I drag and drop Utility App icons that I use to the sidebar and they keep disappearing. This didn't use to happen; is this a glitch with 10.6.8? I tried trashing the .plist and rebooting but that didn't help. Any suggestions?
iMac, 24, Mac OS X (10.6.8), iBook G4, 1.42 GHz, PB6,7; iPad 3G+WiFi
Perhaps one of the utilities themselves are causing the problem. Which do you use?
(It will take more time to startup in Safe Mode because it runs a directory check.)
If your aliases stick that way, go to System Preferences >> Accounts >> Login Items, and remove them. Boot normally and test. If not go to/Users/yourname/Library/Contextual Menu Items and move whatever is there to the Desktop. Then do the same with /Library/Contextual Menu Items. Lastly, try moving/Users/yourname/Library/Fonts to your desktop and restarting.
macjack-Thanks for the quick reply. I tried each of the three steps:
1)Safe Mode
2)Removing Contextual Menu Items from both the User Library and the Library (one item in each moved to the desktop)
3)Moving Fonts from the User Library to the desktop
None worked. Each time I replaced the app icon aliases on the sidebar they were gone when I rebooted. :-(
Do you synchronize your machines with Mobile Me? Syncing the Dock may also cause Sidebar items to appear or disappear.
No, I don't use MobileMe.
Also, just tried deleting apple.com.finder.plist and reloading and restarting. That didn't work either. Something is conflicting. Recently installed 10.6.8 from software download, then reinstalled 10.6.8 Combo from Apple downloads. That didn't change anything.
macjack-
Earlier when I was searching - before posting my question- I found a reply from you to someone back in 2005 who was having the same problem: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/147891?answerId=736330022#736330022
You suggested:
Navigate to yourhome/library/preferences and trash these two files:
com.apple.finder.plist
com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
(You will have to reset a few finder prefs the way you like them.)
Then log out and back in again. Or restart.
I tried that before I posted and it didn't solve the problem but now I see I no longer have a com.apple.sidebarlists.plist file in User/home/Library/Preferences.
One more suggestion: to rule out any wrong settings in your User Library you could try to create another user account on your machine and try if with a brand new account you have the same trouble. If that is the case, then the system or the installed software are most likely the culprit.
I have what I call a 'test' account set up. I did as you suggested and used that. Neither account saves my Finder prefs. I kept going back and forth, logging in and out of each account and also rebooting. In the 'test' account, I found an apple.com.sidebarlists.plist file, so I dragged and dropped that back into my main account to see if that missing file made a difference.
Now, both my 'test' account and my main account save 3 of the 6 Utility app icons in the Sidebar but neither saves other prefs like which Sidebar Devices or Shared or Places to display.
Hello Dedo
Now, both my 'test' account and my main account save 3 of the 6 Utility app icons in the Sidebar but neither saves other prefs like which Sidebar Devices or Shared or Places to display.
That looks, as if your account settings are not the cause of the trouble.
What do you see, when you open the "Sidebarlists.plist" with the "Property List Editor"?
In my "Sidebarlists.plist", when I disclose "CustomListProperties" there are four Booleans checked: ShowEjectables,.....
Like this:
If these Variables are set to "false" in your File, perhaps you could try to toggle the back and see what happens.
And for each user item in the Sidebar there is a list entry with three lines, but I wouldn't risk to change there anything.
What do you see, when you open the "Sidebarlists.plist" with the "Property List Editor"?
The OP doesn't have Property List Editor, unless he has Xcode installed, as you do. He can, however, view the contents of plists (including binary ones) in QuickLook by selecting them in the Finder and pressing the space bar.
You're right, Linc, I couldn't access it via Property List Editor, but when I open it with QuickLook and the space bar, all I have is machine language.
any Editor, that can parse xml would be ok, TextWrangler, VI, emacs ...
look for these strings in the document:
<key>ShowEjectables</key>
<true/>
<key>ShowHardDisks</key>
<true/>
<key>ShowRemovable</key>
<true/>
<key>ShowServers</key>
<true/>
<key>VolumesList</key>
Leonie
After downloading PrefSetter, what I have is:
Key Class Value
savedsearches Dictionary 2 keys
systemitems Dictionary 7 keys
useritems Dictionary 2 keys
any Editor, that can parse xml would be ok, TextWrangler, VI, emacs ...
No, actually it wouldn't, because many property lists, including the one in question, are not text files. They're binaries. Test your own suggestion and see for yourself.
Hi Dedo,
So the overall structure of the File is o.k. -those values are exactly the same as in my copy. What we need to compare are the subfields of systemitems - there are the variables to turn the icons on and off.
While I experimented with the "Sidebarlists.plist" I noticed the following: Each change in the Finder settings was reflected immediately in the
"Sidebarlists.plist", unless I had selected the File in the Finder or the document was in use by the Editor. Then the Finder just did not save the settings.
Perhaps something similar is preventing the Finder to save the settings on your machine?
To check which process blocked the file, I used the lsof-command (list open files) from theTerminal and found two processes using the file:
lsof /Users/dreschle/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
Finder 3848 dreschle 15r REG 14,2 48802 10067511 /Users/dreschle/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
TextWrang 3980 dreschle 15r REG 14,2 48802 10067511 /Users/dreschle/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
[Eliza:~] dreschle%
And after quitting TextWrangler there was only the Finder left.
lsof /Users/dreschle/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
Finder 3848 dreschle 15r REG 14,2 48802 10067511 /Users/dreschle/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
[Eliza:~] dreschle%
Losing sidebar icons
