dropdown menus not opening in MacOS Sonoma

Had exact same problem on my iMac after update to Sonoma. Here's what fixed it for me:

Force Quit Finder

1. Click the Apple menu* and select Force Quit.
2. From the Quit Applications list, highlight Finder and click the Relaunch button.

*Luckily the Apple menu works if you open another app, or browser.

I found the same issue this morning after updating to Sonoma yesterday. Here is what I've found:

• I have a finder window assigned to a specific desktop. I have had this for a long time just because I like it in one place.
• I found that if I change the setting to "None" the drop down menus will work in the other desktops.
• As soon as I change back to "This Desktop" the drop down menus stop working in other desktops.

Since I still have continued problems after restarting in Safe Mode as advised by Apple, I re-read this thread, and checked out the issues caused by "Finder". I set the Finder Options Assign to None, and tested different desktops with and without other opened apps. Here is my new conclusion:

1. All drop down work fine on all desktops, as long as there is at least one app open that is not "Finder".
2. When Finder is open, the Finder and Apple menus both do not drop down properly.
3. Even after Finder is closed, both menus still do not drop down, unless you click on another app, or hide Finder.
4. Apple needs to fix the drop down issues for Finder, and the connection between Finder and Apple menus.

I have found two things about this issue. First, If the menus do not drop down, I click on my wifi icon on the right side of the menu bar and just open and close the wifi settings. Then the menus work (you could probably click something else on the right side of the menu bar, but I only tried the wifi.) Also, I found that when I shut down, if I check the “Reopen windows when logging back in” the menus just work as expected.

I should mention that I had this problem earlier and mentioned it in this discussion, then it just started working and I did not and still do not know why (maybe I had clicked the “Reopen windows when logging back in” - I’m not sure.) a week or so later the problem came back and that is when I started doing the things mentioned above.

It has been entirely resolved for me by the recent Sonoma 14.1.1 update.

I would agree that it has not been resolved as of yet, even with 14.1.1.

Setting the Finder to be assigned to "None" does resolve it for me and a few others have reported this it also.

Could one of you that still have the issue check the finder setting that you are using and see if it is set like the attached images below? You may have already done this, I just want to confirm.

Right click on the Finder icon in the Dock and check to be sure None is selected. Hopefully this will be resolved sometime in the future.

I can confirm.. .clicking Finder icon in dock, Options > I see none and Desktop 1 both checked.

Switching it to NONE or ALL DESKTOPS only resolves the issue.

Apple.. please fix. Restarting the machine flips back to None and Desktop2 being selected.

For me the solution was:

• right click on the finder icon in dock
• choose options/none (it was before on "Desktop on display 1)
• no more problem

I have the same issue, and I do not have Bartender installed. As some have said, if I am in the finder and open one of the dropdown menus on the right side, everything goes to normal and the dropdown windows on the left work.

Update/addition to what I typed below. It worked for a little while then stopped working again :) I'll call support again.

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After failures with trying tips from others, I contacted Apple Support. The problem seemed to have been solved after I followed the steps that were given me, by restarting in Safe Mode. Hopefully this is helpful to others:

And here are the steps to get into safe mode:

1 Turn on or restart your Mac, then immediately press and hold the Shift key as your Mac starts up.

2 Release the key when you see the login window, then log in to your Mac. 

3 You might be asked to log in again. On either the first or second login window, you should see ”Safe Boot” in the upper-right corner of the window.

If things work as they should in safe mode, you can restart normally to see if that has resolved it.

For me, the 'Apple' menu stops working. However logging out with 'Shift/Command/Q and then immediately logging in clears the problem except that 'Messages' then has to be Force/Quit and reopened.

Nailed it!! This is exactly what is occurring. I usually have my Finder windows in a specific desktop. Once I changed it to none, it works perfectly! Thanks for the help!

Thank you, it worked!

It was so annoying...

For everybody looking for a fix: just assign Finder to "none" desktop.

Bye

Rob_Eadie wrote:

When I start up my MacBook Pro, the dropdown menus under the Apple icon and Finder are all rolled up and do not drop down when selected. I have to open Safari for the menus to work properly.

What is going on?

Shut down and restart the Mac more than once since your upgrade...and try again.