Files not showing up in Finder (Catalina)

I think I've tracked down the issue. There may be more than one app at fault. I thought that the Dropbox app was the culprit because it installs a Finder extension but the problem persisted. I also have BetterZip installed which installs a finder extension that creates a dropdown button in the Finder Toolbar - quick access to some zip and unzip presets. I disabled that in the BetterZip preferences and completely removed every trace of the Dropbox app and the problem seems to have gone away. Later, I installed the Google Backup and Sync app and reinstalled the Dropbox app and have not had any issues so far with files not showing.

It may be a combination of apps with Finder extensions that are in conflict or it may be code in any one of these apps that is based on an outdated api. For anyone else who has BetterZip installed: open up the BetterZip preferences and uncheck "Show BetterZip button in Finder windows".

If you don't have BetterZip and have already tried disabling the Dropbox and Google apps, then check for any other apps that install finder extensions - even just toolbar buttons or additional menu items in the right-click menu (excluding items listed under "services").

For anyone with this issue who happens to have Keyboard Maestro installed:

I created a macro to automatically refresh the front Finder window via AppleScript.

It only executes when the Finder is active and repeats every 5 seconds with very little overhead. Does the job for me for the time being until Apple engineers fix this.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tqhswmfsuwbp1hx/-Auto%20Refresh%20Finder-.kmmacros?dl=1

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.

As everybody I also have this problem. It doesn't matter if it is a pdf, pds, ai, etc. Some time the files show up and some times they don't.

I found some work around without having to restart Finder or reboot the machine.

I am doing like this, save the file one time. Them save it again. When asked to replace the file, you will see the first file you saved before. Now right click on the first file and you either send it to the trash bin, or duplicate it. Your file will show up in the trash, just put back. Or duplicated on the desktop.

If you know the path for the vile, go to Go > Got to Folder > put the path for the file.

But this is very bad, we are in 2020 and Apple having these issues is unbelievable.

Hope this help and let's wait for the fix.

It seems like the Dropbox background sync app may be worth looking at now that I've seen several replies listing this. I'm going to disable mine for a few days and report back here.