Apple Notes expands all folders on launch — bug?

Hi everyone,

Since upgrading to macOS 26, every time I open Apple Notes, the sidebar launches with every folder and subfolder expanded.

Instead of seeing:

Folder 1

Folder 1.1

Folder 1.1.1

Folder 2

Folder 2.1

Folder 3

Folder 3.1

I want it to stay like:

Folder 1 >

Folder 2 >

Folder 3 >

So: only top-level folders visible, subfolders collapsed by default.

Right now it’s super annoying because I have to manually collapse everything every time, just to reduce the visual mess.

Is there any setting I’m missing?
Or does this look like a macOS 26 Notes bug?

Thanks.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 26.2

Posted on Dec 22, 2025 4:55 PM

Top-ranking reply

AlWeir

Level 5

5,103 points

Posted on Dec 23, 2025 5:58 AM

If your folders are expanding even when you haven't fully quit the app, it may be a corrupted preference file. You can reset it by following these steps:

Close Apple Notes.
Open Finder, press Command + Shift + G, and paste: ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Preferences/
Find com.apple.Notes.plist and move it to your Desktop.
Restart your Mac and open Notes. If the behavior stabilizes, you can delete the file from your Desktop.

If you don't want to go that route, you can use they keyboard to collapse the folders

Command + Option + Shift + Left Arrow:

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Apple Notes expands all folders on launch — bug?

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