Files and Folders are not sorting by "Name"

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Files and Folders are not sorting by "Name"

I have a bug that happened all of a sudden. I've never had this problem before.

Files and folders do not "sort" by "Name" in the Finder, Address Book, and Mail when I am in any of these three applications.

This is occurring on my, iMac 20", 2.1 GHz, PowerPC, G5, running OS X 10.5.8.

I also have a MacBook Pro, 2.4 GHz, Intel Core 2 Duo, also running OS X 10.5.8, that is not having this problem.

I use Word and when I create a new document and go to Save, all my folders on the Finder show sorted by "Name".

Any ideas?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8), iMac 20", 2.1 GHz, PowerPC, G5

Posted on Nov 29, 2012 6:17 PM

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Answer 1

farmr Author

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Nov 29, 2012 6:21 PM in response to farmr

I am using "Column View" in the Finder.

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Answer 2

Nov 30, 2012 9:46 AM in response to farmr

what are they sorted by if not by name?

in column view there is only a single column

try resetting finder by deleting the preference file located here:

system drive > users > Home folder > library > preferences > com.apple.finder.plist

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Answer 3

farmr Author

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Nov 30, 2012 3:08 PM in response to Gary Scotland

That's my point, it is set to sort by name in column view, but the files/folders are not.

I did try deleting the com.apple.finder.plist, and then restarted; still same problem.

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Answer 4

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

Nov 30, 2012 3:36 PM in response to farmr

Column view has no other option but to list content alphabetically.

If yours are not so listed, how are they sorted on yours?

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Answer 5

farmr Author

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Nov 30, 2012 10:34 PM in response to Klaus1

Yes, I know what you're saying. Column view says it is listed by name or alphabetically, but the files/folders show as not, and are all mixed up.

It doesn't matter if you choose to sort by kind, modified date, label, etc., the files/folders are still mixed up and not sorted to whatever you set it to.

Very stumped!

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Answer 6

BDAqua

Level 10

239,435 points

Nov 30, 2012 11:58 PM in response to farmr

Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), use Disk Utility from there to Repair Permissions, test if things work OK in Safe Mode.

Then move these files to the Desktop for now...

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.recentitems.plist

Reboot & test.

PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.

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Answer 7

farmr Author

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Dec 2, 2012 9:54 PM in response to BDAqua

Tried your suggestion and still doesn't work...still the same.

Irritating! I can live with this only because I don't have any other choice at this point.

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Answer 8

BDAqua

Level 10

239,435 points

Dec 3, 2012 11:25 AM in response to farmr

Hmmmm, I wonder if it's those hidden DS_Store files...

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/10478

Invisibility Toggler - 1.1...

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32246

InVisibles - 1.5...

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/14722

I'd try deleting that in one problem folder first as a test.

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Answer 9

farmr Author

Level 1

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Dec 4, 2012 10:46 AM in response to BDAqua

Tried your suggestion by using Terminal and using this command: "sudo find / -name ".DS_Store" -depth -exec rm {} \;"

I tried one folder at a time as well. All has failed to resolve the problem.

I'm very frustrated. I appreciate the help and suggestions. I know there is a problem, because I see it every day, and I know there is a solution to it. It's not the end of the world for me, but it is wrong. I'm about to give up.

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