how to close all subfolders in a folder

Question

Level 1

32 points

how to close all subfolders in a folder

I have seen this question, or similar, in several places, but haven't seen an answer. Sometimes the question is not well stated or understood. So, here goes one more time.

Suppose you have a folder named House. Inside House are subfolders named Kitchen, Bedroom1, Bedroom2, Bathroom......

Now, after browsing through all the subfolders inside House, they are all open, showing their internal files, and filling up the screen, makeing a cluttered mess.

I would like a simple command to close all the subfolders inside House in order to clean up the mess.

Is there a way to do this with an existing command, script, or Automator?

Thanks🙂

OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Jan 14, 2014 6:51 AM

Reply

Answer 1

John Galt

Level 10

155,150 points

Jan 14, 2014 10:51 AM in response to Cosman

The following may be of some use:

OS X keyboard shortcuts

I'm curious if you are finding that opening a folder always opens it in a new window, leading to a rapid proliferation of new windows. The ability to do that by default was removed in Mavericks and replaced with an option to open new folders in a new tab instead:

Is that what's going on?

Reply

Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

155,150 points

Jan 14, 2014 11:27 AM in response to Cosman

Thanks. The "disclosure triangle" appears only in List View:

As far as I know the selected "view" option should not change when opening a folder. In other words double-clicking the iTunes folder above opens it in the same window, with List View still active. From what you describe that isn't happening.

Check View Options for the selected folder: Finder's View menu > Show View Options. There is an option to "Always open in list view" (or whatever option happens to be active) if that is what you want.

There is almost certainly a way to make Finder do what you want, but it is possible that a bug exists that's preventing you from doing it.

Reply

Answer 3

John Galt

Level 10

155,150 points

Jan 14, 2014 12:46 PM in response to Cosman

I am far from an AppleScript expert but compiling one and saving it as a standalone application is easy enough, just choose Export... (or Save As...) and choose File Format: Application.

The AppleScript experts can be found in Mac OS X Technologies. Choose AppleScript under Categories.

Reply

Answer 4

Cosman Author

Level 1

32 points

Jan 14, 2014 10:26 AM in response to Cosman

My reply above had a lot more in it, but it got lost, so here goes.

The keystroke combo opt-click closes the main folder and all the subfolders, so you can't actually see what happened until you reopen the main folder. Then you see all the internal folders are closed. My main use for this function it to leave the main folder open while closing all the subfolders. To do this requires reopening the main folder. There are several options:

1) opt-click followed by click closes the main folder and all the subfolders, then repoens the main folder with all the subfolders closed.

2) opt-click followed by opt-click first closes the main folder and all the subfolders, then reopens the main folder with all the subfolders open again (back where you started from).

I tried to make an Automator macro that would do 1) with one mouse click (with suitable modifier keys), but I didn't know enough to make it work. I could get automator to do it while Automator was open by clicking on Run, but I couldn't get a macro that would work directly from a mouse click without opening Automator. Tried the same thing in Keyboard Maestro with the same results.

I would love to have something like ctrl-opt-click that would do the whole sequence 1) above in one stroke.

Oh well, it works fine with several steps.

Reply

Answer 5

Cosman Author

Level 1

32 points

Jan 14, 2014 11:12 AM in response to John Galt

John,

I guess my terminology could be confusing.

If I double click on a folder icon or name, the folder opens in a new window.

If I click on the little triangle on the left, the folder opens in the same window.

Sometimes I do one, sometimes I do the other.

My reference to opening and closing folders in this thread is based on staying in the same window, that is, clicking on the little triangle. The opt-click command only works on the little triangle, not on the name/icon. That requires a double click and ignores any modifier key.

So, our posts are talking about different folder functions.

Reply

Answer 6

Cosman Author

Level 1

32 points

Jan 14, 2014 11:48 AM in response to John Galt

Right, the triangle only appears in List and Cover Flow views. These are what I use most, so I didn't notice the others.

BTW, I switch back and forth from List to Cover Flow when I am looking through a folder with CAD, pdf, jpgs, (visual stuff) in it. Using cmd-4 and cmd-2 to toggle between the two cuts the clutter when I don't need it. A quick way to shut 10 open subfolders is the last part of my workflow quest.

Some day I am going to dig deeper into Scripting and Automator to learn how to use them. I can get a script going, but don't know how to save it and use it when finished. The instructions are not very clear at that point, and I don't have the time to figure it out blind. I am not interested in any kind of macro I can't call with a keystroke. That is why I use Keyboard Maestro.

Regards

Reply

Answer 7

John Galt

Level 10

155,150 points

Jan 14, 2014 9:14 AM in response to Cosman

Holding an option key while closing one window will close all of them.

Reply

Answer 8

Cosman Author

Level 1

32 points

Jan 14, 2014 9:20 AM in response to John Galt

OK, that looks like the answer!

Reply