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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > macOS > how get rid of panther sidebar for good?

how get rid of panther sidebar for good?
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OmniX
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Jun 24, 2004, 08:37 AM
 
simply put, i really do not like the sidebar, at all, and would like if i never have to interact with it. however, for some reason it insists at popping up in new finder windows i open, and also in open/save boxes. is there any preference (hidden or not), or anything else I can set/do to rid my computer of this menace?!!!

tx for any suggestions,
ox
     
iNeusch
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Jun 24, 2004, 09:17 AM
 
for finder windows :
open a new window
set it up the way you like it
close it
should stay that way

for save dialog :
just close the side drawer by moving the divider

should work
     
OmniX  (op)
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Jun 24, 2004, 10:53 AM
 
yup, for both finder and other apps, the above should (logically speaking, at least) work, but it doesn't! every time I do this, i come back after a reboot and these settings are gone--they are not memorized.
     
iNeusch
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Jun 24, 2004, 11:01 AM
 
Originally posted by OmniX:
yup, for both finder and other apps, the above should (logically speaking, at least) work, but it doesn't! every time I do this, i come back after a reboot and these settings are gone--they are not memorized.
You can always get rid of all the .DS stores fils from your HD, but I don't remember if these include the finder windows
There was a command about that on MacOSXHints.com
     
zachs
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Jun 24, 2004, 11:02 AM
 
Originally posted by iNeusch:
You can always get rid of all the .DS stores fils from your HD, but I don't remember if these include the finder windows
There was a command about that on MacOSXHints.com
Won't they just be re-created?
     
OmniX  (op)
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Jun 24, 2004, 11:06 AM
 
is there a .DS_store file for the 'root' of the GUI, i.e. the 'My Computer' window? that thing NEVER remembers my settings; furthermore even though I'm on an admin account, it displays the little pencil with an X through it, suggesting that I can't modify the window in any way...
     
iNeusch
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Jun 24, 2004, 11:08 AM
 
Originally posted by zachs:
Won't they just be re-created?
Yes but with brand new data
     
iNeusch
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Jun 24, 2004, 11:09 AM
 
Originally posted by OmniX:
is there a .DS_store file for the 'root' of the GUI, i.e. the 'My Computer' window? that thing NEVER remembers my settings; furthermore even though I'm on an admin account, it displays the little pencil with an X through it, suggesting that I can't modify the window in any way...
You need that terminal command to delete those files being root
Search MacOSXHints.com
Pretty easy to find and it should solve (part of) your problem
     
diamondsw
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Jun 24, 2004, 02:18 PM
 
No, none of this will fix his problem. Do the following:

1) Create a folder called "A". Set it up how you like it, with metal turned off.
2) Create a folder called "B" inside folder "A". Set it up how you like it, with metal turned off.
3) Verify that they look right by opening/closing it a couple times.
4) Put folder "A" on the dock.
5) Using the contextual menu on the dock for folder "A", open folder "B".

Alternatively, after step 3, go to the Terminal and "open A/B".

Wham! Back to metal. However, if you *now* set it to non-metal, it will stay that way. The Finder appears to store the "metal" setting in two places - once when you're setting all the window settings, but also once when a window is instantiated directly (something tells the Finder "open this window", rather than you the user clicking to it). This results in non-metal windows becoming metal all the time. THAT is what Apple needs to fix, as well as add a preference for "never seen before" windows with no information to open as metal vs non-metal (think ISO CD's).

What's also annoying is that if the metal and sidebar force the window position to change, that gets saved as well when you close the window, which can mess up your window layout if you're especially anal about it.
     
Hal Itosis
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Jun 24, 2004, 02:30 PM
 
Originally posted by OmniX:
is there a .DS_store file for the 'root' of the GUI, i.e. the 'My Computer' window? that thing NEVER remembers my settings; furthermore even though I'm on an admin account, it displays the little pencil with an X through it, suggesting that I can't modify the window in any way...
The .DS_Store in the 'root' contains settings for windows the next level down. And actually... the view displayed by the "Computer" window doesn't even exist (in reality). It is a totally synthesized view (combining the contents of /Volumes and /). The settings for that "window" are kept in each user's

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist

... and it is slightly bug-ridden. To control certain settings, we have to resort to editing the plist! For example... to achieve the view I wanted, I had to add these lines:

<key>ComputerIconViewArrangeBy</key>
<string>kind</string>
<key>ComputerIconViewIconSize</key>
<integer>64</integer>


More details can be found here:

http://www.personal.kent.edu/~blukens/viewoptions.html
( Last edited by Hal Itosis; Jun 24, 2004 at 02:35 PM. )
-HI-
     
OmniX  (op)
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Jun 24, 2004, 02:32 PM
 
thanks, diamond.

i'll try these tips in a bit.

but regardless, I think this points out just one small way (of many!) in which the Panther Finder is inconsistent and poorly designed. hopefully Tiger will have more to offer (but then we've been hoping that since Beta, right? Not to get too off-topic, but I seem to recall John Siracusa speculating that a full-fledged meta-data implementation would probably have to wait for 10.5, whenever that comes (probably Longhorn time, judging by recent comments that Apple was going to stop doing the yearly OSX release thing); and if Apple is holding off on doing a ground-up rewrite of the Finder (what it probably needs) until then, then I'm not terribly optimistic about Tiger)
     
MartiNZ
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Jun 24, 2004, 04:37 PM
 
Originally posted by iNeusch:
for finder windows :
open a new window
set it up the way you like it
close it
should stay that way

for save dialog :
just close the side drawer by moving the divider

should work
I have found that this latter only works for save dialogs in Cocoa apps - the carbon ones just go back to big sidebar and badly sized list view columns every time. In fact I think before 10.3.3 they all reverted.... It's a pain, especially with the date modified format, even though time is not really that important there .

Anyway as for the Finder windows, it is necessary to open each individual folder directly and set everything up ... and that's a lot of folders - but operating in the brushed metal Finder manner it is okay to set up a number of folders that you will generally access directly - a real pain, but it works.

This is what I have done to a degree, but of course if I ever change my mind on how I want the position and window size set, it has to be done all over again .
     
   
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