Finder issues on Ventura, M1 Max

I have come across 2 annoying issues for Finder.


  1. It keeps forgetting Favorites. I set them all up, and who knows when, the next day perhaps, they are gone and I have to manually reenter them. I have no idea why, and no idea how to duplicate. It initially worked fine (maybe on Monterey).
  2. Maybe related, but a lot of times I click on Documents, and it shows nothing (which, believe me, can give you a scare). Other folders seem to be ok. So I have to manually kill Finder (via Activity Monitor, although I just learned you can Option Menu click on the Finder Icon and select Relaunch to do the same thing). It then seems to be ok, at least for awhile.


I would have thought that by now, Finder would be Perfect!

MacBook Pro 16″

Posted on Oct 25, 2023 9:05 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Oct 25, 2023 9:52 PM

Hi Expaand!


This is just a hunch, but perhaps resetting the Finder property lists would help:


First quit all open apps, (Accept for Finder of course).


Remove “com.Apple.Finder.plist” from the following locations:


~/Library/Preferences


~/Library/Preferences/ByHost


/Library/Preferences


To get to the ~/Library, while pressing the Option key, on the top menu choose Go > Library.


To get to the /Library, Finder > Go > Computer > Macintosh HD (usually) > Library.


These files will be in at least one of these locations. Once deleted, restart and test.


On a side note, you may have to set your Finder preferences again but at least they won’t forget what you told it to do!


If this doesn’t work, I’d see how it goes in another user account and/or in safe mode to narrow down a possible cause.


Add a user or group on Mac - Apple Support


Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support


Hope something here helps!

1 reply
Question marked as Best reply

Oct 25, 2023 9:52 PM in response to Expaand

Hi Expaand!


This is just a hunch, but perhaps resetting the Finder property lists would help:


First quit all open apps, (Accept for Finder of course).


Remove “com.Apple.Finder.plist” from the following locations:


~/Library/Preferences


~/Library/Preferences/ByHost


/Library/Preferences


To get to the ~/Library, while pressing the Option key, on the top menu choose Go > Library.


To get to the /Library, Finder > Go > Computer > Macintosh HD (usually) > Library.


These files will be in at least one of these locations. Once deleted, restart and test.


On a side note, you may have to set your Finder preferences again but at least they won’t forget what you told it to do!


If this doesn’t work, I’d see how it goes in another user account and/or in safe mode to narrow down a possible cause.


Add a user or group on Mac - Apple Support


Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support


Hope something here helps!

Finder issues on Ventura, M1 Max

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