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"Name" portion of my Finder windows too long

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.


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OS X Mavericks (10.9), 2008 MP 3.2gHz; 20GB RAM

Posted on Oct 29, 2013 12:29 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 29, 2013 12:35 AM

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

125 replies

Feb 12, 2014 1:25 PM in response to Kris Hunt

Did you try my applescript (a few messages back) bound to a keyboard shortcut? In theory it has to work, because once Finder has all columns in display, it starts to resize them fluidly, and all my script does is make the window really wide then back to the original size to trigger this functionality. I've bound in to CMD + E using BetterTouch Tool, and now I've gotten into the habit of hitting that every time I notice a horizontal scrollbar in Finder. Works a treat, and no one I've passed the script to has said it doesn't work, so I'd love to hear what happens when you use it so that I can debug it and write something that works for everyone.


Yes, it's not ideal, but Apple are too big of a company to listen to users any more. Their report feedback section is a joke, I don't think any bug ever reported has ever actually been read by Apple staff. And obviously this is just an unmonitored user support forum, so there is no point complaining on here.

Feb 13, 2014 1:57 PM in response to Michael Mortilla

FOUND THE FIX... finally!!!!!


Adjust the fields to how you want them to be then move them slightly holding down the command key. Similar to adding icons to the top bar this now sets the perameters of the areas.


now close that page and open a new page... should still show the same adjustments to the fields!


Ahhhhh Finally!!! - That's been bugging the crap out of me!!

Feb 14, 2014 2:44 PM in response to artist999

Try repairing your disk permissions, that has fixed the issues many people have been experiencing with Mavericks preview. Also, please try and keep the forum threads on topic. Threads get out of hand if multiple people start conversing about different issues. This thread is titled ""Name" portion of my Finder windows too long", so if your issue does not relate to this topic, find a relevant thread or start a new one.

Feb 14, 2014 3:02 PM in response to levymetal

Clearly this is not a permissions problem. It's GUI bug. By all means, repair permissions and run maintenance scripts, but neither is going to fix this. Only an update will do that (and probably break something else in the process - that's the way of computers).


I would also add that while the discussion is, in fact, titled one thing, adding other bugs won't necessarily be detrimental and might even prove useful for those experiencing the other bugs. Who knows, they might be related and the open discussion might suss that out before Apple does. Probably not, but open dialogue os better than suppressed dialogue, IMO, as long as it doesn't get crazy or really o/t.


I say let's keep talking. OK?

Feb 14, 2014 3:24 PM in response to Michael Mortilla

Thanks for your response.


I, along with many other people in the office, had problems with preview being extremely slow (aka, 5 seconds to load an small jpg). Someone figured out that suddenly after repairing the startup disk permissions, preview was back to being fast again. We all did it, and voila, preview was quick for everyone.


So I really do appreciate you telling me that what I, and many other people have witnessed and experienced, is wrong. You must be really smart to know that my experiences are false, so thank you very much for telling me how wrong I am, even though you haven't experienced the problem yourself, and many other people have used repair disk permissions to fix the issue. We all must be wrong, thankfully there are absolute genuises in the world like you to warn other people of how wrong all of us normal people are without ever having to even try our suggestions yourself 🙂


Also, you will notice that my previous comment states to repair startup permissions, yet the topic is titled ""Name" portion of my Finder windows too long". How long do you think it's going to be before someone comes and tries to repair startup permissions, then says it hasn't fixed their problem with the Name field being too long? And then, if someone makes another suggestion about another problem, people are going to try that too to fix the original problem, because it's pretty unclear who is replying to who.


So yes, multiple questions in the same thread render the entire thread useless, because everyone is talking about different things and no one knows what solution is designed for what problem.


That's why, you know, threads were invented in the first place, so people can seperate ideas instead of having absolutely everything in one long list.


But again, you're the know-it-all genuis right? As long as it flies with you, it's A-OK.

Feb 14, 2014 3:39 PM in response to levymetal

easy levy...maybe a Snickers bar is in order? I get the thread thing, but troubleshooting issues like this it's important for the dialog to be open...look how many random answers people have come up with that worked for them, but not others. Intermittent issues are the most infuriating to troubleshoot, and thus every bit of data is in fact useful in some form.


On topic, I'm still experiencing the name field too long issue. Have tried every fix I've found in this thread, and have come to the conclusion that this is in fact a bug that doesn't appear to be affecting everyone. (I never get it on my Macbook Air on Mavericks, but the MBr has the issue on every new finder window)


I have to give a huge thanks to you levymetal, your little applescript combined with a key combo has brought some sanity to my life. It's working perfectly so far, and is sooo much quicker than manually resizing.

Feb 14, 2014 4:15 PM in response to levymetal

levymetal wrote:


I, along with many other people in the office, had problems with preview being extremely slow (aka, 5 seconds to load an small jpg). Someone figured out that suddenly after repairing the startup disk permissions, preview was back to being fast again. We all did it, and voila, preview was quick for everyone.

That's my point. You found the answer to another, unrelated problem in this thread and thought to post about it. I never said you were wrong and did not engage in personal attacks (although I have alerted the moderators to *your* o/t comments). Perhaps you might want to edit the personal aspects and accusations of your message before the moderator gets here and save us all a lot of trouble? Just a friendly suggestion.


Please understand, I don't come here to argue, but to solve problems for myself and sometimes for others. And, as you see, I don't take any of your directed at me comments personally, although I do take them seriously - hence asking the moderators to jump in.


I don't know who you are and frankly, it doesn't really matter to me. But if you insist on making rules for behavior in any forum, please makle the first one "REMAIN CONSTRUCTIVE." You'll thank me at some point if you try it.

Feb 14, 2014 4:17 PM in response to levymetal

levymetal wrote:


Thanks for your response.


I, along with many other people in the office, had problems with preview being extremely slow (aka, 5 seconds to load an small jpg). Someone figured out that suddenly after repairing the startup disk permissions, preview was back to being fast again. We all did it, and voila, preview was quick for everyone.


So I really do appreciate you telling me that what I, and many other people have witnessed and experienced, is wrong. You must be really smart to know that my experiences are false, so thank you very much for telling me how wrong I am, even though you haven't experienced the problem yourself, and many other people have used repair disk permissions to fix the issue. We all must be wrong, thankfully there are absolute genuises in the world like you to warn other people of how wrong all of us normal people are without ever having to even try our suggestions yourself 🙂


Also, you will notice that my previous comment states to repair startup permissions, yet the topic is titled ""Name" portion of my Finder windows too long". How long do you think it's going to be before someone comes and tries to repair startup permissions, then says it hasn't fixed their problem with the Name field being too long? And then, if someone makes another suggestion about another problem, people are going to try that too to fix the original problem, because it's pretty unclear who is replying to who.


So yes, multiple questions in the same thread render the entire thread useless, because everyone is talking about different things and no one knows what solution is designed for what problem.


That's why, you know, threads were invented in the first place, so people can seperate ideas instead of having absolutely everything in one long list.


But again, you're the know-it-all genuis right? As long as it flies with you, it's A-OK.

Just a reminder.

Feb 14, 2014 4:53 PM in response to snownskate

Did you try my applescript (a few messages back) bound to a keyboard shortcut? In theory it has to work, because once Finder has all columns in display, it starts to resize them fluidly, and all my script does is make the window really wide then back to the original size to trigger this functionality. I've bound in to CMD + E using BetterTouch Tool, and now I've gotten into the habit of hitting that every time I notice a horizontal scrollbar in Finder. Works a treat, and no one I've passed the script to has said it doesn't work, so I'd love to hear what happens when you use it so that I can debug it and write something that works for everyone.

"Name" portion of my Finder windows too long

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