Downloads missing from Finder Sidebar after Sonoma upgrade

Panufo wrote:

Okay - Opened a new Finder window, went to "Settings", saw to it that "Downloads" was checked in Sidebar. No results. Tried Shift + Command + H, tried dragging the 'Downloads' folder to the Sidebar. Nothing. Haven't tried whacking the mole yet.

Uninstall any and all third party Antivirus, Cleaners, Optimizers, VPN, speeder uppers....

all known to cause issues on the macOS

If you are using any third-party sync software like:  OneDrive,  GoogleDrive, BackBlaze or DropBox try disabling to test or uninstall. Most all those apps have options to usurp downloads; and may lend itself to your issue...(?)

no insight or resolve—

To trouble shoot further you can

 —A SafeBoot Use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support will sort many anomalies

Does a quick disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled.

Login and test. Reboot  as normal and test.  Caches get rebuilt automatically.

This test will tell you if third party interference; most* extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode. 

—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account Change Users & Groups settings on Mac - Apple Support

  This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account. 

Panufo wrote:

I can't access Downloads from my Finder Sidebar, which really disrupts my workflow. I've tried all the different suggestions, nothing works. This seems to have happened since I upgraded to Sonoma. Any thoughts?

List what you tried... or do we play a game of Whack-O-Mole(?)