Jon Levinson

Q: why folders disappear from finder sidebar in mavericks?

Why do, for no apparent reason, the folders I have added to the Finder's sidebar just disappear when I open a Finder window?

Posted on Nov 13, 2013 7:53 AM

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Q: why folders disappear from finder sidebar in mavericks?

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  • by Shtirlic,

    Shtirlic Shtirlic Feb 9, 2016 11:56 AM in response to Jon Levinson
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 9, 2016 11:56 AM in response to Jon Levinson

    That's insane I lost all my handcrafted fav folder and I just can't remember the order of them. This kind of things are slowing down workflow a lot.

  • by polarbreeze1,

    polarbreeze1 polarbreeze1 Feb 9, 2016 12:23 PM in response to Shtirlic
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 9, 2016 12:23 PM in response to Shtirlic

    Don't panic - they're not gone forever, just reboot. Or actually I found that logging out and back in again fixes it too.

  • by brycesteiner,

    brycesteiner brycesteiner Feb 9, 2016 5:13 PM in response to polarbreeze1
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 9, 2016 5:13 PM in response to polarbreeze1

    I haven't found that rebooting or logging out fixes it. It happens mostly when the computer leaves the local network. They are usually permanently gone. The best solution I have found is to create alias' and put them in a folder in documents or somewhere else and then put the alias' on to the sidebar. I haven't any had any of those disappear.

  • by polarbreeze1,

    polarbreeze1 polarbreeze1 Feb 9, 2016 8:15 PM in response to brycesteiner
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 9, 2016 8:15 PM in response to brycesteiner

    If the issue is about network connections, I've found that it makes difference whether you connect to the server with afp protocol versus smb. Which protocol are you connecting with? (This is a different issue from the known bug where all the favourites suddenly disappear from the sidebar - and can be restored by logout/login).

  • by Colbster182,

    Colbster182 Colbster182 Feb 9, 2016 8:43 PM in response to Jon Levinson
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 9, 2016 8:43 PM in response to Jon Levinson

    Because Apple makes ****** software.

  • by Keith Gardner1,

    Keith Gardner1 Keith Gardner1 Feb 10, 2016 6:38 AM in response to Robin Phillips1
    Level 2 (223 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 10, 2016 6:38 AM in response to Robin Phillips1

    That's actually a good idea/suggestion. But this is not the place to suggest it. I hope you'll follow through and post it as a suggestion to Apple Support.

  • by Keith Gardner1,

    Keith Gardner1 Keith Gardner1 Feb 10, 2016 6:39 AM in response to Colbster182
    Level 2 (223 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 10, 2016 6:39 AM in response to Colbster182

    "Complicated." Yes, true.

  • by Shtirlic,

    Shtirlic Shtirlic Feb 10, 2016 6:44 AM in response to polarbreeze1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 10, 2016 6:44 AM in response to polarbreeze1

    Yes, restarting Mac fixed this problem, relaunching  Finder not worked.

    PS

    I must add that these behavior appeared after I tried to connect to the shared disk on another mac and got error, so network access/error may be related to this issue.

  • by Keith Gardner1,

    Keith Gardner1 Keith Gardner1 Feb 10, 2016 7:03 AM in response to polarbreeze1
    Level 2 (223 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 10, 2016 7:03 AM in response to polarbreeze1

    Your message isn't clear... you refer to a "known bug" where all the favorites suddenly disappear from the sidebar, but can be restored. I have not had the experience of them being restorable. I am connecting via SMB. Are you suggesting that if the connection to the server is via AFP, they are restorable by logout/login?

     

    But you also seem to be saying that this is not the issue you're talking about here, so I'm not sure what the other issue is that you are talking about! Thanks.

  • by polarbreeze1,

    polarbreeze1 polarbreeze1 Feb 10, 2016 7:43 AM in response to Keith Gardner1
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 10, 2016 7:43 AM in response to Keith Gardner1

    What I mean by "it's a different issue" is that there are two separate and (as far as I know) independent topics here:

     

    1. The network reconnect issue that you're talking about. I think you may find that if you connect via afp instead of smb that this issue may go away. That's what I found - however, I didn't confirm it rigorously and these things can sometimes be coincidences. Oh, by the way, I also have the network drives listed in my "startup items" so that they automatically reconnect at startup.

     

    2. Another issue (not related to network connection) where the sidebar favourites disappear but can be restored by restarting or relogging. It's a known bug.

     

    PS - I just realized this thread is titled Mavericks; however, I'm talking about El Capitan - I assume other recent posters are also.

  • by @viral,

    @viral @viral Feb 11, 2016 11:05 AM in response to Jon Levinson
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 11, 2016 11:05 AM in response to Jon Levinson

    So Mac has its own share of bugs which might be considered unimaginable by someone transitioning from Windows. One example is the file open and save dialog. Windows has a text box where you can type the path of the file or folder and reach there straight. Well... Mac's file open and save dialog does not have a text box at all (there is one to type the filename but can't put in the path there). So you need favourite locations in the left panel from where you can navigate quickly. The bug is that they stop appearing at times and even if you add folders under favourites in the left panel, they keep disappearing. This can make file open or save really painful and slow. Luckily (with some Googling) was able to find a solution to it. Here is the solution:

     

    1) Open terminal window. (Type Terminal in spotlight search)

     

    2) Paste this command at the prompt. (⌘+c to copy from here and ⌘+v to paste in terminal command prompt)

     

    cd ~/Library/Preferences && sudo find com.apple.finder.plist* -exec rm {} \; && killall Finder

     

    3) Enter the password when asked by terminal. It won't show anything on the screen so make sure you type it correctly and press return.

     

    4) Logout and log back in. That should resolve the issue.

  • by polarbreeze1,

    polarbreeze1 polarbreeze1 Feb 11, 2016 1:20 PM in response to @viral
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 11, 2016 1:20 PM in response to @viral

    Yes, I too found that deleting the plist file seems to make the issue go away. You actually don't need to do it through the terminal - you can just do it in Finder. We'll see if it returns

  • by mpoinar,

    mpoinar mpoinar Feb 11, 2016 8:08 PM in response to David Bregande
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iPhone
    Feb 11, 2016 8:08 PM in response to David Bregande

    David Bregande wrote:

     

    Well, wait a second. Maybe my problem isn't the same as yours, but I just discovered that when I rollover the word "favorites" on the sidebar, a "show" button pops up. It seems mine had been hidden.

     

    Does this apply to any of you?

    Thank you, that just fixed my problem!

  • by LauraMackie,

    LauraMackie LauraMackie Feb 16, 2016 7:18 PM in response to macjack
    Level 1 (22 points)
    Apple TV
    Feb 16, 2016 7:18 PM in response to macjack

    THANK YOU!  This worked for me.

  • by jameyfranksf,

    jameyfranksf jameyfranksf Feb 22, 2016 3:31 PM in response to bakerja
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 22, 2016 3:31 PM in response to bakerja

    To get your folder to appear, try mousing-over the word "Favorites" on the sidebar.  The word "Show" should appear.  Click it.

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