Although it worked for me ticking off opening Folders in Tabs, I somehow missed to figure out the second setting in the Dock and thought it was some bug in a version of a macOS that prevented the tab opening nonetheless, so great tip here! Another thing to check, but think the default is In full screen only. Would be interesting to know when that setting is changed from that without anyone changing it by purpose as obviously sometimes has happened … . There are now several things I always change when touching a new Mac: like always showing scroll bars – it is just inefficient not showing them (esp. if helping someone remotely), etc.
Good catch Adam… was wondering the same thing! Always having to detach a tabbed finder window to do file management was a pain. I do appreciate tabbed windows in a browser but thats about it. I too run a 27" iMac but instead of a TB display, I run the yes, Cinema HD Display along side of it.
Cheers!
Sounds like you have a reason to upgrade. 
Thank you! That’s why we share these little observations—you never know who might be in exactly the same boat.
Just how this setting gets turned on is a question. In my case, I’m perfectly willing to assume that I did it at some point in the distant past. That’s what I do—test all the options to see how they interact, and I sometimes forget to change them back or just forget what I’ve done on a test machine. But it does seem that some people end up with settings enabled for reasons they can’t explain. I doubt Apple is turning these things on underneath us, but without some sort of persistent log of setting changes, it’s impossible to trace.
For what it’s worth, I switched to a Guest User in Catalina and found that the Finder tabbed windows preference is turned on by default, but the Dock tabbed windows preference is set to In Full Screen Only by default.
On my MacBook Air 2020 with Catalina 10.15.4 the finder opens a new window with cmd-N, when “Open folders in tabs instead of new windows” is disabled in the Finder preferences and „Prefer tabs when opening new documents” is set to „always" in the Dock preferences.
I prefer tabs in Safari windows, but I prefer separate windows in Finder, as Adam mentioned. Normally, I open new windows with cmd-N, therefor I never get a new tab. But my setting is «Nur im Vollbildmodus» (In Full Screen Only). I don’t remember when I set it 
What I really like with my screen full of open Finder windows is, to see the path of them in the Window menu, which I set with
defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool YES
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Just getting around to reading this week’s TidBits when I had to chuckle at the timing of this article. I had it all set on my main computers but now that my work laptop is getting a workout, I finally hit that point with the tab windows and went online for a solution since it had been so long since I set my other computers. I guess if I had read this issue on Tuesday when I got it, I could have avoided the search elsewhere.
I tried this and it didn’t work. Perhaps I misunderstood your terminology. Or maybe the fact that I always use Icon View has something to do with it. Anyway, all I want is for my iMac to work like all the macs I have used since 1987, and open a folder in a new window when I double click on it. Instead, I now have to right click on it and select Open in New Window to accomplish this simple task. Being a creature of habit, I frequently forget this unnecessary extra step, and curse my stupidity as I have to back up and do it over the new way. Windows has always worked this way, which is one reason I’ve always hated Windows. I never thought the Mac would copy anything in that miserable interface.
It sounds like what you want is for a new window to open for every folder, which isn’t something that macOS has done for many years. This article was about tabbed windows, which is different.
There is a trick though, which will be easier for you. Hold down the Command key while you double-click on folders and you’ll get a new window each time.
You can still open folders in a new window without having to use the Command key modifier. Simply go to the Finder View menu and select “Hide Toolbar”. This setting is not global and only applies to the current window and any Finder windows that you open by double clicking on a folder icon.
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I was delighted when I encountered this article. Today, it has stopped working! Am I going mad? Whats’up?
Well, I found a fix, not a solution. I had gone to Dock and made the setting Prefer tabs when opening documents Manually and it had not fixed the unwanted tabbing. So, in desperation, I rebooted the computer and now I can have two application windows open at the same time. Is this really the solution?
On an ancillary note, I’m thoroughly annoyed by the Finder’s refusal to remember the size to which I set a window. I know a window used to remember its size, but I can’t remember exactly when it changed.
I set my folders big enough to see all the stuff in there in icon view whenever possible; but if I ever, even once, get to a given folder indirectly (e.g. opening it in an existing window), it now remembers that size instead of the size to which I set it. In other words, a given window’s size is a moving target.
To see this in action, open a new Finder window (cmd-N). (This will presumably open your user, or home, folder.) Change its size, then close it. Now cmd-N again, and you’ll see that the new user window opens with the same size to which you just set it. So far, so good; it remembers its set size. Close it, then from another window of a different size (say, very small), click your username in the sidebar. Close that window, and cmd-N again. Notice that your user window is now the size of the (very small) window you reused to get to it a moment ago. Musical sizes, very frustrating!
Anybody know of a way to return to the desired behavior (i.e., leave it the size I set it and quit messing with it, damn it!)? TinkerTool is great for silent Finder settings, but no joy.
I have had luck with opening a new Finder window, positioning it and sizing it, and then closing it without doing anything else.
That works…until you open that same (folder) window directly from another (folder) window; then, it inherits that window’s size!
Just came across this top tip. Thank you. It’s been driving me nuts!
And why is that solution in the dock preference?