How to close all Finder windows at once except one?

The whole post...

The following AppleScript will get the window id of all Finder windows and process all except the first window. It closes the windows in the opposite order to their creation, leaving the original Finder window displayed. It will also close all collapsed Finder Windows, except the very first that was created.

tell application "Finder"

activate

set wlist to index of every Finder window

copy rest of wlist to winlist-- items 2 .. n of opened windows

repeat with idx in (reverse of winlist)

tell Finder window idx to close

end repeat

end tell

return

This code can be used in an Automator Service, like the following (name of service is arbitrary):

And in System Preferences : Keyboard : Shortcuts : Services : General, I assigned a keyboard shortcut of control+command+W, which allows one to invoke the Finder Window closing code from the keyboard, or one can choose Finder menu : Services : All Finder WIndows But One.

You can close all Finder Windows clicking the red button with the option key held down.

You can use key shortcuts to open the Finder window you want (see Finder>Go),

and one default preference can be set Finder>Preferences>General (command N)

You can also use Tabs in one Finder window: macOS Sierra: Open folders in new Finder tabs or windows

You can still use the AppleScript suggested at the macworld link you posted, but there's no need for any 'third-party keyboard shortcut tool' since automator can create a Service which runs an AppleScript; and System Preferences - Keyboard - Shortcuts - Services allows you to assign a keyboard shortcut to it.

Not perfect, since there's a noticeable delay when using it; but perhaps it's quicker for you than closing the others manually.

This is not possible.

That article is more than 11 years old when 10.4 Tiger was the newest version. There have been 9 major version upgrades since then. It's not surprising that those features no longer work.

The following AppleScript will get the window id of all Finder windows and process all except the first window. It closes the windows in the opposite order to their creation, leaving the original Finder window displayed. It will also close all collapsed Finder Windows, except the very first that was created.

tell application "Finder"

activate

set wlist to index of every Finder window

copy rest of wlist to winlist-- items 2 .. n of opened windows

repeat with idx in (reverse of winlist)

tell Finder window idx to close

end repeat

end tell

return