finder - stop it opening previously opened folders?

Question

Level 1

7 points

finder - stop it opening previously opened folders?

I've put up with this nuisance (to me) for years and trawled the internet every now and then for an answer, and never found one, or any suggestion that there might be one.

Is there any way to stop Finder remembering and expanding previously open folders?

I find it very annoying, as when I open a Finder window, I almost never want to have the same folders expanded to a drop down list.

I imagine it might be possible with some voodoo in terminal 🙂

Anyone know please?

Yosemite 10.10.5

imac, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Nov 6, 2015 5:39 AM

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Answer 1

imatsig Author

Level 1

7 points

Dec 4, 2015 6:10 AM in response to imatsig

Surely someone somewhere knows the answer to this please?

Every time I go back to finder, all the folders I looked at in the last session are open and displayed.

I just want a fresh start every time I open a finder window, I don't want Finder to remember all the last folders I had open, it's invariably useless to me and such a waste of time......

I'll be most grateful to anyone who knows the answer to this please.

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Answer 2

dpaves

Level 1

4 points

Jan 7, 2017 4:36 AM in response to imatsig

.

I had the same problem.

First I set the New Finder Window (in the Finder Preferences > General) to a folder I wanted:

.

Then I went to Finder > Recent Folders > Clear Menu

From then on, whenever I opened Finder by clicking on the icon in the dock, it always opened in preferred folder.

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Answer 3

Nov 25, 2017 6:16 PM in response to imatsig

Hi....Same problem here, which is why I arrived in this forum. I just tried something which worked for me.....

1. Click on 'Finder', so that the 'Finder' menu is in the top bar.

2. Right click on the 'Finder' drop-down menu in the top bar, and select 'Preferences'.

3. The 'Finder Preferences' window will open.

4. In the 'New Finder windows show' filed, click on the up/down arrows, which will provide you with a choice of folder to open when you open the Finder. In there you can make your selection....either from the list shown, or from 'other' if you want something not shown.....

That did the trick for me. I chose my 'Photo Library' folder, and that's what opens now when I open Finder.

I have no idea what happened to cause the finder to open with the 'Recents' folder displayed, which is something that only started happening very recently. (maybe after I updated the software to 'High Sierra'?...not sure!). I can't even remember what it was that used to open by default, but it certainly wasn't 'Recents'. I hope this helps! Good luck!

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Answer 4

Eric Root

Level 10

685,221 points

Nov 7, 2015 11:23 AM in response to imatsig

Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem solved sooner.

Feedback

Or you can use your Apple ID to register with this site and go the Apple BugReporter. Supposedly you will get an answer if you submit feedback.

Feedback via Apple Developer

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Answer 5

Eric Root

Level 10

685,221 points

Nov 6, 2015 11:50 AM in response to imatsig

Do a backup, preferably 2 backups on 2 separate drives.

Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J. When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder. Select Library. Then go to Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist. Move the .plist to your desktop.

Re-launch Finder by restarting the computer and test. If it works okay, delete the plist from the desktop.

If the same, return the .plist to where you got it from, overwriting the newer one.

Thanks to leonie for some information contained in this.

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Answer 6

imatsig Author

Level 1

7 points

Nov 6, 2015 3:37 PM in response to Eric Root

Thanks Eric for the suggestion but that did not work at all. In fact on reboot it opened the same folder that the com.apple.finder.plist file was contained in.

The user/library folder.

I suspected it wouldn't work, as don't plist files just contain preferences, and not fundamental operations of applications.

Finder remembering all the folders you had expanded / opened seems to be a decision made by the designer that that is what users would want, and there's no choice given in the matter, which is in itself remarkably short-sighted, as it's obvious to me that many users would not continually want the same folders expanded to show their contents as in the last session.

Windows, dare I mention it, does not do this, if you open the root hard drive, it doesn't open all the folders that you had open last time you used it.

It's a source of constant annoyance to me as I continually have to go through either closing down massive drop down lists of files and folders I don't want, or trying to scroll past them.

I just thought there might be a Unix command that can stop Finder doing this?

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Answer 7

imatsig Author

Level 1

7 points

Nov 7, 2015 4:41 PM in response to Eric Root

Thanks Eric but if it was a widespread dislike, it would have been fixed years ago.

I think I must probably be in a tiny minority, as it's been this way with Finder for at least six years, through various incarnations of OSX.

I just thought someone, somewhere, might have a fix for it, but so far apparently not, as indicated by trawling the net, it just doesn't come up.

I guess it just doesn't bother most people?

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Answer 8

imatsig Author

Level 1

7 points

Dec 4, 2015 11:23 AM in response to Eric Root

Thanks Eric for the suggestion, but it still remembers previously opened folders and re-opens them.

It seems someone somewhere decided long ago, that it must be what users must want, and made Finder do it, with no way of turning it off, I guess?

But also I feel there MUST be a way of turning it off, but it's mysterious how difficult it seems to be, and how no one seems to know. As I say I have trawled the net for an answer, but couldn't find one.

There is something somewhere in the programming that keeps track of what folders you had open, and reopens them again every time.

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Answer 9

Rudiau

Level 1

0 points

Dec 16, 2015 6:00 PM in response to imatsig

Hi imatsig,

This solution worked for me,

http://bellm.org/blog/2013/01/26/getting-a-new-os-x-finder-window-in-the-current -space/

However, I changed his script slightly to:

on run

tell application "Finder"

set NewWindow to make new Finder window

set target of NewWindow to home

activate

end tell

end run

Nothing to change on my script, simply copy and paste.

Following the rest of his post I now have two Finder icons on Dock, placing them beside each other the "New Finder Window" icon is quite distinguishable from the System icon.

Hope this helps,

Cheers.

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Answer 10

GraemeSk

Level 1

4 points

Aug 24, 2016 2:54 AM in response to imatsig

I had this problem and there was a very simple solution for me.

Finder kept opening to the same folder and wouldn't go to the default folder that I wanted no matter what I did.

The solution for me was to change the name of the folder that finder kept opening to. I also moved the folder to a temporary location before changing the name. I'm not sure that was necessary. But anyway after changing the name of the folder and then moving it back to it's normal location finder then opens to the default that I had set in preferences.

I hope that works for you. Good luck.

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