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0 pointscoryfklein3mo ago0 comments

What the heck is a spatial file manager

0 comments

Each folder has a remembered display state. If in large icon mode, you can drag icons around into the positions you want and they'll stay that way the next time you visit the folder.

The idea is that it's not directories that are just bags of files, but files occupy spatial locations in folder windows.

lobsterthief3mo ago

Ah, this makes sense. Am I hallucinating that columns widths used to be remembered many years back? In other words, in column view, if you resized a column for a given folder, close Finder, and reopen to that folder—it would remain the same width.

Finder is mostly unusable for any directory containing long filenames since it doesn’t remember this. But I swear it used to. Am I misremembering?

FabHK3mo ago

FWIW, there is a hidden option to automatically resize columns to accommodate the longest (up to a point) visible file name:

https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/01/26/hidden-pref-col...

LoganDark3mo ago

I just tested and for me they seem to be remembered for my Downloads folder. Weirdly, at first it didn't seem to be remembered, but then I pressed ⌘+J to look at the view settings, and now when I change a column width it seems to be remembered...

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pjmlp3mo ago

Besides the sibling comments, it is how Finder used to work in Mac OS Classic.

xp843mo ago

Essentially John Siracusa's preferred file browsing environment

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