Level 1

15 points

Why does Finder jump around (jump around)

Can anyone help me better understand (and perhaps prevent) some of Finder's funkier behavior? I'm coming from the land of PC (thanks for the warm welcome) but find this jumping around really confusing and troublesome.

I'm on a 13" MBP and when I try and uncollapse a folder, I think I want finder to stay "focused" on the folder that I am uncollapsing. Right now it seems to (?) jump all the way down, or all the way up, to whatever folder happens to be /selected/. This means that I am /constantly/ scrolling through a list of 100's of files to get /back/ to the folder that I am interested in.

Finder should know this since it is the folder I just uncollapsed...

Since the "selected" folder is totally irrelevant to me it is a total PITA to constantly be running around like this.

Do I /really/ have to select the folder I am uncollapsing and /then/ uncollapse the folder in order to get finder to stay focused on the folder I am interested in and I am uncollapsing?

Thanks.

Mac OS X (10.6.3), Mac Pro, MacBook Pro

Posted on Sep 11, 2010 12:09 PM

62 replies

Sep 25, 2010 7:41 AM in response to KXsig

I just know that 10.5 didn't do this crap. Unfortunately I can replicate the behavior on all of my macs since after trying it out and not noticing problems on this one I went ahead and used my family pack to upgrade all my macs.

Nov 11, 2010 4:28 PM in response to Hotwheels22

This was annoying the **** out of me for ages, especially as everyone seemed to be saying "oh, mine doesn't do that".

It's when you have selected list view and order by anything other than file name.
Particularly date.

The finder widow refreshes frequently, when sorted by date, and snaps back to the
selected item. To stop it happening, click on the name column heading to order the list by name. If you want them ordered by date, you have to keep clicking near where you want to be in the list.

I'd call it a bug.

Nov 11, 2010 4:34 PM in response to Crl Williams

Actually, that doesn't seem to be it - at least, just sorting by date
doesn't cause it on folders which don't exhibit the behaviour, though
turning off sorting by date on folders which do do this, seems to stop
it.

Definitely a bug, then.

Nov 11, 2010 4:40 PM in response to Crl Williams

Another observation - seems OK with date created, jumpy with date modified.

My guess is that if the folder has a file which changes in the aspect
you're sorting on, that forces a view refresh and the jump-to-selected
behaviour. Hence, in your home dir, some or other metafile, desktop
attributes or journal file or something gets updated every few seconds,
causing refreshes.

Nov 11, 2010 4:48 PM in response to Crl Williams

Argh, now having read the rest of the posts, turning off "calculate all sizes" stops it, as per the post labelled "solved" (doh!). I guess every time it calculates a new size, or whenever the size of something changes, it refreshes. Why it only hops to the selected item when sorting by date is anyone's guess.

BigPaise

Level 1

5 points

Jan 5, 2011 8:23 PM in response to Hotwheels22

Actually, this question is not truly answered. The "answer" only addresses one situation and lends no insight into the cause. I have the same problem from time to time. It is tied to selecting the "Date Modified" column in conjunction with some option that causes the window contents to be changing with time. I have tested the option to calculate all sizes and the option to view all (+hidden) files (note: not a UI accessible option). Both result in the effect.

My action was to open a finder list mode window with a long list of file names in it so that scrolling was needed. Then a file name was selected. Then the window scrolled so that the selection is not showing. After a short time the selection would jump scroll back into view. The view all files option makes this even more annoying than does the calculate all sizes option because once all the file sizes are filled in, the problem ceases but something else goes on with the view all files option. Incidentally, application packages (which are a type of folder) act like the show all sizes option is on for them regardless of the option switch setting. So, a folder view with a lot of applications listed will also cause the jump problem as the sizes are filled in.

This problem is very annoying if a user has something selected and wants to scroll around to look for some other something. Switch to the "Name" column to look around or quickly change the selection before the jump has a chance to occur.

Mar 28, 2011 9:12 AM in response to zit

it started for me when i tried to create a new service in automator to gather files into a new folder. it didn't work, but it caused the jumping issue. i deleted the service from username/library/services but no luck. deleting the com.apple.finder.plist from username/library/preferences/ and relaunching finder (opt+right-click on icon in dock) worked

Apr 5, 2011 7:44 AM in response to Hotwheels22

I too have this incredibly annoying behaviour. Unchecking the "spring loaded folders" option does nothing to stop it and neither does removing that file from the Preferences/Lib. Which ordering choice is selected seems to have some effect, but it's still wonky. I changed from "Modified" to "Name" and it jumps differently now. Problem is, I really find ordering my documents by date modified useful. If anyone has any other suggestions, I've love to hear them.

Cheers,
N.

KSL LNW

Level 1

0 points

Apr 23, 2011 10:42 AM in response to BigPaise

I agree, the fixes some are reporting may work on some machines, but not on all. I am having this problem with ONLY one finder window, it's a Mac Mini that we all connect to. No one else in my office has this problem, and I have no problem with ANY other finder window. I've tried everything suggested here, uncheck spring-loaded folders, view by anything but name, calculate all sizes is off, etc. If I try to scroll away from whatever was last "selected", it will always jump back to have that folder visible either at the top of the window or at the bottom.

My workarounds are to place the folders I am currently working on in the sidebar and access them from there OR just type the first few letters inthe search field and then you get a window with just that folder (or a few) and it won't scroll as all of the contents fit in the window (I guess?). Another trick is just to scroll to the general vicinity of the folder you want and select something. It will bounce back to that view and the folder you want should be in that window. VERY annoying. (The good thing is, NO ONE wants to work on my computer anymore because of it.)

Jun 5, 2011 6:38 PM in response to BigPaise

Thanks for this more thorough investigation, which fits with my experience - I thought for a short while that turning off "calculate all sizes" fixed it, but later discovered it doesn't, per your description.

I sort of gave up then, assuming that Apple will eventually get around to fixing it.

ptw

Level 1

8 points

Aug 6, 2011 6:26 AM in response to Hotwheels22

This appears to be a bug in the Finder's display update algorithm. If you have your list view sorted by _any_ property whose display might vary (e.g., if you enable View/Options/Calculate Sizes and your view is sorted by Size, or if you enable View/Options/Use Relative Dates and your view is sorted by Date), the Finder seems to (incorrectly) cache the selected entry, and when it updates the display because one of the variable attributes changes, it resets the selection.

So one solution is to turn off those view options.

But another work-around that has worked for me is:

1) Sort the view by Name

2) Select anything other than the currently selected entry

3) Now sort the view by whatever you want

This little dance seems to clear the finder's cached (incorrect) notion of what is selected. You can now move the selection around without the jumping behavior.

Nov 4, 2011 1:09 AM in response to Hotwheels22

I was having a similar problem with my downloads folder on an external drive. I'm running 10.6.8 on an 21.5in imac. The problem was: the window would always scroll back to the selected file. Very annoying so I came here looking for an answer. When I realised the problem happened only when I was in my download folder, I made a new folder and transfered all my downloads into it and deleted the orginal and renamed the new folder. That solved my problem. Hope that helps others.

Nov 12, 2011 4:58 AM in response to BigPaise

THIS IS STILL AN ISSUE ON 10.7.2.

This is such a fundamental function to the operation of a computer.. and the fact that it has been ignored through countless updates is an embarrassing reminder of Apple's occasional, yet torublingly debilitating inability to prioritize their efforts on simple things that are REALLY important.

Fix it, NOW.

Papoon

Level 1

22 points

Dec 29, 2011 3:50 PM in response to ptw

The explanation offered by ptw seems plausible, and the suggested fix worked for me. I had the jumping view only in a folder I always had viewed as list and sorted by date modified. After unchecking Use Relative Dates and toggling the sort column, I can scroll normally with the date sorting. Thanks!

Feb 8, 2012 1:55 PM in response to Hotwheels22

So I think I got some indications on what it is.

Not sure if I am 100% rightyet, but this technic seems to be working for me so far. You will simply need a software to see hidden files on mac. (I use houdini 3) I can't believe macs doesn't have a feature to turn hidden files on or off.

1. toggle file visibility on (you should now see a bunch of transparent folders/files a little bit everywhere)

2. locate the folder with jumping problem

3. delete the .DS_STORE file you see. Also delete all of the .ds_store files you see in sub-folders as well

4. close all windows

if the problem persist rename the problematic folder and delete the .ds_store again.

With that you should be fine for a while.

From what I understand. The computer is corupting the .ds_store file which is creating a bunch of problems like moving all the files on your desktop to the right after a restart.

imo that is why some people have this problem and some people don't.

let me know if that hekped you

cheers

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Why does Finder jump around (jump around)