"Name" portion of my Finder windows too long

Question

When I open most (but not all) Finder windows, the Name section is extremely long, even when the names in the directory or folder are very short.Does anyone know a way to reset or define the width of the name column? The other columns seem fine.

Carolyn Samit · Accepted Answer

Cick and drag the bottom right corner of the Finder window to the left.

JustLarry · Answer

Double click the line between adjacent column headers and it will resize to fit.

Michael Mortilla · Answer

Thank you both for taking the time to respond. I understand how windows work and how to resize columns and windows. That is not what I am asking, however, which is why I took the time to post a screenshot.The window nearly* always defaults to this large width in the Name column and it&#x27;s new behavior since installing 10.9. I&#x27;ll go through my 3rd party hacks to the OS and see if I can find the culprit (assuming there is one).* - I say nearly becuase there are some windows that do perform normally, but the majority do not and even after resizing the window size and column width, re-opening the window reverts to the long Name column.

EdwinDrood · Answer

I think it&#x27;s a bug.The Finder adapts column width to the width of the window. So far, so good. But it does it by expanding the FIRST column, and only that one.  The sensible thing would be to  widen the columns in whch text is cut, then stop once everything is readable.It seems that the size of a window is determined by its size when you last closed it, that would explain why all the windows do not have this behaviour.

Michael Mortilla · Answer

Thanks, I agree it&#x27;s a bug but one doesn&#x27;t throw such words around here too quickly. Here  are the main issues:• It does not matter how I adjust the size of the NAME section in a Finder Window in List view. The next time the very same window is open, it defaults to the original size when initially opened with the NAME section too long for the content.• The NAME section is always extremely long regardless of what is in the list (see image attached).• Often, the TAG dot is so far over to the right that is does ot appear.  It is not visible because the LIST COLUMN is too long. The rest of the window columns (SIZE, KIND, etc.) are similarly completely hidden in the overlarge window scrolling off to the right. They can be scrooled into view, but still default to the "too large" size when the window is opened.• About half the time, it is not possible to adjust the LIST VIEW column size by the handle betweem the sections (NAME, DATE, KIND, etc.). Clicking on the handle (the line between sections) has no effect and the left and right arrows do not appear. This seems to be limited to only the NAME section ofthe window.Again, resizing the screen does nothing to fix any of this. I&#x27;ve looked at the FInder Preferences in the User Library which I have bolded below. I have opened and changed these in TextWrangler but they revert to the exact same settings, which I assume is becuase there is no way to quit the Finder w/o it saving the currently used preferences and settings (at least the unmutable ones). I will try booting in Target mode and replacing that file later today to see if i can force the OS to default to a smaller column size.Please! No more "novice" answers to this question. It&#x27;s not a matter of my not understanding how the Finder works, nor any user error. The Finder windows on this system, for whatever reason, are not working efficiently and not accepting user adjustments for some reason. THAT is what I am trying to address.Thanks again, Edwin Drood, for your confirmation of the issue.Best,mmExcerpt from the plist : com.apple.finder.plist&lt;key&gt;ComputerOptions&lt;/key&gt;          &lt;dict&gt;                    &lt;key&gt;ListViewOptions&lt;/key&gt;                    &lt;dict&gt;                              &lt;key&gt;ColumnCount&lt;/key&gt;                              &lt;integer&gt;8&lt;/integer&gt;                              &lt;key&gt;ColumnFlags&lt;/key&gt;                              &lt;integer&gt;9&lt;/integer&gt;                              &lt;key&gt;Columns&lt;/key&gt;                              &lt;array&gt;                                        &lt;dict&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnPropertyID&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;string&gt;dnam&lt;/string&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnSortOrder&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;integer&gt;1&lt;/integer&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnVisible&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;true/&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnWidth&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;integer&gt;300&lt;/integer&gt;                                        &lt;/dict&gt;                                        &lt;dict&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnPropertyID&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;string&gt;modd&lt;/string&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnSortOrder&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;integer&gt;2&lt;/integer&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnVisible&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;true/&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnWidth&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;integer&gt;181&lt;/integer&gt;                                        &lt;/dict&gt;                                        &lt;dict&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnPropertyID&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;string&gt;ascd&lt;/string&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnSortOrder&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;integer&gt;2&lt;/integer&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnVisible&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;false/&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnWidth&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;integer&gt;181&lt;/integer&gt;                                        &lt;/dict&gt;                                        &lt;dict&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnPropertyID&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;string&gt;phys&lt;/string&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnSortOrder&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;integer&gt;2&lt;/integer&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnVisible&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;true/&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnWidth&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;integer&gt;97&lt;/integer&gt;                                        &lt;/dict&gt;                                        &lt;dict&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnPropertyID&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;string&gt;kind&lt;/string&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnSortOrder&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;integer&gt;1&lt;/integer&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnVisible&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;true/&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnWidth&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;integer&gt;115&lt;/integer&gt;                                        &lt;/dict&gt;                                        &lt;dict&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnPropertyID&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;string&gt;labl&lt;/string&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnSortOrder&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;integer&gt;1&lt;/integer&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnVisible&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;false/&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnWidth&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;integer&gt;100&lt;/integer&gt;                                        &lt;/dict&gt;                                        &lt;dict&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnPropertyID&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;string&gt;shvr&lt;/string&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnSortOrder&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;integer&gt;1&lt;/integer&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnVisible&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;false/&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnWidth&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;integer&gt;75&lt;/integer&gt;                                        &lt;/dict&gt;                                        &lt;dict&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnPropertyID&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;string&gt;cmmt&lt;/string&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnSortOrder&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;integer&gt;1&lt;/integer&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnVisible&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;false/&gt;                                                  &lt;key&gt;ColumnWidth&lt;/key&gt;                                                  &lt;integer&gt;300&lt;/integer&gt;                                        &lt;/dict&gt;                              &lt;/array&gt;

campoxford · Answer

i have EXACT same problem. Defaults too wide. Any fix?

campoxford · Answer

Well, what do you know...just found it...hold option while dragging the column it will remember your setting. (that was from a 2007 convo;)

Michael Mortilla · Answer

I tried that (and other modifier keys) but it still defaults to "long view."  Still trying to figure this one out.Thanks for the reply.

heepno · Answer

I have the same issue, this was the first thing I noticed when I installed Mavericks. I even tried reinstalling it because I thought maybe the installation process got corrupted or something. Unfortunately, as expected, the issue persisted. Sometimes the columns width gets saved, sometimes it resets and does not fit the window anymore again. I think it&#x27;s definitely a bug because the behavior is very inconsistent.

Michael Mortilla · Answer

Thanks for the report and post, heepno. In other sites some of my music friends say they saw the problem arise in Mountain Lion while a coupld say it goes back as far as Snow Leopard. I didn;t experience it in either.Nice to know I&#x27;m not crazy, at least not about this. I hope Apple monitors these discussions. I&#x27;ve reported a couple of smaller bugs via the Ap[ple Developer site and will report this one as well.It&#x27;s always something... The "workaround" for me it column view. I hate it, but it&#x27;s reliable.

A.Y. · Answer

Noticed the same problem on my iMac and MBP. Went back to Mountain Lion until this annoying bug is fixed.

Michael Mortilla · Answer

UPDATE: I have found a way to temporarily fix this. Toggle the Finder window to FULL SCREEN and then back to normal (traditional) view). You can use the ESC key to do this. It fixes it. New windows seem to revert to the problem on an ad hoc basis but at least there is an easy fix. I&#x27;ll be setting up a Quickeys command to toggle it for me when the need arises.

Michael Mortilla · Answer

And interestingly, this only works with local discs. External drives retain the long name column.Hoping for a fix.

midifirst · Answer

Thanks campoxford,This problem had been frustrating me. Your tip works brilliantly for me. I had to hold option and drag the column width for each of my hard drives. Now problem is solved. Hooray !!!

sunflood · Answer

Exactly the same issue. I&#x27;ve tried deleting all Finder plist files as per another post suggestion, but no success.Will follow this post and hold fingers crossed for a Mavericks update soon.PS. thanks for the ESC tip, but it doesn&#x27;t work with TotalFinder it seems. Nor does it solve the &#x27;Save As&#x27; issue, because pressing ESC will cancel the save. Aaargh!