Customize the Mac Finder Window Background

Did you know that you can customize the backgrounds of any Finder windows in Mac OS X? This is a nnice way to customize the appearance of your Mac a bit, and you can either choose images or colors, or go with the default setting of a simple white background.

In the screenshot above, the Finder window background is using an image as a wallpaper, and in the screenshot below, the Finder windows are set to match the color of the Finder window sidebar. Changing the window background color is a somewhat unknown feature even to frequent Mac users, but setting the Finder window background to something else is easy once you learn how, and here’s how to do it:

How to Customize the Finder Window Background in Mac OS X

1. To customize the background of a Finder window, open any window
2. Once inside a Finder window, hit Command+J or navigate from the ‘View’ menu to ‘Show View Options’
3. From the View Options, select ‘Color’ or ‘Picture’ under the Background submenu
4. Using the color picker, select the color you want to use for window backgrounds. If you are setting a picture, navigate to the picture you want to set as the background
5. If you want ALL Finder windows to have this custom background, click on ‘Set as Default’
6. Changes take effect immediately, and you’ll see the new color or background picture in all windows
7. Close View Options

That’s all there is to it! Have some fun customizing your windows, you can really get as adventurous as you want with the appearance, with crazy colors or subtle wallpapers, it’s your choice.

You can also easily remove the background customization and reverse whatever changes you made by just opening View Options again and selecting the ‘White’ background, which is the Mac OS default setting.

This walkthrough came in response to a reader inquiry, as Karim S reminded us when he wrote in asking: “I was wondering if you have any tips to change the background color of the finder’s windows. I would like to see the white turned into a light grey.” In Karim’s case, he would want to set a grey background and then click on “Set as Default” so that all Finder windows have the same background. This applies the setting everywhere.