TITLE: Snippets to tweak macOS Finder.app
DATE: 2020-05-10
AUTHOR: John L. Godlee
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MacOS' Finder.app and the Dock aren't really designed for power 
users, but both are so integral to the Desktop Environment that 
it's difficult to do without. Fortunately there are a few tweaks 
which can be made to make both a bit better. Below is a list of the 
various code snippets I've used to adjust Finder, the Dock, and a 
couple of other closely related utilities that come bundled with 
macOS:

Show full filepath in Finder address bar:

    defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool 
true; killall Finder

Hide path bar in Finder:

    defaults write com.apple.finder ShowPathbar -bool true; killall 
Finder

Show hidden files and directories in Finder:

    defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE; killall 
Finder

Enable text selection in QuickLook windows:

    defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableTextSelection -bool 
TRUE; killall Finder

Disable QuickLook window animation:

    defaults write -g QLPanelAnimationDuration -float 0; killall 
Finder

Disable window animations:

    defaults write NSGlobalDomain 
NSAutomaticWindowAnimationsEnabled -bool false

Reduce transparency across system:

    defaults write com.apple.universalaccess reduceTransparency 1

Show file extensions in Finder:

    defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleShowAllExtensions -bool 
true; killall Finder

Display folders first in finder:

    defaults write com.apple.finder _FXSortFoldersFirst -bool true; 
killall Finder

Always use list view as default in Finder:

    defaults write com.apple.finder FXPreferredViewStyle -string 
"Nlsv"; killall Finder

Show the user Library folder in Finder:

    chflags nohidden ~/Library && xattr -d com.apple.FinderInfo 
~/Library

Make the Dock reappear instantly on hover and disable the slide-in 
animation:

    defaults write com.apple.Dock autohide-time-modifier -int 0; 
killall Dock
    defaults write com.apple.Dock autohide-delay -float 0; killall 
Dock

Make hidden apps transparent in the Dock:

    defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -bool yes; killall Dock

Disable bouncing animation for Dock items:

    defaults write com.apple.Dock no-bouncing -bool TRUE; kilall 
Dock

Expand system save panel by default:

    defaults write NSGlobalDomain 
NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode -bool true
    defaults write NSGlobalDomain 
NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode2 -bool true

Disable screenshot floating preview thumbnail created by 
Screenshot.app:

    defaults write com.apple.screencapture show-thumbnail -bool 
FALSE