally Posted By: kevs
Honestly, my home folder is just 10% of my folders

Honestly? Okay... in that case: where (exactly) are the other 90% then?


Originally Posted By: kevs
Surprising that Apple just doesn't have a reset for all folders.

Most folks customize views because that's the way they want to keep them.
[i.e., this issue is not of universal importance and Apple has bigger fish to fry.]


Last edited by Hal Itosis; 12/13/09 07:45 PM.
Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
kevs #6681 12/13/09 10:11 PM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
... I'll wait until someone has one computer wide.

Be careful what you ask for, but check out iRemove .DS_Store files (I'm not sure how it does under Snowy).


alternaut moderator
Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
alternaut #6683 12/13/09 10:20 PM
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Alternaut, funny because when I think of DS store, I think of the columns. And some of those I remember, just a few, really spending lot of time on tweaking.

What I would love is a way to have all windows just adjusted globally for the font size. I got new imac 27" everything is looking real small.

Hal: most stuff is on external hard drives.

Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
kevs #6684 12/13/09 10:45 PM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
Hal: most stuff is on external hard drives.

What I would love is a way to have all windows just adjusted globally for the font size.

At this point (with alternaut's addition of Tom X's utility), there's nothing to prevent that. [it could be done via Terminal, but you'd need to mount all your disks and run it on each one... so a little gui app seems less tedious.]


Originally Posted By: kevs
I got new imac 27" everything is looking real small.

It does seem suspicious that your "new" iMac has so many customized folders already. Are you sure your defaults were set properly?

I have a very old Mac here (2004), and if i re-tweak my default font size (to something wild like size 15 perhaps), i can open virgin territory (say inside the System folder) and clearly see that size 15 is indeed globally accepted.

Can you not easily observe the same?

Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
alternaut #6686 12/13/09 11:14 PM
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Originally Posted By: alternaut
I'm not sure how it does under Snowy.

For some reason, that VersionTracker page says this:
Mac OS X 10.4.4 - 10.4.11, or Mac OS X 10.6.x. Does not work under Mac OS X 10.5.

And Tom's page says this:
Requirements: PPC/Intel, Mac OS X 10.4 and Mac OS X 10.6


I'd like to know how it's even possible to write a script which performs such a simple task... and find a way to have it **not** work with 10.5 shocked

I wish Tom didn't save those [internal bundle] scripts as unreadable... i'd like to see what's wrong with it.


Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
Hal Itosis #6687 12/13/09 11:17 PM
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Hal, I may not be clear.
I have several hundred folders. most on externals. I just want to raise the font two points on the folder text, so shows better.
Don't really want to change columns DS stuff.

Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
kevs #6689 12/13/09 11:57 PM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
What I would love is a way to have all windows just adjusted globally for the font size. I got new imac 27" everything is looking real small.


what is your screen resolution set to? perhaps make it a tad larger (smaller)?


MacBook 2.4 Ghz · 4 Gb ram · 10.7.5
stuff I'm interested in
iPhone 4s 7.0.2
Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
kevs #6698 12/14/09 04:50 AM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
Hal, I may not be clear. I have several hundred folders. most on externals. I just want to raise the font two points on the folder text, so shows better. Don't really want to change columns DS stuff.

What you **want** is crystal clear. [i already have it, as do most other users i would well imagine.]

The mysterious part is why you're having such trouble achieving it. [Columns? Did i mention "columns" even once? What, you think .DS_Stores are only for columns or something? I don't get it.]

You seem unable to confirm my simple System folder example. It's so easy. Change the default views to have size 15 font. Browse around areas unpolluted by previous view customization. It all works, right? So... dust off those .DS_Stores, get it working, and find something *new* to complain about.

What's taking so long? grin

Oh yeah, i remember: you refused to try it out on your home folder... because you want to go "wide". Great. Go wide, and long. Stretch it out. Fully enjoy this "predicament" as much as possible. When you're finally ready to fix it, the various solutions are posted above.

smirk

Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
Hal Itosis #7016 12/27/09 08:35 PM
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Guys, I hate to beat a dead horse, but I discovered new micro feautre I really like today. I found the little slider on bottom right of the finder windows (in icon view).

Now currently, all old windows are defaulting to a very small icon.

I would like all old windows to default to a much larger icon.

On one of the old windows I changed the thumbnail to a large window and clicked "use as default"

Of course nothing changes with other fodlers!

So I still don't get it, what the point of this "use as default?"

It does not have any bearing on the window you clicked it for. That window will stick anyway.

And it has no bearing on any old or future windows, so I still cannot get my head around what "use a defaults" accomplishes? thanks.

Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
kevs #7017 12/27/09 09:06 PM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
Guys, I hate to beat a dead horse, but I discovered new micro feautre I really like today. I found the little slider on bottom right of the finder windows (in icon view).

I don't have that slider in 10.5 (Leo Jr.), so i can't experiment or comment about it.

edit:

After reading what Siracusa said about it, i sorta doubt that slider has anything to do with icon sizes in default views. It seems more like an additional tweak we can do to augment a window's view, after the fact. I.e., over-and-above default views. And therefore, not savable globally.

Thus it would seem that such expectations about this slider, and/or any associations between it and default views are without merit. Icon size in default views is probably adjusted right where it has been all this time (in OSX, in OS9, and as far back as i can remember): in the View Options window, which we access with command-J.

BTW, are we to assume the recent silence in this thread means that font size issue has been all worked out?

Last edited by Hal Itosis; 12/27/09 10:03 PM. Reason: attempt an answer, and ask a question.
Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
Hal Itosis #7021 12/27/09 11:51 PM
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The font issue was resolved as I as I am adjusting them one by one on a tedious basis.

But this slider brought me back to the central question, which no one here has lucidly explained:

What is default doing? It does not seem to perform any function.

Again: the window is going to remember and stick any settings for that window.

And it does not effect any future windows or even any other windows, so what does it do?

Re: Finder Window: use as defaults
kevs #7032 12/28/09 07:19 AM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
The font issue was resolved as I as I am adjusting them one by one on a tedious basis.

Hmm, when Virtual1 suggested removing all .DS_Store files would facilitate the process, you seemed enthused to try it. That's really the fastest way, if speed matters.


Originally Posted By: kevs
But this slider brought me back to the central question, which no one here has lucidly explained: What is default doing? It does not seem to perform any function.

It has been lucidly explained and it does indeed function.

Let's consider the alternative: if "default views" worked the way you think it should, then tweaking our default views would instantly obliterate all our meticulously and painstakingly designed custom views... and a lot of people (the vast majority of capable users anyway) would find that behavior very *very* annoying. So i for one am grateful that they work the way they do now.


Originally Posted By: kevs
Again: the window is going to remember and stick any settings for that window. And it does not effect any future windows or even any other windows, so what does it do?

Are you still wondering about that slider? It's not part of the default view paradigm (which i clearly indicated previously). To affect default icon sizes (on non-custom windows), use View Options/command-J. It works fine that way, and to think otherwise is to mislead oneself.

So it goes.


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