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Yr Blues

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jan 14, 2008
2,749
995
No matter how many times I reposition the finder window, it always pops up on the bottom right corner. I always have to drag it back to the middle. Is there a way to save the position?
 
On my machine it stays in the last position I put it in. You probably need to remove some .plist file to fix this, but I have no idea which one.
 
On my machine it stays in the last position I put it in.

Really? Every folder? Even through a Restart? (unless you leave it on all the time...)

My Finder windows seem to have a mind of their own. In OS9, I used to set up folders and sub-folders to open in a cascading fashion. I gave up on that in Leopard the first week I had it.
 
No matter how many times I reposition the finder window, it always pops up on the bottom right corner. I always have to drag it back to the middle. Is there a way to save the position?

Pretend i can't see your computer...
- which OS version are you running?
- what do you mean by "the" finder window?
- how are you opening it?
- what view does it have (icon, list, column)?
- is the toolbar and/or sidebar enabled or not?
- what path does it open to? (/Users/you/Documents ...or)?

---

Depending on some of those answers, the solution may be either using some program (i like Terminal) to strategically remove some .DS_Store files... or maybe dump your com.apple.finder.plist and restart... or idunno. Let's see what happens.

EDIT: you too Gregg2, if having problems. Finder windows remember their positions just fine... unless something is amiss. One simple test: after setting a window's position, close all windows and then reopen that set window via the Go --> Recent Folders submenu. It will open to whatever it was told. If not, try again. If that too fails, we can fix it.
 
- which OS version are you running? 10.5.8
- what do you mean by "the" finder window? the window that shows your files, what else is there?
- how are you opening it? by clicking the finder icon in the dock
- what view does it have (icon, list, column)? list
- is the toolbar and/or sidebar enabled or not? enabled
- what path does it open to? (/Users/you/Documents ...or)? i prefer downloads

I've deleted preference folder about 5 times already and it starts in the default middle of the screen but eventually opens in the bottom right of the screen. very annoying. Wish there was a save initial position
 
I've deleted preference folder about 5 times already and it starts in the default middle of the screen but eventually opens in the bottom right of the screen. very annoying.
Okay, the view settings for that particular folder (~/Downloads) are not usually affected by the com.apple.finder.plist (not as far as its position on the screen goes anyway). This sounds like a strange case. Hmm, do you ever change screen resolutions, or work with dual monitors?

If not, then the onscreen position of your Downloads folder is pretty much kept in a .DS_Store file... and (in this case), it's not the .DS_Store inside ~/Downloads but rather the one in its parent, i.e., your home folder.

Seeing as how this keeps recurring at odd intervals, i'd even be tempted to wipe all .DS_Store files from your home's hierarchy. But perhaps that's overkill. At any rate, deleting the entire prefs folder shouldn't be needed either... nor is it clear how that even manages to help at all. (perhaps it's just the restart that does it?)

Oh well... my initial prescription for you would be to remove at least these 2 files with Terminal:

rm -f ~/.DS_Store ~/Downloads/.DS_Store

...and logout/login.

Wish there was a save initial position
That could be done with an AppleScript... but it shouldn't be needed for ~/Downloads. Mine doesn't budge unless i budge it.
 
Okay, the view settings for that particular folder (~/Downloads) are not usually affected by the com.apple.finder.plist (not as far as its position on the screen goes anyway). This sounds like a strange case. Hmm, do you ever change screen resolutions, or work with dual monitors?

If not, then the onscreen position of your Downloads folder is pretty much kept in a .DS_Store file... and (in this case), it's not the .DS_Store inside ~/Downloads but rather the one in its parent, i.e., your home folder.

Seeing as how this keeps recurring at odd intervals, i'd even be tempted to wipe all .DS_Store files from your home's hierarchy. But perhaps that's overkill. At any rate, deleting the entire prefs folder shouldn't be needed either... nor is it clear how that even manages to help at all. (perhaps it's just the restart that does it?)

Oh well... my initial prescription for you would be to remove at least these 2 files with Terminal:

rm -f ~/.DS_Store ~/Downloads/.DS_Store

...and logout/login.


That could be done with an AppleScript... but it shouldn't be needed for ~/Downloads. Mine doesn't budge unless i budge it.

thanks, I'll try some of that later
 
Open from desktop folder

My finder windows stay in place and at the same size because I created six folders (two for each monitor screen, one left one right) which I open to get around. I rarely use the finder icon in the dock cuz I never know what monitor my cursor will be on when I want to dig into the finder so I strategically located the folders. But they all open in the same place and at whatever size I last left them at.
 
Finder windows remember their positions just fine... unless something is amiss.

My finder windows stay in place and at the same size ... they all open in the same place and at whatever size I last left them at.

Well, I suppose where things get screwed up is when opening a different folder in the same window instead of opening a new window. It's a pain to have to deal with the two options, even though sometimes I want a new window, and sometimes I don't.
 
Well, I suppose where things get screwed up is when opening a different folder in the same window instead of opening a new window. It's a pain to have to deal with the two options, even though sometimes I want a new window, and sometimes I don't.
That is a good point... as there are subtle behaviorisms in play when we navigate away from the original folder. And those results can vary depending on whether or not the toolbar/sidebar is showing, and/or also if we moved via opening a subfolder as opposed to using the Recent Folders submenu to recall some previous location.

Things used to be a little more straightforward in Tiger. Leopard introduced a few "features" with which many users (myself included) share some disapproval.
 
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