Finder columns jump back to last column

Did you try this? It worked for me to go to system preferences>general> Under show scroll bars select: when scrolling. That resolved it for me, when it was on automatic that is when it was jumping like crazy. I am also using Monterey and was about to pull my hair out, it's annoying for sure, but changing the above settings and doing a restart fixed it for me.

Hi,

I managed to fix this on my Mac, was driving me mad.

In finder preferences, deselect the option in general for 'Open folders in tabs instead of new windows.'

Once that's off, it's gone back to normal, no more jumping. Hope it works for you!

So I tried Old Toad's suggestion and booted up in safe mode and the problem went away. While in safe mode I tried starting Google Drive and before the program even fully loaded the columns in an open window jumped back to the beginning. I quit Google Drive and the problem ended. I went back and forth a few times to confirm the results and it was the same each time. I then booted into normal mode and the problem returned and when I quit Google Drive in normal mode the problem went away. I am curious if everyone on here with this problem is using Google Drive. It is beginning to appear for me at least that this may not be an Apple issue. I am going to play with the Google Drive settings to see if something there could correct the condition. I am using the "Mirror Files" function and not the "Stream Files" function of Google Drive if that is making any difference.

you have an issue with spring loading...

go to system folder/accessibility/pointer control and turn off spring loading. the scroll bar will now stay put where ever you want

I had the same issue and I too thought it was a bug, but now I think it's just a new feature... albeit a bit buggy. Because I figured out that if you first press esc on the selected folder/column so that it's selected but not highlighted, it then allows you to scroll back and forth through the columns without jumping back to the highlighted folder/column... hope this helps.

I don't know if it has been solved before.

But I have changed in : System Preferences > Show scrollbars , the Automatic to When scrolling and it worked. I no longer have the problem of jumping to the last column.

Maybe this can be of help to someone.

It worked for me to go to system preferences>general> Under show scroll bars select: when scrolling. That resolved it for me, when it was on automatic that is when it was jumping like crazy. This resolved the issue for me, I am also using the current Monterey.

Apologies if someone has already mentioned it, but I found selecting 'Hide Preview' in the 'View' menu stopped the column view snapping back to the left. Not perfect as I like seeing previews of images, but considering Monterey still doesn't show previews for .eps files, options are limited anyway. Never know these two issues might get fixed one day?

I have the same problem. I am running macOS Monterey Ver. 12.3.1 on iMac M1 chip. After contacting support and testing to see if the problem replicates itself on safe boot, I believe the problem is associated with google drive sync. I am using the option "mirror files" in google folder sync setting. Only with files within the google drive viewed on Finder that the column keeps jumping back, it doesn't happen when I access other folders/files outside the google drive.

It worked for me to go to system preferences>general> Under show scroll bars select: when scrolling. That resolved it for me, when it was on automatic that is when it was jumping like crazy.

Using mouse and/or trackpad. Also Wacom installed (updated to last drivers)

And that maybe is very relevant.

That is the sort of thing that directly affects input to your mac and could be conflicting with things like scrolling.

I suggest you test by uninstalling the Wacom drivers on one mac and seeing if the issue persists.

Tested this a bit more and discovered for me (MacBook 16 intel Monterey 12.3.1 Dropbox synced folders) the issue only arises in finder columns view on columns that I haven't scrolled to the bottom of before selecting a file. If I select a file 5 layers deep in my folder hierarchy and then attempt to scroll down in a higher level hierarchy my screen snaps back to show the selected file's details. However, all columns that I have scrolled to the bottom of before selecting the file can be scrolled in without a problem after selecting the file. Columns that I have not scrolled to the bottom of before selecting a file cause the window to snap back to show the selected file when attempting to scroll down.

Hoping the rest of the followers here can confirm on their machines and post to help us finally get to the bottom of this (pun intended).

1. I have tested on selecting files other than the bottom file, it still snaps back to the last column when scrolled to the first.
2. I repeated the test again on the cloud-based folders vs local drive (unsync), both iCloud drive and Google Drive continue to present the snap-to-last-column problem, my local files do not present the same problem. I tested multiple local folders such as Applications, Documents, User, etc, none presents problem.

MacOS 12.3.1 seems to have solved the problem!! Fingers crossed!

For me this seems (finally) fixed in macOS 12.5! (Update released on 20 July 2022.)