Stop Finder from "calculating folder size" or just move along little doggie

DCWinton wrote:

I saw in the magazine Macworld that I should try unchecking the "Calculate All Sizes" options in FInder>View>Show View Options window, but that checkbox and option do not appear. When I go to FInder>View>Show View Options, all I have are: Always Open in Column View (checkbox), Text Size (dropdown), Show Icons (checkbox), Show Icon Preview (checkbox), Show Preview Column (checkbox) and Arrange By (dropdown).

You can't do it in the Finder's base View Options irem - that applies only to the Desktop. You will need to go to the View Options for the particular folder in question. You do that while in Finder. Navigate to and open the folder. With that folder's window the active one (open and frontmost), then select Show View Options (or press Command-J). You should get this window -

- which will allow you to uncheck the 'size' item and 'calculate size' function for that specific folder.

OK. With the particular folder's window open, does it show the icon I've arrow-marked in its header area?

If so, click that, and from the dropmenu that appears select Show View Options.

Edit - -

Just took a look at Path Finder's site... I don't use it, but it seems to alter part of the 'expected' Finder interface, hence may interfere with the ability to make some settings. Without installing it (which I am reluctant to do), I can't help directly.

However, consider that some of the logic behaviors in Finder may be carried forward to Path Finder - that settings aren't necessarily global, but are item (in this case, folder) specific.

This is about as minimal as Finder lets it get -

As far as I can tell that arrangement is displayed only when viewing the Desktop.

Finder uses a slightly longer one for a window whose view is set to Icon -

...and the one I posted previously for windows whose view is set to List.

In Finder, there is actually only one View Options display and it is live; what is shown in it will change as you change the view mode for a window, and also will change to reflect the choices/settings if you click on a different window.

Perhaps Path Finder has altered how that behaves. However, try some experimenting. Open the View Options display, and then try navigating into a nest of folders. Try highlighting different things in the Path Finder displays - the name of a folder in a list, the name of a column display, etc. At some point you may be able to access the long form for the particular folder's window.

On the other hand, Path Finder seems to act by changing how Finder's info is displayed. In doing so, it may also be interfereing with Finder's ability to present applicable choices in the View Options screen (perhaps because Finder is not coded to understand Path Finder). If you determine that is indeed the case, suggest you send a 'bug' report back to the publisher, explaining the problem and asking them to fix it in a future release of Path Finder.

Rather than activating Preview directly, try pressing Command-Shift-4 while viewing the dropmenu. Doing so should change the cursor to a crosshair thingie. When you drag that, a selection rectangle will appear - use that to grab just that part of the view on the screen that you want to capture. Using it should not 'release' the dropmenu in the process.

Ah! OK, I just set a folder to Column view, and it shows the very abbreviated view you depicted. I never use that view, so didn't recognize its brevity. Another indicator of how each of us does things differently, and the flexibility of the OS to allow that.

FWIW, the Cover Flow view (which I also never use) has the same long-form of View Options as does List view.