Change and remember default Finder window size

Hallo Patrick! Open a new Finder window and set its size to the way you want while holding down the option key. This has been working for me on my iMac since Yosemite. BTW, this also works for setting where you want a Finder window to open on the desktop. Hope this helps you! Cheers, Ian.

I'm having this issue only now that I have upgraded to High Sierra. No issues prior to this. It appears to be related to the PREVIEW pane of the finder window. I can resize the window to the size I want, but as soon as I click on a file (Clicking on folders is fine) that activates the PREVIEW pane, the window resizes to ensure the PREVIEW is completely visible. I tested this by right clicking on FINDER WINDOW to get "Show View Options" and un-checked "Show preview column." That stopped the window from resizing, but now I obviously have no PREVIEW available. I guess we're supposed to choose between seeing what's in a file before having to go through the trouble of opening it, or put up with the annoying, oversized, overlapping finder windows. I wish it wasn't such an ordeal to revert to previous OS, or I'd do it right now. Since I can "preview" using the SPACE BAR, I am opting to un-check the "Show preview column" and keep the window sizes consistent. All I'm really losing is the ability to see a video clip preview in a FINDER column, no biggie. I hope this helps others having the same issue.

One thing that you may overlooking is that each folder you open will have its own defaults (which are stored in its hidden .DS_Store file). That is how you can have folder A open in list view, and folder B open in icon view, for example.

If you change the size of a window for folder A, it won't affect a preexisting folder B, but it will affect a subsequently created new folder C.

I hope this makes sense.

You could type a little Terminal command that deletes all .DS_Store files, then set up a window as you like, and that should in principle also make other folder windows follow this default, but I would not recommend this, well at least not without making a backup first, as it involves deleting thousands of little files, and as you probably know, a little typo in such a command may result in serious consequences.

Thanks for the reply. I might buy that if every time this happened I was working with/in a Folder, but that's not the case. A File can stand alone inside a Directory (Like the Desktop or Downloads) and the window will still resize to fit the Preview pane once said File has been clicked on. Also, this happened, literally, the second I finished the "upgrade" to High Sierra, which indicates it's something in the new OS. The .DS files that already exist SHOULDN'T change anything until the file is opened, and once that happens, the current OS will just continue to modify the folder settings anyway. I'm afraid this is an Apple fix in the OS and won't be solved by settings or messing around with 3rd party software. It's obviously NOT a big deal to Apple by the looks of things, but I'm not surprised there. They only care if you have a credit card and call their paid support line. If they're not making $$, you simply don't matter.

It seems I did not make myself clear, and also perhaps did not fully understand your question.

The window size works differently in Column View than it works in Icon or List View.

Since you are concerned with the preview pane, I now think you are talking about Column View, and as such my previous digression about .DS_Store does not apply.

When you click on a file in Column View, by default the Preview pane will show. In this case, the window size (for me) does not change, and never did. The columns will shift to the left to make room for the preview. Are you saying that is not what is happening to you?

I believe I still don't understand the problem you are experiencing, so maybe if you post two screenshots illustrating the issue it will become clearer.

It happens in the two Finder schemes that utilize a preview pane, column and cover flow. This would obviously not apply to icon and list views as they have no Preview panes.

After opening a Finder window, BUT PRIOR TO CLICKING ON ANY FILES, the window can be resized down to about 1/3 the height of the screen, allowing for at least two Finder windows to be displayed at once. Clicking on a folder in column view will not change anything, however, once a FILE has been selected the preview pane will be activated and displayed in the next column to the right. In cover flow view, it will allow the window to be resized when opened, but will change the size when clicking on a FOLDER as well as any FILE. The size the windows are changed to are the size required to see 100% of the information displayed in the preview pane, whereas previously it did not matter if the info was visible, it just had a scroll bar to see the rest w/o resizing the entire window automatically.

BTW, another bug is that Mail.app delivers some mail completely blacked out. The notification that you replied was just a black page, but there were active links. I scrolled over the black page until the cursor changed and clicked on it. I was lucky and it opened up the correct page for this reply. This may have to actually be solved. I can't NOT read emails. I may have to "bite the bullet" and wipe/re-install earlier version. (Time Machine was Time Capsule that was destroyed by lightning and I don't have a backup past July.)

There is a shortcut in the Finder to display hidden files (command-shift-.)

but the .DS_Store files are treated specially, and even then are not displayed.

So the only way appears to via Terminal.

Be careful as you can do very powerful and potentially destructive things if you type the wrong commands - especially if you use sudo, which grants you big privileges.

Be VERY CAREFUL. If you mess things up you may lose data, or make your mac unbootable.

This is the command to delete the .DS_Store file at the root level of your drive. Copy and paste the full line

sudo rm /.DS_Store

you will be asked for your password. Make sure the command is correctly typed, then enter your password (it won't show anything) and finally press enter.

Greetings! Anyone experiencing this resizing issue, PLEASE go to www.apple.com/feedback and report this as a BUG, which it is! The more people that report this, the faster it MAY get resolved. Even suggest that if it so important that we see all of the preview info, that they instead put a vertical scroll bar in the preview column.

Thank you!

Thanks for the hint, I'll remember that.
They're not making it easy on us, are they? Couldn't Apple just follow the member activity here on Discussions? They'd probably find a ton of inspiration for improving next gen computers, free of charge.

Also, I'm not sure if the issue this thread started is the same issue that it ended with. For me, it was the starting issue: the Finder opening frame size--regardless of what's in it.

Finally, I really think that the solutions offered, (Safe Mode, Terminal commands) are quite a bit of overkill for issues that appear tiny (and are solved on other operating systems). I can resize my Finder frame manually, no problem, but if you use Finder a lot, like I do, then having to do this every time it becomes a behavioral pathology: you upgrade to a new OSX, you don't notice the slight change at first, it used to be perfect before, and only after a while you become aware of the systematic change such as the one raised by PatrickZJD1 in this thread. Well, I guess, at least I'm glad that it's been pointed out.