# Auto-resizing columns in Finder

**URL:** <https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/auto-resizing-columns-in-finder/52435>\
**Category:** Lounge\
**Created:** [November 14, 2025, 6:45pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/auto-resizing-columns-in-finder/52435 "2025-11-14T18:45:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![differentdan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/differentdan/32/33530_2.png) [@differentdan](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/differentdan)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 6:45pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/auto-resizing-columns-in-finder/52435/1 "2025-11-14T18:45:10Z")

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One thing that’s always annoyed me about Finder is that in Column view, the columns didn’t automatically resize based on the filename.

You could manually resize all the columns by sliding each column divider left or right, or right-clicking (control clicking) the divider icon and selecting “ **Right Size All Columns Individually** ”, but that wouldn’t persist on opening a new Finder window.

 ![column-view-2](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/uploads/realmacsoftware1/original/3X/1/e/1e12ecd985e739bedc1ffc5e09bb818560b7e890.jpeg)

I saw on macOS Tahoe 26.1, Apple finally added an option in the Column View settings to automatically right size all columns individually and that setting would persist, but I don’t really like Liquid Glass (yet) so I haven’t updated to Tahoe.

Looks like someone found a workaround however for those that are still on Sequoia 😄

Just open up Terminal on your Mac, copy in the below, and press return.

`defaults write com.apple.finder _FXEnableColumnAutoSizing -bool YES; killall Finder`

Now, your columns will automatically resize based on the length of the filename (up to a certain point).

Not sure this works on anything older than macOS Sequoia, but for anybody holding out on updating to macOS Tahoe, and you have the same annoyance with Finder as me, the above fixes that. 🙂

_If you want to reverse the above behavior, you can just open Terminal, copy the below in, and press return:_

`defaults write com.apple.finder _FXEnableColumnAutoSizing -bool NO; killall Finder`

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**Author:** ![Mathew](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/mathew/32/2771_2.png) [@Mathew](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/Mathew)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 7:36pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/auto-resizing-columns-in-finder/52435/2 "2025-11-14T19:36:09Z")

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Great tip! Thanks so much

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**Author:** ![dan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/dan/32/28516_2.png) [@dan](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/dan)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 9:59pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/auto-resizing-columns-in-finder/52435/3 "2025-11-14T21:59:49Z")

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Oh that is awesome, very handy to know 😍

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**Author:** ![austinbiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7c8e57/32.png) [@austinbiel](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/austinbiel)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 2:08pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/auto-resizing-columns-in-finder/52435/4 "2026-01-30T14:08:56Z")

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This has been huge - confirms it works in Sonoma.

However, it only seems to resize for filenames but not for folder names?

Am I getting this wrong, bug in Sonoma, or is there a similar process for folder names?

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**Author:** ![differentdan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/differentdan/32/33530_2.png) [@differentdan](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/differentdan)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 5:09pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/auto-resizing-columns-in-finder/52435/5 "2026-01-30T17:09:52Z")

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Hi @austinbiel

Unfortunately I’m not sure it works fully on Sonoma. I read online Apple changed a flag in Sequoia which allowed this to work fully, and I don’t have Sonoma to test on.

If I had to guess though it probably only fully works on Sequoia.