I see evidence that Apple is now willing to admit they were wrong and fix things - butterfly keyboards were the start, now we’re hearing about SD card slots returning.
If there was a similar list of things people want in MacOS, it would be great to promote it.
Reviving this topic wondering if anyone knows of a permanent fix or an app option? I am hoping to find out how to permanently right-size column width because I use column view exclusively. As an academic, I have a lot of files and folders with long names, and it’s beyond frustrating to have to tediously click and drag to manually resize the dang columns. Apple really needs to make this a preference setting, but according to their community forums, people are still complaining about this as of 2 months ago. I’m a former Mac Genius from the days of Panther through Snow Leopard, and I’ve been a Mac user since 1995, so it’s irritating knowing it IS POSSIBLE if the Finder code team just decided to do it.
This post is the reason I will never quit this forum. I’ve learned more about astrophotography scrolling this feed than I could have imagined. I know this comment will not solve your conundrum, but I am grateful for this masterclass on astrophotography!
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I love Column View and hate when something (macOS typically) switches me to other views.
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I have taken to switching into list view when I need to do specific things that need the entire filename. I also tag the files based on one of the items in the filename as the tag is always shown. (For those still interested in astro, that’s the filter used for each frame).
Also, I discovered the rename… dialog when you have mutliple files selected, it’s a thing of beauty.
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One possible way is to create an AppleScript and attach it to an Automator folder action. Be aware this solution works slowly and in an ugly way.
(* Finder: Change List view options
Works with Sonoma 14.7.1
Original idea: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3533331, 2011
Further improvements: https://macscripter.net/t/76565, 2024
See also:
- https://macscripter.net/t/35411, 2005
- https://forum.keyboardmaestro.com/t/18981, 2020, I didn't read it
*)
tell application "Finder"
tell front Finder window
set currentTarget to its target
set current view to list view
set options to its list view options
end tell
activate
delay 0.5
tell application "System Events" to tell process "Finder" -- show columns
tell menu item "Show View Options" of menu of menu bar item "View" of menu bar 1 to if exists then click
delay 0.5
repeat with boxName in {"Date Modified", "Date Created", "Date Last Opened", "Date Added", "Size", "Kind", "Version", "Comments", "Tags"} -- column names
if boxName is in {"Date Modified", "Date Created", "Size", "Kind", "Version", "Comments", "Tags"} then
tell checkbox boxName of group 1 of window 1 to if value is 0 then click -- check desired columns
else
tell checkbox boxName of group 1 of window 1 to if value is 1 then click -- uncheck others
end if
end repeat
delay 0.5
tell menu item "Hide View Options" of menu of menu bar item "View" of menu bar 1 to if exists then click
end tell
tell options
set width of column name column to 250
set width of column modification date column to 1
set width of column creation date column to 1
set width of column size column to 1
set width of column kind column to 1
set width of column version column to 1
set width of column comment column to 1
set width of column label column to 1
set the index of column name column to 1
set the index of column modification date column to 2
set the index of column creation date column to 3
set the index of column size column to 4
set the index of column kind column to 5
set the index of column version column to 6
set the index of column comment column to 7
set the index of column label column to 8
end tell
tell front Finder window -- workaround to refresh window to current column order
set its target to container of currentTarget -- previous...
set its target to currentTarget -- ...and back
end tell
end tell
The respective line is
set width of column name column to 250
I have dealt with much of this issue using a one-step Keyboard Maestro script. It is fairly reliable in my own hands but I am not entirely comfortable because it relies on Keyboard Maestro - found image feature.
The key issue is that you want to Option-Double Click on one of the thin gray vertical lines that separate the columns in Column View. It can be done manually easily enough. Move the mouse pointer so it overlies one of those vertical lines and Option-Double Click. But it is a little bid fiddly in that it requires pretty precise localization of the mouse pointer.
Anyway, my Keyboard Maestro Macro
The trick is to select as your found image a segment of a vertical gray line which the macros can “find” as use at its target. That line is centered in that “to be found” image.
Obviously. there are many “targets” for KM to find that have about 15 mm of vertical gray line in a Column View Finder window… But this does not seem to bother it. It basically seems to work for me despite my discomfort of relying on KM to do the “difficult” task of finding a pattern somewhere on the Finder window.
I assign this macro to a keyboard hot key. I punch that and the Finder window adjusts all the columns to fit the largest file name in that particular column.
Obviously it would be better if the Finder itself had a keyboard shortcut to accomplish the same thing.
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Auto-adjust column widths to filenames in column view? It works!
THIS IS SO NICE!
I’VE BEEN WAITING YEARS FOR THIS!
Thank you!
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Another upvote for this! I have eschewed column view because of the resizing issue, but after trying out Supercharge as a result of this post, I immediately bought a license for that feature alone.
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I HATE Apple for not fixing this!
Column view is the best thing since fire was invented.
I used to use XtraFinder for that which worked great! …but then came the Sandbox thing that didn’t allow developers to adjust things in Finder, and ever since then (8+ years?) I have lived without it.
But I hate Apple every time I get truncated file names. That means a lot of hate and bad energy. 
I will try Supercharge immediately!!!
O.M.G!!! It works! That’s a huge stone that’s been lifted from my shoulders!
Thank you thank you thank you @Tech_in_IT !!!
How many beers do I owe you?
Also, seems like a nice little app, will check the other features eventually. 
Thanks again. 
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It is not perfect for me because I do not want this feature to ALWAYS apply. Many times I appreciate the fact that I can get more columns in the window with Apple truncating long file names. For me, the best solution is one where there is a keyboard shortcut that performs the function for the circumstances that I specifical need it.
That said, I am going to give it a try and see how I actually end up feelng about it. Thanks for the tip. BTW Supercharge is available as part of the SetApp subscription.
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This forum has already helped me a lot, I just wanted to give back 
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My early experience is that it works most of the time. But I have some experiences openng a Finder window and it does not expand the columns. It seems to happen most commonly when I am opening a Saved Search that I have created or something like “Recents”.
This is a screenshot AFTER I set up the Tweak in Supercharge.
It is not too discouraging in that it does work the large majority of the time.
I think the Supercharge app only fails to expand filenames if the list of files have been determined, or if their filenames have been changed, outside of the Finder window. If you click a folder to display its contents, that folder’s filenames WILL be expanded.
A trigger is needed to calculate the filename expansions. As you navigate around, that trigger is a click on the parent folder.
That does not reliably work for me. Here is a screenshot after having clicked on Desktop.
Still the column has not expanded.
I’m just guessing here. Not privy to any source code, and probably could not understand it unless it was really well commented. Help me out here. Your screenshot is missing context. Is the right hand column up against the edge of a window, for example? There are going to be edge cases to work out in an early version of any app.
You know Apple hasn’t even begun to fix this display issue for years, if not decades, right? The Supercharge app is a big step in the right direction for me. Unless some showstopper pops up during my trial period, I’ll be giving the dev my money.
Context: I show the Sidebar in my Finder windows. For my screenshot example, I wanted to try your suggestion to specifically select the parent folder and see if that ever resulted in a failure. I chose my user name from the Sidebar which results in the high levels folders all becoming visible. Then I selected Desktop (It is highlighted in blue showing that it has just been selected). The column of its contents shows up and that column is not expanded.
The none of the sides of the window are on the edge of the screen.
As for myself, I have no reason to maliciously attack the developer. I am just relating my experience that the app’s behavior is not perfect. I provided this feedback to the developer.
I had originally thought that selecting off the Sidebar was occasionally causing the misbehavior. For me it seems to most commonly occur when I chose a “SavedSearch” folder from the Sidebar. But this is not entirely reproducible. Somethimes it seems to happen. Othertimes not.
I wonder if you have your Finder windows set up with the Sidebar visible. Apparently, you have never had my experience?
As for myself, I am continuing to use the app to see if I perfer the behavior it provides even though it does not always behave as expected. It has not cause me any actual problems.
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Me, too. I find that the “Auto-adjust column widths to filenames in column view” feature in the Supercharge app is a significant improvement to Column View in the Finder. I will continue to use it as it is. The solo indie developer has already given me something I’ve wanted from Apple for a long time. My thanks go to @Tech_in_IT for making progress on this issue!
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