Does anybody's Finder preserve window defaults across reboots?

[Simon]

For many versions of macOS and OS X I have suffered from an issue where Finder would forget my default window preferences (size, position, column widths, etc.). On the old TidBITS comments system we had an entire thread about things to try and make it work. We went through every single thing. Nothing fixed it. It seemed though at least some others also encountered the issue (thread link) and eventually the workaround became to write a little AppleScript app (thread link) that would set the right window properties and you’d just run it whenever Finder restarted or you launched your Mac so that you got the default window back to how you want it. I’ve been using that trick ever since and had kind of forgotten about the issue.

Anyway, my wife just two days ago got her brand new M1 MacBook Air to replace her trusty old 2010 MBP. She spec’ed the little machine to the max and it’s an absolute joy to see it destroy my 2020 $3k Intel MBP. That said, she set it up from scratch with a vanilla Big Sur and to my great surprise, her Finder did not preserve her default window settings across relaunches/reboots.

In the past I always had this suspicion that I might have some defaults setting set somewhere that was the root cause of my Finder not preserving its defaults while others who didn’t have that (unknown) defaults setting seemed to report it working just fine. So much for my theory. But now I see that on a brand new vanilla Big Sur system, the same issue pops up and Finder is not preserving user settings. Only Finder BTW, no other app seems to be showing this behavior.

So my question to all of you out there: do you always see Finder preserve your preferences for default window? Do your choices get retained across Finder relaunches and Mac reboots? I’m starting to wonder if what I consider a bug is actually desired behavior, so I’m curious to hear what behavior other users see.

[Gobit]

G’day Simon

Window Position and Size = where on the screen and what size a new Finder window opens

Finder Preferences = anything under Finder > Preferences

Window Preferences = any setting found under Finder > View

Home Macs
These don’t connect to any servers and are fully shut down every evening.

Window Position and Size – first new window after start-up opens in centre of screen at “default” size; any new window thereafter opens wherever the previous window had been moved to and at what size it had resized to.

Finder Preferences – retained through multiple OS upgrades

Window Preferences – retained through multiple OS upgrades

Work Mac
This does connect to various servers; servers stay running overnight, Mac is fully shut down every evening

Local Mac Finder Windows
Window Position and Size – first new window after I start up opens in centre of screen at “default” size; any new window thereafter opens wherever the previous window had been moved to and at what size it had resized to.

Finder Preferences – retained through multiple OS upgrades

Window Preferences – retained through multiple OS upgrades

Server-derived Finder Windows on my Work Mac (Finder > Go > Connect to Server)
Window Position – first new window after start-up opens wherever and at whatever size the first person to connect to that server that day has placed the window on their Mac. Any new windows thereafter open at the place and size on my Mac that I had moved/sized the first window of the day to.

Finder Preferences – retained until the server connection is severed by means other than normal ejection from my Mac (eg power failure, someone reboots the server without warning, etc). After abnormal ejection Finder Preferences are sometimes retained, sometimes lost.

Window Preferences – retained until the server connection is severed by means other than normal ejection from my Mac (eg power failure, someone reboots the server without warning, etc). After abnormal ejection Window Preferences are sometimes retained, sometimes lost.

Hope that makes sense.

Cheers, Gobit

[Simon]

Thank you, @gobit. Very interesting.

What you called Window Position and Size is what I was after. It sounds like your Macs (local, not server derived) also open the first window at some “default” center position and with a “default” size that doesn’t match what you had previously set (before relaunch/restart).

I’m really starting to think this is intentional behavior and not a bug, as I had always assumed.

[Will_M]

Under Mojave, the Finder remembers my window positions and sizes and display type (details or multi-column). But let’s make sure we’re talking about the same thing. I leave the windows open and visible when I Shut Down or Restart, and they return to their previous positions.

It wasn’t clear if you were talking about a new Finder window that is opened after the reboot or startup. As I said, I have the desired behavior for windows that were open and visible. I seem to recall that if the Finder is hidden or the window is minimized (I don’t recall which, but it could be both), then one tab of the multi-tab Finder window would no longer be there. Also, since you mentioned an M1 MacBook Air, I’m sure your wife is not using Mojave, so my experience might not apply.

When I open a new Finder window, it is slightly offset from my existing Finder window that is closer to the upper left corner of the screen. I don’t think it should matter, but this is on an external display of a closed MacBook.

If you find a solution, please post it.

[Simon]

Thanks, @Will_M. I was indeed talking about the settings for a new Finder window (when using just a single Finder window at a time, I’m not bothered by the offsetting that occurs when you open more Finder windows). I usually don’t leave any windows open when restarting Finder or rebooting. So when Finder comes back up, the first window (cmd-n) will always be centered and tiny. I can move that window to where I want it and resize it to my liking, and that will indeed stick for future new Finder windows. But only up until I relaunch Finder. Then it’s back to square one.

I have a workaround. One is the AppleScript in the thread I linked to above. The other would be running an app like FinderMinder (free, kudos to @GraphicMac for pointing it out to me), although that does more than just restore desired window settings. It’s not so much the workaround I’m after but figuring out if what I see is the ‘normal’ behavior everybody else sees (as intended by Apple) or if this is buggy behavior as I previously always assumed.