Cannot disable 'preview' column in Finder windows

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Level 1

14 points

Cannot disable 'preview' column in Finder windows

Before I describe this problem, I just want to clarify that I have configured Finder to always open folders in new windows, and while some of my folders are set to icon view the majority are set to list view.

Following an upgrade from Yosemite to El Capitan, some of my list view Finder windows started displaying the 'preview' column on the far right hand side, after the date modified column. I do not like this feature because when no folders or items are selected it just shows an ugly 'blank' white space in the window. So, I quickly found out that I can turn this 'preview' column off by selecting 'hide preview' in the View menu.

The problem is that once I have selected this, in many of my folders the change does not stick. After a restart or reboot, I will go back to the window and the preview column is there again. Sometimes it happens immediately after closing the window and opening it again. The worst culprit is my User folder.

I have tried selecting 'hide preview' and then going into view options and setting it as the default view for all Finder windows, but this does not make any difference.

Does anyone know how to disable the preview column permanently in all Finder windows?

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.2)

Posted on Jan 17, 2016 8:54 PM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

215,346 points

Feb 12, 2016 1:23 PM in response to Adam Meath

I have tried selecting 'hide preview' and then going into view options and setting it as the default view for all Finder windows, but this does not make any difference.

That View menu option opens and closes that Preview column for me.

Try booting into Safe Mode, Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode, and using the View ➙ Hide Preview menu option from there. Then reboot normally and check again.

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Answer 2

Adam Meath Author

Level 1

14 points

Feb 15, 2016 5:38 PM in response to Old Toad

I set my view preferences in Safe Mode, and after a reboot things seemed to hold for that current session .. however once I rebooted a second time, the problem came up again seemingly at random. It can happen when opening any list view window, but once I go back to View, 'Hide Preview', it will hold again (in all other windows), but only for the current session.

Something is preventing these settings being retained following log out or restart.

I likewise tried creating a root user account and changing all the views in there, with the same result as above.

I experienced similar problems in earlier versions of OS X with windows not remembering their settings (i.e. list view windows changing to icon view, tool bars and side bars coming back after being disabled etc.). I wonder if this is all part of a fundamental problem with the way OS X manages Finder window settings.

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Answer 3

Adam Meath Author

Level 1

14 points

May 1, 2016 6:41 PM in response to Adam Meath

Just an update - under 10.11.4 this behavior only manifests itself after a log-out or restart. Once 'Hide Preview' is selected it seems to hold for all Finder windows for the duration of the session. Not perfect, but a big improvement.

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Answer 4

JP007

Level 3

516 points

May 9, 2016 1:20 PM in response to Adam Meath

I've found that it's not enough to manually hide/close the preview window by click-dragging the preview window itself. You need to specifically use the menu option to "Hide Preview" window (as shown above) in order to save it as a window preference.

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