Files and Folders Privacy Preferences Extremely Buggy, Unusable

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Level 1

13 points

Files and Folders Privacy Preferences Extremely Buggy, Unusable

I've noticed that the Files and Folders privacy settings in System Preferences > Security & Privacy has extremely buggy and broken behavior since this option was first introduces years ago.

First off, the Files and Folders list itself has add/remove buttons which seem to always be grayed out no matter what. One time I did manage to click on an app in the list about 30 times when it remained selected, and the remove button (-) was enabled. This was the first time I was able to remove an item in this list. Forget about the add (+) button for list; that's never had any purpose.

Trying to check/uncheck the boxes on permission items usually results in nothing happening until I click several times, or an adjacent checkbox somehow gets unchecked (nowhere near the one I'm clicking).

It's pretty frustrating that this has been happening for the last several OS releases. I can't seem to find any information on this behavior.

Has anyone else noticed this behavior or shed some light on this please.

Thanks,

Y

Posted on Nov 26, 2021 11:56 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

steve626

Level 6

10,247 points

Nov 26, 2021 2:19 PM in response to yurisend

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/control-access-files-folders-mac-mchld5a35146/10.15/mac/10.15

The +/- buttons are not used to add or remove any application. An application, when executed, can request access and then you can grant it. Also, the way to activate or deactivate is through the checkbox, not the +/- buttons, which is why they are greyed out, to indicate that they are not used in that context. See link above for details.

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Answer 2

steve626

Level 6

10,247 points

Nov 26, 2021 8:11 PM in response to yurisend

Some of those Applications show with access to Files and Folders because they have Full Disk Access, which is broader access than simply Files and Folders.

The ones with Full Disk Access can be removed only from the Full Disk Access area (not from Files and Folders, although they do show under Files and Folders since they do have access to Files and Folders). The ones without Full Disk Access but with Files and Folders access can be removed from the Files and Folders area only.

This behavior is consistent and it's not buggy, and I understand the logic behind it, but if you don't like the interface, feel free to provide feedback to Apple https://www.apple.com/feedback/ .

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Answer 3

yurisend Author

Level 1

13 points

Nov 26, 2021 7:25 PM in response to steve626

I'm aware of mechanism by which applications are granted access to the various protected resources, but that doesn't discount the fact that it actually is possible to remove an item in this list because of glitchy behavior in the interface. So I'd say that those buttons are used to at least remove an application, albeit unreliably.

Give it a try. Click into the Files and Folders list, use the arrow keys to highlight an item and the remove button is then enabled.

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Files and Folders Privacy Preferences Extremely Buggy, Unusable

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