Finder suddenly very slow

Suddenly all the finder actions become very slow, while using other apps like chrome is very fast. (moving files to different folders[I always get a "preparing to move to" pop-up], selecting a file, right-clicking a file, moving a file to trash[even just one file 500KB file needs like 30 seconds to execute], even just selecting finder causes a couple second buffer.) (The problem still persist even if no other app are open) I'm on an m1 mac Sonoma 14.0, using 420 GB out of 494GB, when I check the memory usage with activity it's consistently around 6.3 GB out of 16 GB even when finder is lagging. I was recently messing with some permissions so that could be the issue (although I don't know how to fix this), any ideas on what I could try to fix this, short of reinstalling the whole OS?

MacBook Pro 13″

Posted on Oct 24, 2023 10:57 AM

Reply
Question marked as Best answer

After talking to AppleCare support they suspect it has to do with the new Sonoma OS and that I should just wait until the next update.

Posted on Oct 24, 2023 5:53 PM

2 replies
11 replies

Oct 24, 2023 11:38 AM in response to Phenr

Since you said you were messing with permissions, I'd suggest running Disk Utility on the drive to check it with the First Aid function, and if all is well, do a reinstall of the OS from Recovery Mode, all your files and settings will be retained and the OS files will be restored to factory settings so it should undo any permissions you changed outside of the user account files


see in the below link, Repair your internal storage device and Reinstall macOS


Use macOS Recovery on an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support


Oct 24, 2023 1:20 PM in response to Phenr

it keeps all USER preferences and downloaded files, but I'm not familiar enough with homebrew to know where it's files are stored. If it's in the system directories there's a good chance they would be replaced with the default system files and preferences.


If you do a Time Machine backup before the reinstall, you could always restore if things are missing from homebrew


Yes, that's for the M1, which is Apple silicon

Oct 26, 2023 8:57 AM in response to Phenr

Phenr wrote:

Sadly, reinstalling the OS didn't solve the issue :(

It wouldn't.


Your problem is most likely caused by some 3rd party file sync software like DropBox, BackBlaze, or a dozen other ones. Many of these apps have started using Apple's new cloud API, dramatically reducing the functionality that they used to have. Unfortunately, being an Apple API, it is probably extremely difficult to use and really buggy.


Hard to say what the solution will be. An OS update might fix it if Apple has admitted to a particularly egregious set of bugs in the API. But that rarely happens. And even when it does, you'll definitely need the latest, bleeding edge version of any file provider apps. That and a lot of luck.


Then again, you did mention Homebrew, so who knows? I've seen so many posts from Homebrew users who upgraded their operating system and suddenly can't do anything. This doesn't appear to be related to Homebrew but who knows what you've used Homebrew to install.

Finder suddenly very slow

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.