how do i restore images and colors to the finder sidebar?

Grey is all there is.

Run Snow Leopard, Apple's last computing OS.

Go to the link below, download and install the program. Please read the instructions on the page.

http://culater.net/software/SIMBL/SIMBL.php

Then go to the link below, download and extract the program. Put the program in the plugins folder created above.

http://cooviewerzoom.web.fc2.com/colorfulsidebar.html

Force quit Finder and when you open a new Finder window, you should have color in the sidebar, although not across the top. You will need to Force quit Finder and open a new window after almost all restarts and startups.

Not perfect, but it works.

As an alternative, you can go to the link below and download the program. In the Lion Tweaks section, there is a tweak to restore color in the Finder sidebar, but I haven't tried it, so I don't know if it works.

Hope this helps.

Do not use "SIMBL" with ML, use this one:

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/43078/sideeffects/

I just searched for SideEffects and the page I looked at had the following description:

"SideEffects puts color back in the OS X 10.7 and 10.8 sidebar. Combines the work of several developers in an all-in-one installer. Installs SIMBL, ColorfulSidebar and RelaunchFinder".

If you are using SideEffects, it appears you are installing SIMBL.

Didn't work for me. Got the following:

--start

"SideEffects 1.8.6.1.pkg" can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.

Your security preference allow installation of only apps from the Mac App Store and identified developers.

--end

Is macupdate.com not an identified developer/source?

I WANT MY COLORS BACK!!!! sorry. just a tiny explosion. i'm bored out of my skull w/ this drab grey. sheesh. what is apple thinking? Pretty? Design worthy? Not.

Thanks for any assistance!

Sunshine

me thinks SJ is horrified about this. He knew design. This is blah.

"SideEffects 1.8.6.1.pkg" can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.

Turn off Gatekeeper and it'll launch and install.

SideEffects uses SIMBL.

SIMBL can be a security threat as it is basically a plug-in that is used to insert code or patches into other software. That's exactly how it gets your colours back in Finder. It hacks the system code and inserts the desired code.

If you download a malicious SIMBL plug-in, it could in theory wreck your machine. I've never actually heard of anyone suffering from an attack through SIMBL, however.

Go to Preference/Security and change the seeting to allow other softeware developer.

SideEffect was not develop by Macupdate.

I had color in the Finder sidebar. Deleted the old Simbl folder, used EasySIMBL, and was never able to get color in the sidebar. I took me over 40 minutes to get rid over everything EasySIMBL installed and revert back to old Simbl. I don't recommend using Easy SIMBL.

Sam, I am glad it worked for you, but it was a disaster for me. 🙂

I agree. The new iTunes returned color to the iTunes sidebar, so maybe the is some hope, although I'm not holding my breath. I read on a thread that 10.8.3 had been released for beta testing, so maybe we will get an update.

I really miss the colored sidebar icons. Sideeffects is nice, but it is inconsistent, and sometimes I still get windows with grey sidebar icons. Come on Apple OS X developers! Don't you use your own products?