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Finder Ignores Open In New Window

I have Finder preferences set to open in new windows instead of tabs, and I have Preferences->General set to Never prefer tabs. This works for all Finder windows except my Home and Applications windows, and it looks like all windows in the Go menu seem to ignore this setting. They all open in the same window. I'm not sure now how I managed to have my Apps and Home window both open at the same time.


Is there any way to get the Go windows to not ignore my settings? Every time I try to open a folder, I never remember to right click, and have to go back then pop up the menu.

Mac Studio, macOS 12.3

Posted on May 24, 2022 6:10 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 25, 2022 8:13 AM

John Baro1 wrote:

I have Finder preferences set to open in new windows instead of tabs, and I have Preferences->General set to Never prefer tabs. This works for all Finder windows except my Home and Applications windows, and it looks like all windows in the Go menu seem to ignore this setting. They all open in the same window. I'm not sure now how I managed to have my Apps and Home window both open at the same time.

Is there any way to get the Go windows to not ignore my settings? Every time I try to open a folder, I never remember to right click, and have to go back then pop up the menu.


Hmmm....



Try a —SafeBoot How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support


Takes a bit longer to get to the login screen, does a quick disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, including dynamic loader cache, etc.

Login and test. Reboot as normal and test. Caches get rebuilt automatically.



If no insight or resolve—


Could be corrupt plist, delete the com.apple.finder.plist


Found here Finder>Go>Go to Folder copy and paste:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist


Relaunch your Finder from the >Force Quit>Finder>Relaunch

14 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 25, 2022 8:13 AM in response to John Baro1

John Baro1 wrote:

I have Finder preferences set to open in new windows instead of tabs, and I have Preferences->General set to Never prefer tabs. This works for all Finder windows except my Home and Applications windows, and it looks like all windows in the Go menu seem to ignore this setting. They all open in the same window. I'm not sure now how I managed to have my Apps and Home window both open at the same time.

Is there any way to get the Go windows to not ignore my settings? Every time I try to open a folder, I never remember to right click, and have to go back then pop up the menu.


Hmmm....



Try a —SafeBoot How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support


Takes a bit longer to get to the login screen, does a quick disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, including dynamic loader cache, etc.

Login and test. Reboot as normal and test. Caches get rebuilt automatically.



If no insight or resolve—


Could be corrupt plist, delete the com.apple.finder.plist


Found here Finder>Go>Go to Folder copy and paste:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist


Relaunch your Finder from the >Force Quit>Finder>Relaunch

May 27, 2022 1:33 AM in response to John Baro1

Please tell us exactly how you are opening these folders.

The usual way is to double-click. Is that what you are doing? That opens the folder in the SAME window (not on a new window, or a new tab, the same window, replacing what was there before).


If you choose Go->… then again, same window.


If you want all folders to always open in new windows then what you need to do is View->Hide Toolbar.


May 26, 2022 10:04 AM in response to John Baro1

I am not sure I understand...


Of course, if you choose Go->Applications (say), it means to open the Applications folder on the CURRENT window.

This has nothing to do with tabs.

Say you have ONE window with ONE tab, then click Go->something

You will still have only one window and one tab. That is how it has always worked, since well before Finder had tabs.

May 26, 2022 5:10 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

I am not sure I understand...

Of course, if you choose Go->Applications (say), it means to open the Applications folder on the CURRENT window.
This has nothing to do with tabs.
Say you have ONE window with ONE tab, then click Go->something
You will still have only one window and one tab. That is how it has always worked, since well before Finder had tabs.

As an example, I open my Home folder then double click a folder inside the Home folder window, like the Library or Pictures folder. That folder opens in the same window. If I double click a folder in my Apps folder, same thing, it opens in the same window. Every other Finder window (those not accessed by the Go menu) opens a new window when I double click a folder within it.

May 26, 2022 6:06 PM in response to John Baro1

Now NONE of my Finder folders are opening in new windows! Apparently talking about it has made it worse.


I also just noticed something. Windows that open in the same window have their title left justified. Windows that will open new windows have their titles centered. Is that a clue? It seems like every new window I open now has its title left justified.

May 27, 2022 8:50 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

If you want all folders to always open in new windows then what you need to do is View->Hide Toolbar.

That's it, the missing piece of the puzzle. Thanks! That also explains why the window title is justified differently.


So the Finder settings to open in new windows and never in tabs don't actually change the window-opening behavior.

May 27, 2022 8:57 AM in response to John Baro1

By the way, the settings for tabs vs windows do work - if you change it now, without Toolbar, you will see...


And, for a historical note: the way you are using the Finder now, which is sometimes referred to as "spatial Finder", is the way the Finder used to behave in the original Mac OS - each window "was" the folder.

One consequence of that is that you can't have two windows showing the same folder, as you can easily check.

May 27, 2022 9:58 AM in response to dialabrain

dialabrain wrote:


Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

If you want all folders to always open in new windows then what you need to do is View->Hide Toolbar.
FWIW, hiding the Toolbar doesn't work in Column View. At least not for me.


That makes total sense.

In the duality between "spatial" and "browser" Finder, Column View is clearly a browser kind of window.

You can't have a bijection between folders and windows, when a window shows several levels of the folder hierarchy.



May 27, 2022 2:12 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:
And, for a historical note: the way you are using the Finder now, which is sometimes referred to as "spatial Finder", is the way the Finder used to behave in the original Mac OS - each window "was" the folder.

Exactly! I started using a Mac in 1987 (Mac SE, System 5, I believe), and I'm pretty set in my ways when it comes to window behavior. I've never liked the "open in the same window" behavior that was borrowed from Windows. Granted, you can't see the same folder in two views, but you can easily copy between folders. Don't even get me started on single-window or full-screen apps.

May 28, 2022 1:36 AM in response to dialabrain

The first time I used a mac, it was in 1985 - a 128K, soon followed by a 512K (not mine, these machines were at my university).


Like you, I struggled with the new Finder when Mac OS X came along.

It took me a while, but Column View and the Sidebar proved their usefulness. It is great that there is still a choice.


EDIT: dialabrain, as you may have guessed, this post was meant as a reply to the OP

Finder Ignores Open In New Window

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