File tags disappeared from sidebar

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Level 1

94 points

File tags disappeared from sidebar

I have a few of the files in my Mac's Finder tagged with coloured blobs, and until recently the coloured blobs appeared in my Finder sidebar so that I could easily go straight to the files so tagged.

Today I noticed that one colour of blob was missing from the sidebar, and so I had to go delving into folders in order to find them. I found them and the coloured blobs were not against the filenames in Finder as they used to be. So I re-added the tags as purple blobs, and they now show in the folder with purple blobs alongside them.

But the purple blobs still do not appear in the sidebar, although other colours do appear there... (See screen-shot which shows the tags in the folder, but not in the sidebar.)

Anyone have any idea how to get the tags working as they should do again please?

I have a 2017 Intel MacBook Pro running macOS 13.6, which is the latest macOS it will accept.

MacBook Pro 13″

Posted on Sep 29, 2023 10:40 AM

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Answer 1

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Old Toad

Level 10

207,829 points

Sep 29, 2023 12:24 PM in response to Steve Zodiac

Go into the Finder's settings and remove all tags and then add them back. Reboot and see if they all show up. If the don't boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and check the sidebar again. Reboot normally and recheck.

Note: if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode. This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will assure a successful boot into Safe Mode.

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Answer 2

Steve Zodiac Author

Level 1

94 points

Sep 29, 2023 11:53 AM in response to Old Toad

Hi. Thanks for replying.

Yes, in Sidebar Settings I can confirm that 'Recent Tags' is ticked. (And of course in my screen shot the yellow, red & orange ones are present in the Sidebar, but not the purple one.)

The expander arrow was already in the expanded position, hence the yellow, red & orange tags.

But the purple one is continuing to refuse to put in a sidebar appearance.

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Answer 3

Steve Zodiac Author

Level 1

94 points

Sep 30, 2023 12:08 AM in response to Old Toad

Thanks again.

I didn't remove all the tags; I just removed them from the files that I had in the purple group, and when I added them back they re-appeared in the sidebar, and they seem to have stayed there. So I am sorted, thanks.

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Answer 4

Hovdagh

Level 1

8 points

May 13, 2024 1:34 PM in response to Old Toad

When Apple migrated my files from a 10-11 year old iMAC to my new iMAC it seems that most of the tags on about 20,000 jpeg photos disappeared. I could still see the list of about 1000 tags in the sidebar, but clicking on them did not link to a file. When looking at the file properties the tags were not there.

I still have my old iMAC and the tags are still there, as well as on any copies of the jpeg files I made to external hard drives. When plugging the hard drives with photos copied from my old iMAC into the new iMAC, I can see the tags.

I should note as well that when the old to new iMAC migration was done, all the jpeg files were write locked as well as the folders they were in.

On two occasions Apple spent considerable time on the phone trying to help me recover the tags for the files but could not. I believe they all need to be retagged. I also believe the migration process somehow erased the tag information.

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Answer 5

Hovdagh

Level 1

8 points

May 14, 2024 2:08 PM in response to Old Toad

My photos are part of a database that I distribute to selected recipients. I try to make this as platform independent as possible. Excel is used to provide data on the photos. Granted, macOS tags don't work on Windows, but maybe there is a tool somewhere to allow access to MAC tags from Windows or other platforms.

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