Reset folder views?

I have a similar Finder problem where in Tiger when I set the "arrange by name" lets say, I could tick a preference to apply the setting to "all folders".
I'm not finding that option in Leopard and have to "rearrange" folders manually and I have to resort folders if the contents are changed.

What am I doing wrong or what am I missing?

Unfortunately there's no built-in button for resetting the folder views, but you can use Automator to set the views to specific settings. Perhaps you could have it automatically set the views for all folders in the filesystem somehow.

Actually there is a solutions using automator. Create a workflow that gets the hard drive root folder and then apply the folder view settings with the "Set Folder Views" action. That action has an "Apply to subfolders" option that should then apply the views to all folders. I'd imagine that would work great. The only problem I could imagine is if it only applies the changes to the first layer of enclosed folders. However, you could probably have an automator action that grabs the frontmost folder window (or the selected folder) and then applies a user-defined "default" folder view setting.

EDIT: I just tested it out and it works great. I used the "Get Specified Finder Items" action followed by the "Set Folder Views" action, and it applies the changes to ALL subfolders, not just the first layer. I'd imagine you could customize this to be a good "reset" tool by using the "Ask for Finder Items" action so you can select a specific folder that's gone awry, and then for the "Get Specified Finder Items" action you could choose the "show this action when workflow runs". That way you will be presented with all the folder view options (with your default values in place), and can select whether or not to apply to all subfolders or change the values around.

Message was edited by: Topher Kessler

In addition you can probably find a way to launch the application with a key combination...not sure how, but maybe in a third-party key-binding app of sorts, so it'd be readily available.

EDIT: you can put the saved workflow the finder toolbar by dragging it to an area next to the "views" icons, or next to the "Search" text field. Drag the app there and hold it there for a few seconds, and the toolbar will make room for it, so it will be available on every finder toolbar and therefore easily accessible.

Message was edited by: Topher Kessler

This is rather cool...you can save the workflow as a "Finder Plug-in" so it ends up located in the contextual menu under the "Automator" section and isnt a separate application. As such, you can use the "Get Selected Finder Items" action as the first step in the workflow, so when you invoke it from the contextual menu it will run on the items you've selected in the finder, and then present the window with all the view options (set to user-defined defaults, of course).

...great technology....I'm loving it! 😀