TUAW Tip: "Right Sizing" in the Open Dialog

A few weeks back, Dave Caolo wrote about double-clicking the pipes at the bottom of Finder's column view to automatically resize a column to accommodate long file names. This feature isn't just in Finder. You might be surprised to learn that the Open File dialog supports "right sizing" and it does so far better than Finder browser windows.

To switch to column view in the Open dialog, click the column icon, just to the left of the location pop-up.

As in Finder, you can double-click the double-pipe to right-size the selected column.

Alternatively, right-click (control-click) the double-pipe to open a contextual pop-up menu (shown above) that allows you to choose from several options. Select right-sizing the selected column (as if you'd double-clicked the double-pipe), right-sizing all columns individually (each column sizes to its longest element), and right-sizing all columns equally (each column sizes to match the right-sizing of the current column). I'm not sure why Apple built this behavior into the Open dialog and not into Finder windows. It's certainly useful. Perhaps it will make it into Leopard.

Update: A few more tips, courtesy of our fabulous readers:

* In Finder, Option-Drag the pipes to resize all columns at once. Option-Double-Click the pipes to "Right Size all Columns equally"

* Option+doubleclicking will 'right size' all the columns, not just the root one.

* This menu appears to be a Cocoa-only feature, which is why it doesn't work in iTunes, Finder, Office or Adobe apps.

View Tags

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2007/05/14/mac-101-viewing-long-file-nam…

Categories

TUAW Tips

A few weeks back, Dave Caolo wrote about double-clicking the pipes at the bottom of Finder's column view to automatically resize a column...

Add a Comment

Sign in »

11 Comments

Filter by:

Adam

What I'd really like to know is what on earth "Today Shits.JPG" is.

June 26 2007 at 11:13 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

bkpr

-- 8. It would be nice if I didn't have to click on anything, and it simply remembered where I set things the last time. --

Here, here. It would be SUPER nice if you could select a box that tells Finder to automatically size all columns to show all text all the time.

June 26 2007 at 5:34 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Darren

In Finder, Option+Double-Click a column does the "Right Size All Columns Equally" trick

June 25 2007 at 8:37 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

It would be nice if I didn't have to click on anything, and it simply remembered where I set things the last time. But thanks for the tips. It does help.

June 25 2007 at 6:37 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

ACoolie

Yes, this is Cocoa only, so it won't work in applications such as iTunes, Finder, Microsoft Office, or any Adobe application.

June 25 2007 at 5:18 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

systemsboy

This feature appears to be Cocoa-only.

-systemsboy

June 25 2007 at 4:57 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Otsego_Undead

I can confirm Jimmy Baker's comment about it not working in adobe programs, using the apple dialog (as opposed to Adobe's dialog window). When I first read about this feature from David, I was overjoyed.. until i found out it doesn't work with adobe programs (which is the only programs where i ever use the open dialog). Not sure either why this doesnt work.. I cant even get the right click menu to come up.

June 25 2007 at 4:46 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Leif

In Finder: Option-Drag the pipes to resize all columns at once. Option-Double-Click the pipes to "Right Size all Columns equally".

June 25 2007 at 4:43 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

olcrazypete

Looks like holding down option while doubleclicking will 'right size' all the columns, not just the root one.
P

June 25 2007 at 4:38 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jimmy Baker

Hi.

It doesn't work with Adobe Illustrator or InDesign...
I wonder why (even if I'm not using the "Adobe dialog").

It would be useful - this is one of the reasons I don't use column view; it never remembers when I have adjusted the column width... This "new" undiscovered feature would be great if it would work with the Adobe software, since I use them on a daily basis.

/jiba

June 25 2007 at 4:11 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply