Files appearing under 'No Date' in file dialogs. NINE YEAR OLD BUG

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Files appearing under 'No Date' in file dialogs. NINE YEAR OLD BUG

If you run an application (almost any, but certainly Microsoft Word, Google Chrome, Adobe Photoshop, the Discord app, for example) and leave it overnight and come back the next day, the date headings in the file dialog are wrong, New files created today are shown at the bottom under 'No Date'. The files under 'Today' are in fact yesterday's files, etc. Obviously the file dialog is assuming that today's date is the date the application was opened rather than the actual date.

This is a bug that's been going on for at least NINE YEARS and still hasn't been fixed. I've been reporting it here, I've reported it as bugs to the application developers, but it's still not fixed.

File dialog options: Show by list. Group by date added UK system under UK timezone (currently BST) if that makes any difference). To repeat bug you need to leave an application from the list above (but probably others too) overnight, then the next day create a new file and try to find that file in your app. You're app dialog will show it at the bottom under NO DATE.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3272875?page=1

This is a constant behaviour in pretty much all third-party apps I've tested, but NOT it appears Apple apps. Is there some workaround that Apple know about that they're not letting other developers know about (or perhaps Safari secretly restarted itself overnight without me noticing.)

If anyone knows what developers need to do to fix this behavior (although one has told me it's an apple bug and they can't do anything about it) please let me know. But in any case, the file dialog is an Apple system function, and clearly it's doing something very wrong that Apple should be able to fix.

This is beginning to drive me absolutely mad. ABSOLUTELY MAD.

PLEASE FIX THIS IRRITATING YET SIMPLE BUG. PLEASE. Could at least one Apple engineer try to figure this out before the 10th anniversary of this bug?

Mac Pro

Posted on Oct 15, 2020 12:53 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

jolyonr Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 16, 2020 1:19 AM in response to Eau Rouge

> System Preferences> Language & Region> Advanced> Dates

THIS SOLVED IT!!! THANK YOU!!!!

Well, not exactly, but I went into the regions and it said Region: "United Kingdom - Custom"

Switched it back to the default United Kingdom and it now seems to work - the apps I have previously left running are showing files in the right places.

I have no idea how this happened, why it happened, but I want to make it clear for anyone else searching for this bug that you need to go and reset your region.

Thank you VERY VERY much for the suggestion. And my apologies to Apple for blaming them!

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,810 points

Oct 20, 2020 9:08 PM in response to jolyonr

I'm trying to find a third-party app that doesn't show the problem...

Interesting - I didn't notice this before, Quicktime Player DOES have exactly the same problem, so at least some Apple apps have the same problem.

Date Added is not file system data. It is metadata. The app creating the file would need to write the metadata during file creation. If it doesn't write the data, a Date Added sort will not find the necessary metadata entry and will group it under No Date.

A lot of third party apps do not write the metadata.

And, yes, some Apple apps do not write the metadata.

I have not tried to find evidence of it in Catalina, so if you found another cause, they may now monitor for file creation events and append the metadata themselves instead of relying on third-party developers doing it.

Similar problem with Recents. That Smart Folder depends on specific metadata to be set. If it is not, then it won't show up in Recents.

If you open the file from the Finder, it will set the metadata.

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Answer 3

jolyonr Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 2, 2020 12:27 AM in response to Barney-15E

Show items as list.

Group by date added.

So, none of the fixes above permanently fix the issue, it always returns.

However, I have now found the fastest way to fix the problem each day and that's to go to the Languages & Region panel

Changing the list sort order to one of my other installed languages and then immediately switching it back to 'Universal' somehow forces all open apps to refresh their dialogs and the problem disappears for that day, but the next day I'll have to do this again in order for the dates to be correct.

Is there any way to automate this behavior in a cron script I wonder?

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Answer 4

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,656 points

Oct 20, 2020 1:07 AM in response to jolyonr

If your Language & Region is resetting itself every morning it would suggest

that a preference file has become corrupted.

Click once on the Desktop, click Go in the menubar and select Go To Folder.

Enter this text,

~/Library/Preferences

press Go.

scroll down to com.apple.calculateframework.plist

move this to the Trash.

Restart your mac, open System Preferences> Language & Region

set up as desired.

Restart mac.

See if that makes any difference.

You might want to try com.apple.systempreferences.plist also.

If any of the preferences you see have a random set of letters and/ or numbers

after .plist then move them to the Trash. Restart your mac.

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Answer 5

jolyonr Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 21, 2020 1:31 AM in response to Barney-15E

Interesting, but not the issue. As you can see from the screenshot the Date Added for each file IS correct, it's only how the dialog is ordering them that's not.

I have followed Eau Rouge's advice from yesterday for rebuilding the two .plist files and *so far* apps are behaving properly, but let's wait until tomorrow to see for sure.

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Answer 6

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,656 points

Oct 15, 2020 2:06 AM in response to jolyonr

Are you sure it is a nine year bug, I have been using macs for over 20 years and I have never experienced this.

If you are certain it is a bug in the OS then you will need to tell Apple about it, we are just users like yourself so

we cannot do anything.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html

I will do some experimenting.

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Answer 7

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,656 points

Oct 15, 2020 6:21 AM in response to Eau Rouge

Ok so I set my Mac to 23:55 16th October 2020 created file in Photoshop, left it to run overnight so now my Mac is on

00:05 17th October 2020.

did all the same things in Photoshop and the chronological order of the file Open dialogue is as before.

There is no No Date category.

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Answer 8

jolyonr Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 15, 2020 4:55 AM in response to Eau Rouge

So try this out. Open Google Chrome.

Go into google and set the file dialog options: Show by list. Group by date added

Verify that files are categorized under the right dates, eg today's files under today.

Leave overnight.

Tomorrow, create a new file on your desktop (eg a screen grab).

Go into Google Chrome,

Try to open the file and look at 'TODAY', you'll see yesterday's files listed, and today's file is at the bottom under 'No Date'.

100% repeatable on three different Macs here. Has been the same behaviour for as long as I've been using Macs (since 2013)

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Answer 9

jolyonr Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 15, 2020 5:53 AM in response to dialabrain

By leave overnight I mean keep the machine and application running until the following day. If the application has started running on a different day to the day you're using it, the problem appears.

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