Instantly Resize Finder Column View to Fit File Names in Mac OS X #Mac

Column View is one of the more useful file browsing view settings in the OS X Finder, but it has a usability flaw that’s initially visible to most users; file names and folders often don’t fit, thus they wind up truncated and become unreadable. Rather than dragging around every single column to accommodate the appropriate file size to make them readable, you can use a super-simple trick instead.

• Double-click the column resize handle to instantly resize that column to accommodate the longest file name

This will instantly snap the column to fit file names, for columns that have long file names it will remove the “…” truncation that occurs by default, and for files that have short file names it will reduce the column width to accommodate their shorter length:

A super short video demonstrates the quickness of this trick:

For those who prefer to use large Finder windows with column view, another quick trick will instantly resize all the columns to the same size:

• Right-click on the column resize handle and choose “Right Size All Columns Equally” to make each column the same width

For those who use Column view often, don’t forget that holding down the “Option” key will set that column size as the default for that specific Finder window and/or folder.

Thanks to Stefan for the excellent tip idea!