Files not showing up in Finder (Catalina)

I have this same problem. For example, I created a folder in the terminal "mkdir ~/Desktop/example_directory". But, "open ~/Desktop" shows only:

I can see that the "example_directory" directory is there (via the terminal). But it's missing in the Finder.

All the other applications see those files/directories normally. For example "Open file" in Safari:

This is all very annoying. I have to jump to the terminal non-stop just to see what's in my "Downloads" or "Desktop" folders. And this isn't some weird edge-case bug, it's literally OSX not showing (normal) files and folders.

PS.

I had the same problem with PSE. I force closed finder and relaunched and they were there. Has not happened again.

>Click in the Apple in upper left corner

>Click force quit

>Select Finder

>Click Relaunch

I have this problem also - I can see the files using the terminal, but finder resolutely refuses to show the files. They were transferred on to the local directory from another computer, not produced locally. That software (logmein) can see the files as well.

I suspect if I wait an hour or two it might rescan or maybe restart the computer, but gee this is poor.

Oh, one more thing.

After:

cd ~/Desktop

mkdir aaa

open .

And "aaa" isn't showing. But, after:

open aaa

Then "aaa" appears on Desktop. This "fix" works only on folders (and you have to know the names of folder in advance). I have a bunch of "Screenshot...png" files. I can open any one, for example with "open Screenshot 2019-12-02 at 21.43.33.png". But it's still missing in the Finder.

I've been working on this machine (on Mac OS Catalina) for about 3 weeks now, and only today this has happened to me. Very weird. I've noticed some other weird behaviour with folder sorting in Finder, which is kinda hard to describe.

The only recent piece of software that I've installed is Skitch from Evernote. I also rely heavily on Dropbox, but that didn't cause any problems for years.

I guess there must be something common between us here in this topic who experience this kind of issue...

Same problem here with a mac mini 2018. The problem seem to occur when the file or the folder is created thru another application than the finder. Catalina is by far, the worst OS Apple has ever released.

I have the same issue but must note I also had this issue with Mojave occasionally. If files ore moved or copied from within Finder then there is no issue. It is only when files are created, renamed, or moved/copied using other apps that they will not appear in Finder. Another scenario that I ran into is that when using an app to rename all the files within a folder (image sequences), They were renamed successfully in the app, and the new names showed correctly from the open dialogue in other apps but Finder still displayed the old names.

One fix I use is to quickly rename the container folder (by adding a space or hyphen at the end and then rename it back. This usually works, but it also depends on the number of files located within the folder.

I thought I'd be clever and create a macro using Keyboard Maestro to get the name of the folder, rename, then name it back - all assigned to a keyboard shortcut. Unfortunately, since Keyboard Maestro is yet another app outside the Finders view, it doesn't recognize the actions.

It does appear that restarting finder is the BEST solution to this problem at the moment. I created a macro for Keyboard Maestro to save all open finder windows/tabs and restore them after a dirty restart (killall Finder terminal command)

I really suspect this has something to do with the APFS filesystem and external drives. Can anyone verify that this mainly occurs when working with externals APFS drives?

I have an external drive and I use it, but not very frequently. It's now almost two weeks since I last plugged it in my macbook pro. So, yeah, restarting the Finder is the only solution for now (which, isn't a real solution, because in order to know when to restart -- you already must know that there is something the Finder is hiding from you).

> Can anyone verify that this mainly occurs when working with externals APFS drives?

I had this with the internal drive on my mac mini 2018 running Catalina. Never had noticed this on earlier versions of Mac OS, but I've primarily been using Mac Book Pros.

Let's try to figure out what we all have in common that could be the potential culprit.

I have a suspicion that it has to do with interference from a 3rd party app or a drive/volume configuration.

These questions are based on my setup.

Do you have the Dropbox sync app installed and running in the background?

Do you sync with iCloud Drive?

It the main internal drive an SSD?

Are any of the drives affected formatted as APFS? (older Macs may have HFS+ as default - if unsure run Disk Utility and look at the info right below the volume name)

Do you have two or more volumes on any of the physical drives affected?

Do you have any other 3rd party apps installed that you can think of that may cause interference of any kind with the way Finder normally behaves? (apps that install finder or quicklook plugins, apps that work on Catalina but don't officially support it yet, apps that augment certain functions tied into Finder such as mounting network drives or cleaners that actively watch folder activity)

Mac Mini Late 2018

I have DROPBOX installed

The Drive is SSD

It is formatted as APFS

Only one volume

I have Parallels Desktop 15.1.0 (The latest version) witch might affect the finder, but most of the time it's not running.

Just to add my weight behind this also.

I have files and directories i know exist missing from Finder.

They are not hidden files and can easily be found using the terminal.

I have been puzzled by this for at least 3 weeks now.

Apple, please fix this.

I've just started my Catalina journey and hit this bug. Same as described above, files made using any app other than Finder are not showing up. I've resorted to using Transmit as my file browser. If I right click and select "Show in Finder" it magically appears in Finder.

This is all on the internal drive of my MBP16.

I'm having the same issue. I've had it happen both with saving files or screenshots anywhere (desktop or to folders on my internal drive and external drives) and am now seeing the same thing when creating a folder on a Lacie external hard drive through Lightroom's export dialog box. It's maddening that this basic functionality is so screwy. It's happening system-wide on my machine. Folders AND files are "missing". They can be found using the search function, but then when I click on them after searching for them, they don't open. Moving files from one folder to another also results in files still appearing to be in their old folder when indeed they're not there.

I've been a loyal apple user for over 20 years and this is just garbage that this doesn't work. Moving/Saving files is a basic function of an operating system and the fact that this doesn't work is insulting to all of us who pay a premium for their products. We expect a better experience.