Show Sidebar option greyed out

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Level 1

16 points

Show Sidebar option greyed out

Just installed clean Snow Leopard onto new MacBook Pro 17" and the sidebar won't show. Went to Finder>View>Show Sidebar but this option is greyed out...pretty annoying not having this option.
Have repaired permissions but no luck. Anyone else having the same issue and can offer a fix?

MacBook Pro 17", Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Aug 29, 2009 9:25 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

philproteus Author

Level 1

16 points

Aug 29, 2009 12:36 PM in response to V.K.

Fixed!
I had 'Show Toolbars' turned off and so 'Sidebar' won't work if this option is not on.
Probably a basic function but I've never come across it before.

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Answer 2

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Aug 29, 2009 9:31 AM in response to philproteus

delete the file /users/yourusername/library/preferences/com.apple.finder.plist. then control-option-click on finder in the dock and choose 'relaunch'.

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Answer 3

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Aug 29, 2009 12:46 PM in response to philproteus

great! I thought it may be that but didn't mention it because resetting finder preferences should have reset sidebar and toolbar options to the defaults anyway.

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Answer 4

philproteus Author

Level 1

16 points

Aug 29, 2009 12:28 PM in response to V.K.

Thanks V.K. I tried this a couple of times and it did reset the finder and the view to 'icons' but still won't give me the 'show sidebar' option. Thoughts?

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Answer 5

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Aug 29, 2009 12:31 PM in response to philproteus

make a new user account. does the same thing happen there?

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Answer 6

philproteus Author

Level 1

16 points

Aug 29, 2009 12:55 PM in response to V.K.

appreciate it V.K.
Cheers mate.

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