Big Sur - New/Open/Save dialog box -size won't save

Hey there guys!

I had same issue here (iMac 27' 2019) with BigSur 11.1 and fixed it by reseting Finder preferences.

To do that:

From your Finder "Go" menu > "Go to folder" and enter

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist

Click Go.

Delete the plist file.

Then, restart.

I did it yesterday and it's been fixed. Let's see if the issue will come back.

so 11.2.2 is out, I've installed it. Size of sidebar is still broken FFS. If you select open/save/new it comes up too narrow, resize it, close it, open again and it appears fixed, but close that and open again and it reverts back to the tiny size.

I've ended up buying Default Folder X, purely because the developer has added a fix for the Apple issue to keep the sidebar fixed after resizing. Yes it works, but why should have to buy additional software to bodge Apples awful bug checking. And yes I have reported the issue to Apple in 11.2, 11.2.1 and now 11.2.2!

j4m1eb wrote:

I've ended up buying Default Folder X, purely because the developer has added a fix for the Apple issue to keep the sidebar fixed after resizing.

Thank you for the tip with Default Folder X, j4m1eb. I installed it right away and the open/save sidebar is indeed fixed! I never thought I'd be that happy about such a basic feature...

You are correct. We shouldn't have to buy additional software to get around some stupid and unnecessary bugs in the most basic parts of Apple's operating system. But Default Folder X does introduce a few pretty useful and time-saving features. So I consider it worth the money.

Still...

Agree - Update .2 fixed the window size .... NOW, can someone ping Apple about fixing the TINY FILE NAME FIELD ... it remains it's tiny fixed size and is so small that it's useless (if you use canonical file names that need to be longer)... have to scroll around in the itty-bitty field just to read it or get to the end of the filename.

How about a % of the windows width? If we want our window larger, it would stand to reason that we want the fields larger, too. responsive UX here seems like a good (up-do-date) concept!

sosears wrote:

Agree - Update .2 fixed the window size .... NOW, can someone ping Apple about fixing the TINY FILE NAME FIELD ...

You tell them. Tell Apple what missing features you'd like restored, new features added or problems with the system via Feedback - macOS - Apple.  

Try holding down the option key when adjusting the size the next time you use the open/save dialogue. Let me know if it works or not because it worked for me.

Just installed Big Sur 11.2 and so far so good.

# Default size is more appropriate.

# Resize handles work

# Remembers the dialog size.

# Remembers the side bar size

I've found that the Default Folder X, an app I was already using has a simple workaround for this issue in the interim of Big Sur being updated.. You can check out their article about the problem here: https://www.stclairsoft.com/blog/2020/12/30/tiny-open-and-save-dialogs-on-big-sur/

Xenophontus wrote:

I've found that the Default Folder X, an app I was already using has a simple workaround for this issue in the interim of Big Sur being updated.. You can check out their article about the problem here: https://www.stclairsoft.com/blog/2020/12/30/tiny-open-and-save-dialogs-on-big-sur/

Works, albeit with some delay... But it beats have to do it by hand everytime... I used Keyboard Maestro to adjust the dialogs but that works only with short Cuts not from choosing the menu Open etc.

Try holding option when you adjust the size. It worked for me.

Just tested this briefly in Big Sur 11.3. It seems fixed. Finally!!

Ok. On Big Sur 11.1 and it is insulting that no one in the macOS product team thought that half-size from previously normal open or close dialogs were wrong. Nothing the end user can do about this as the die is cast in the frameworks that create these panels. I have some Swift and Python/Objective-C applications here that set a custom framesize for open panels, and these appear as they have in the past, albeit a narrower side panel.

Although the 11.1 Open and Save panels allow one to click and drag a corner to enlarge them, it is not remembered by the application. I suggest sending feedback directly to the macOS product team. Let them know that sloppy work is not acceptible.

This started happening for me immediately after updating to 11.1.

Open/Save dialogs were saving their sizes just fine under 11.0 and 11.0.1. Now they revert to their (tiny) defaults every time.

Finder windows are still saving their sizes just fine.

Already reported using the feedback form. I find it mind-boggling that no one at Apple noticed this during testing.

Nope! I just updated to macOS Big Sur 11.2.1 and it's only partially fixed.

In the Save As dialog I noticed that while it now continuously retains the resizing of the main right-hand window pane (folder and file list), the Sidebar window (locations, favourites, tags...) reverts back to the extremely annoying small default size on any subsequent occasion when no resizing of the Sidebar has since been made.

For instance, every time I resize the width of Sidebar window in the Save As dialog and then exit the dialog (using Cancel or Save), it will retain the new width size on the very next occasion the Save As dialog is launched - giving the impression the bug has been fixed! But... if I exit the dialog as is without making any further resize changes to the Sidebar window it then reverts back to the small default size on the very next occasion.

I actually can't believe Apple with their top-quality software developers manages to get this half-baked fix pass quality control before the update is deployed.

Happy Update to Ya'll.

In macOS Big Sur 11.2 Beta (20D5042d), the size saving problem is solved.

Thank Engineers!

Kind of Kills me this wasn't discovered as a problem and fixed sooner.