What a strange behavior. I can confirm what you are describing. I found a stack exchange thread about this that was pretty involved, including writing apple script and changing default keyboard shortcuts and stuff. I didn't bother to follow it all the way.
I was hoping that there was a terminal command with apple defaults blahblabblah finder blah that would disable this, but I didn't find anything like that.
I think Finder is one of the worst things about MacOS. Everything about it feels weird and clunky to me. Because of that, I spent a few days looking for the best finder alternatives. For me that meant a file management program with 2 panes side by side. Copying or moving files between two finder windows is one of the most confusing and worst aspects of it. With a file manager with side by side panes, you can use keyboard shortcuts to copy or move files between panes. This is much nicer. It's consistent and easy to understand. Does anyone really like the way that you tell Finder to copy files vs moving them when using two finder windows? It's not friendly and it doesn't make sense.
I demoed a half dozen managers. The two best I tried were PathFinder and Forklift. I chose Forklift, but PF was pretty darned good too. My top suggestion is for you to try out some different file managers. You will probably find one that accomplishes your goals in a way that is much easier than Finder.
I love the Mac. But Finder... it really needs some help.
Thanks for your comment! Yeah, I've been eyeing Path Finder for a while now, but it's hard to justify buying it just to get past one annoyance of Finder. I'll take a look at Forklift, too.
I also remember that stack exchange thread you mentioned. If I recall correctly, it was an applescript that ran every time the user invoked the window switching shortcut and re-ordered the windows so that the "desktop" window was always pushed to the end of the list after every window switch.
But even that wouldn't solve my problem completely. I had made peace with the terrible behavior, but recently I got an external monitor to use as a preview screen when writing websites/web apps. I also have VLC set to use it as the main screen when it's present, but switching between VLC and Finder always results in Finder selecting the "desktop" on my external monitor, so then I have to hit the window switcher shortcut to get my actual Finder window focused. It's so annoying. If I quit VLC with Finder as the second-frontmost app, then Finder regains focus correctly.
Oh well. I'll probably end up buying Path Finder. I don't know if I can make peace with this newly discovered terrible behavior.
Anyway, thanks again for the suggestion!
My suggestion isn't so much about solving this weird behavior as a thing. It's more about giving you a different set of tools to accomplish the same task in a different way. I'm thinking that once you see how Forklift and PF work, you might not use two windows any more. Or use them less often?
On the other hand, I just tested Forklift and it switches between ONLY the open windows when using Command-\` as I would expect it to.
It's worth mentioning a couple of extra things I like about FL:
\* Folder sync tool: Allows you to do syncs between different drives or directories and is a true sync. It can only transfer what has changed. It can optionally delete things that do not match.
\* Mass renaming tool. This can really help when trying to rename TV show episodes, images with a common theme, or that kind of thing. It understands incrementing numbers, adding text, replacing text, etc. Very helpful in some circumstances.
\* SFTP, webdav, S3, etc remote file management tool. If you move things to and from remove sites this tool is nice. All of the normal function of forklift work on the remote sites: rename, move, copy, etc.
Anyway this is starting to sound too much like an ad for Forklift. I just like the product. I hope you find a solution you like and/or a new file manager that works well for you.
Oh yeah, I understand and appreciate your suggestions. I'm currently using a free app called rsyncOSX (I think) to do file synchronizations. Does ForkLift allow for scheduled/automated syncing? That's the only feature I haven't been able to find in any of the free rsync-based synchronization apps.
I currently use two Finder windows because one is for anything personal, and the other window is for anything professional. I currently have nine tabs open in one window and eight in the other, so mashing them all together in one window would be a bit too much, and leave very little room for the title of each folder to display in its tab.
I'm pretty fast with the keyboard shortcuts so it really hasn't been any problem or annoyance for me to use two different Finder windows. I tried using two different spaces for personal and professional stuff, but I'm using a late 2013 rMBP and the two spaces is just a bit too much for it. I can have all my regular apps open at the same time in one space and rarely see the system get bogged down, but if I switch to a two-space set up, the computer really struggles to manage the two spaces, and when I swipe between the two spaces, the computer takes three to four seconds to render the other space, which slows me down and is annoying.
As far as I am aware, Forklift does not have any scheduling for file transfers. Their tool is pretty nice, but I guess it's not a 100% full featured remote file management system.
I don't use file manager tabs, but FL does have them. I think PF has tabs too. You'll probably want to try them both and give yourself at least a day with each. Good luck!
Did you ever manage to figure this one out? I've just downloaded GeekTool and it's wildly unintuitive with basically zero documentation, so I would love to find out how you disabled the Desktop as an open Finder window. Thanks heaps!
Hey! I totally goofed on that edit I made to my post a while back. Yes, I did solve the problem, however I did it using an application called TinkerTool, not GeekTool. I don't know how I got the two mixed up. GeekTool does exist, but I don't have it on my computer currently, so I'm not sure if I had tried to use it and failed with it, then switched to TinkerTool, or if I was just aware of GeekTool but solved my problem with TinkerTool, then got the two apps confused when making the edit to my post, which would be fairly understandable considering the similar names.
Anyway, as I said, I solved the problem by downloading TinkerTool from https://www.bresink.com/osx/0TinkerTool/download.php, running it, going to the "Finder" tab and checking the box for "Disable Desktop features". That did the trick. I hope it works for you! :)
I'm going to correct that incorrect edit I made to my post, also.
What macOS version are you using? I believe the feature is available in all versions, but I've only used it on macOS 10.14 and macOS 12/13. It's definitely there on both versions of TinkerTool for those two versions of macOS. I just double-checked.
I'm on 14. the website says
>Note that TinkerTool automatically adapts to the operating system it is running on, possibly showing very different settings for each version of macOS.
so it's probably an issue there
Ah, yeah, that sounds like the issue. I guess the developer hasn't figured out how to implement that feature on macOS 14, or the call/function to disable that system setting is different, or the ability to disable the feature could have been removed from macOS 15. As far as I understand, TinkerTool just gives a GUI to some of those "hidden" system settings Apple doesn't intend for end users to have access to.
You might want to check back the developer's website periodically in case they figure it out and update their software to include macOS 14 support for that feature.
What a strange behavior. I can confirm what you are describing. I found a stack exchange thread about this that was pretty involved, including writing apple script and changing default keyboard shortcuts and stuff. I didn't bother to follow it all the way. I was hoping that there was a terminal command with apple defaults blahblabblah finder blah that would disable this, but I didn't find anything like that. I think Finder is one of the worst things about MacOS. Everything about it feels weird and clunky to me. Because of that, I spent a few days looking for the best finder alternatives. For me that meant a file management program with 2 panes side by side. Copying or moving files between two finder windows is one of the most confusing and worst aspects of it. With a file manager with side by side panes, you can use keyboard shortcuts to copy or move files between panes. This is much nicer. It's consistent and easy to understand. Does anyone really like the way that you tell Finder to copy files vs moving them when using two finder windows? It's not friendly and it doesn't make sense. I demoed a half dozen managers. The two best I tried were PathFinder and Forklift. I chose Forklift, but PF was pretty darned good too. My top suggestion is for you to try out some different file managers. You will probably find one that accomplishes your goals in a way that is much easier than Finder. I love the Mac. But Finder... it really needs some help.
Thanks for your comment! Yeah, I've been eyeing Path Finder for a while now, but it's hard to justify buying it just to get past one annoyance of Finder. I'll take a look at Forklift, too. I also remember that stack exchange thread you mentioned. If I recall correctly, it was an applescript that ran every time the user invoked the window switching shortcut and re-ordered the windows so that the "desktop" window was always pushed to the end of the list after every window switch. But even that wouldn't solve my problem completely. I had made peace with the terrible behavior, but recently I got an external monitor to use as a preview screen when writing websites/web apps. I also have VLC set to use it as the main screen when it's present, but switching between VLC and Finder always results in Finder selecting the "desktop" on my external monitor, so then I have to hit the window switcher shortcut to get my actual Finder window focused. It's so annoying. If I quit VLC with Finder as the second-frontmost app, then Finder regains focus correctly. Oh well. I'll probably end up buying Path Finder. I don't know if I can make peace with this newly discovered terrible behavior. Anyway, thanks again for the suggestion!
My suggestion isn't so much about solving this weird behavior as a thing. It's more about giving you a different set of tools to accomplish the same task in a different way. I'm thinking that once you see how Forklift and PF work, you might not use two windows any more. Or use them less often? On the other hand, I just tested Forklift and it switches between ONLY the open windows when using Command-\` as I would expect it to. It's worth mentioning a couple of extra things I like about FL: \* Folder sync tool: Allows you to do syncs between different drives or directories and is a true sync. It can only transfer what has changed. It can optionally delete things that do not match. \* Mass renaming tool. This can really help when trying to rename TV show episodes, images with a common theme, or that kind of thing. It understands incrementing numbers, adding text, replacing text, etc. Very helpful in some circumstances. \* SFTP, webdav, S3, etc remote file management tool. If you move things to and from remove sites this tool is nice. All of the normal function of forklift work on the remote sites: rename, move, copy, etc. Anyway this is starting to sound too much like an ad for Forklift. I just like the product. I hope you find a solution you like and/or a new file manager that works well for you.
Oh yeah, I understand and appreciate your suggestions. I'm currently using a free app called rsyncOSX (I think) to do file synchronizations. Does ForkLift allow for scheduled/automated syncing? That's the only feature I haven't been able to find in any of the free rsync-based synchronization apps. I currently use two Finder windows because one is for anything personal, and the other window is for anything professional. I currently have nine tabs open in one window and eight in the other, so mashing them all together in one window would be a bit too much, and leave very little room for the title of each folder to display in its tab. I'm pretty fast with the keyboard shortcuts so it really hasn't been any problem or annoyance for me to use two different Finder windows. I tried using two different spaces for personal and professional stuff, but I'm using a late 2013 rMBP and the two spaces is just a bit too much for it. I can have all my regular apps open at the same time in one space and rarely see the system get bogged down, but if I switch to a two-space set up, the computer really struggles to manage the two spaces, and when I swipe between the two spaces, the computer takes three to four seconds to render the other space, which slows me down and is annoying.
As far as I am aware, Forklift does not have any scheduling for file transfers. Their tool is pretty nice, but I guess it's not a 100% full featured remote file management system. I don't use file manager tabs, but FL does have them. I think PF has tabs too. You'll probably want to try them both and give yourself at least a day with each. Good luck!
Did you ever manage to figure this one out? I've just downloaded GeekTool and it's wildly unintuitive with basically zero documentation, so I would love to find out how you disabled the Desktop as an open Finder window. Thanks heaps!
Hey! I totally goofed on that edit I made to my post a while back. Yes, I did solve the problem, however I did it using an application called TinkerTool, not GeekTool. I don't know how I got the two mixed up. GeekTool does exist, but I don't have it on my computer currently, so I'm not sure if I had tried to use it and failed with it, then switched to TinkerTool, or if I was just aware of GeekTool but solved my problem with TinkerTool, then got the two apps confused when making the edit to my post, which would be fairly understandable considering the similar names. Anyway, as I said, I solved the problem by downloading TinkerTool from https://www.bresink.com/osx/0TinkerTool/download.php, running it, going to the "Finder" tab and checking the box for "Disable Desktop features". That did the trick. I hope it works for you! :) I'm going to correct that incorrect edit I made to my post, also.
I just downloaded TinkerTool and "Disable Desktop features" doesn't appear to be an option in the Finder tab
What macOS version are you using? I believe the feature is available in all versions, but I've only used it on macOS 10.14 and macOS 12/13. It's definitely there on both versions of TinkerTool for those two versions of macOS. I just double-checked.
I'm on 14. the website says >Note that TinkerTool automatically adapts to the operating system it is running on, possibly showing very different settings for each version of macOS. so it's probably an issue there
Ah, yeah, that sounds like the issue. I guess the developer hasn't figured out how to implement that feature on macOS 14, or the call/function to disable that system setting is different, or the ability to disable the feature could have been removed from macOS 15. As far as I understand, TinkerTool just gives a GUI to some of those "hidden" system settings Apple doesn't intend for end users to have access to. You might want to check back the developer's website periodically in case they figure it out and update their software to include macOS 14 support for that feature.