Finder- Keep Arranged By Option- Apply To All?

[duncyboy]

Hello, all

Am the fresh recipient of a snazzy Magic Trackpad and I love the pinch-to-zoom in Finder BUT...

I use the Option-click View --> Keep Arranged By option to auto-arrange my icons when pinch-zooming. Is there a quick way to apply this to ALL Finder windows/folders without doing it manually for all?

I can't seem to apply the Keep Arranged By option to all my Finder folders, even if I check as the default?

Many thanks for any replies/help

Toodles!

 

[Caleb531]

Clicking the Use as Defaults button will set that view as the default preference, but not apply it. To apply it, hold down the Option key for the button to turn into Restore to Defaults (the default being what you set it as).

 

[Gregg2]

Restore to Defaults (the default being what you set it as).

Really? Isn't Restore to Defaults going to set it back to the way it came from the "factory"?

 

[Hal Itosis]

Really? Isn't Restore to Defaults going to set it back to the way it came from the "factory"?

No, Caleb531 is right about that. ["defaults" in this case is whatever we assigned to be the default view.]

 

[Hal Itosis]

I can't seem to apply the Keep Arranged By option to all my Finder folders, even if I check as the default?

Clicking the Use as Defaults button will set that view as the default preference, but not apply it. To apply it, hold down the Option key for the button to turn into Restore to Defaults (the default being what you set it as).

Actually, clicking 'Use as Defaults' does apply the new view to all our folders... EXCEPT for the ones where we have tweaked their views individually. Such views are deemed "customized" -- and customized views stick -- and that's a good thing. (otherwise, accidentally clicking that 'Use as Defaults' button could instantly undo many customized views in the blink of an eye... and that behavior would irritate far more people).

It's simple to prove. Just set some default view, and then browse into some area where you haven't tinkered around with any folder views (perhaps /System). You will see that all "virgin" folders are now conforming to whatever default we just set.

As far as undoing a customized view goes, that's where the option-key trick will be needed. Might seem like a hassle at first, but it's better than the alternative (as mentioned in the previous paragraph).

Finally, if we would like to quickly remove all customized views from all folder windows... then we'd need to resort to wiping out every .DS_Store file (and restart before Finder starts writing cached views back to disk i think). Though such a thing may be possible in the GUI, it's much faster to run one terminal command:

sudo find -x / -type f -name .DS_Store -delete


[i don't really feel it's necessary in most cases, but it is one of the options on the table. That command can also be tailored to target a specific folder hierarchy by replacing the / with the desired path. e.g., /Users would limit the .DS_Store destruction to the /Users folder hierarchy.]

 

[duncyboy]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I'll give the above a try when I get back home

I may just be better applying it on a 'per folder' basis, I'll have a look.

Many thanks!

Dunc