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User profile for user: mccarlson
mccarlson Author
User level: Level 1
68 points

Favorites Keep Disappearing from Finder Sidebar

I came back to my computer that was asleep since last night and found that virtually everything I had placed in the Favorites in the Finder Sidebar was gone. All I did was wake up the computer.


I tried following advice found in another thread: relaunched the Finder and restarted my computer. Neither did a thing.


This has happened twice in the past few days, once or twice in the past year, and never ever before that.


I've spent quite a bit of time with an Apple advisor on the phone today, and she so far has no clue why this is happening nor how to prevent it from happening in the future.


What I most want to know is how to keep it from happening. It's quite irritating to have to keep setting up my favorites from scratch.


Any ideas?

iMac 27″, macOS 11.4

Posted on Jul 22, 2021 1:18 PM

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User profile for user: Old Toad
Old Toad
User level: Level 10
210,889 points

Posted on Jul 22, 2021 2:03 PM

Boot into Safe Mode according to Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.


NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to nearly twice as long as a normal boot as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files


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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Old Toad
Old Toad
User level: Level 10
210,889 points

Jul 22, 2021 2:03 PM in response to mccarlson

Boot into Safe Mode according to Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.


NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to nearly twice as long as a normal boot as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files


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User profile for user: Community User
Community User

Jul 28, 2021 12:28 PM in response to mccarlson

I too began experiencing this issue today. I walked away from my computer for 30 minutes, when I logged back in my sidbar was empty except for the Computer Name. I have rebooted, and gone to Finder preferences and cleared then re-added the items but still nothing.

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Favorites Keep Disappearing from Finder Sidebar

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