Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Yahoo Finance stock widget stopped working

I am using the Yahoo Finance stock widget on Dashboard that comes with OS X on both a MacBook Pro running Mountain Lion and an iMac running Lion. In the last few days, both of them stopped retrieving data. For years I have added my own mutual fund symbols to the widget to track my funds, and they have worked fine. Just to see if it made a difference, I removed my fund symbols, and suddenly the widget works again with the default stocks and indices that the widget comes with, on both of my machines.


I don't know what the issue is, but I was curious if anyone knows what is causing this. BTW, I already started using the Fidelity stock widget that is on the Apple widget site. The Fidelity widget works fine on both my machines.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Jul 26, 2013 11:15 AM

Reply
32 replies

Jul 27, 2013 2:25 PM in response to FenwayPark

When I've had problems with widgets I was able to fix them by deleting the .plist for the particular widget.


Either hold down the option key and select your user Library in your home folder or use the Finder Go To Folder command and enter ~/Library/Preferences. Near the bottom of Preferences are the widget .plists widget-com.apple.widget.widget name. You can move the .plist to your desktop and test. If okay delete the old .plist.


If you prefer to make your user library permanently visible, use the Terminal command found below.


Show User Library


You might want to bookmark the command. I had to use it again after I installed 10.8.4. I have also been informed that if you drag the user library to Finder it will remain visible.



Jul 27, 2013 6:40 PM in response to Eric Root

I still have a problem with non-US stocks and currencies.


With the non-US stocks only the one day and one week charts are available, as the others produce errors. Likewise when I have the exchange rate of a foreign currency and the USD, GBP or EUR . This has been an issue for a number of weeks.


The new problem is that when I go further afield with currencies (e.g. AUDUYU=X), all the numbers in the widget disappear and I am left with just the names of the quotes.


ASX Widget works ok for some of what is missing but doesn't include the news or other numbers that are worth a glance.


NB. Just noticed a similar problem retrieving information on the Stocks app on iOS.


Message was edited by: anthnym

Jul 28, 2013 7:34 AM in response to Eric Root

I found both "widget-com.apple.widget.stocks.plist" and "widget-com.apple.widget.stocks.plist.lockfile". I moved both to the desktop, then fired up the Yahoo Finance Stock widget. Doing so re-created both of the above files in the user Library Preferences folder. Unfortunately, I saw the same behavior of the stock widget, retrieving server data in its generic state, but not retrieving data if I add stock symbols to it. Oh well, it was worth a try. Thanks for the help!

Jul 28, 2013 10:11 AM in response to Eric Root

I restored a copy of the Stock widget from TIme Machine from a couple of months ago, with the no improvement in behavior. The fact that this is occurring on two of my computers running different versions of OS X, and didn't improve with restoring the widget tends to confirm this isn't a corrupt widget, but more likely something on Yahoo's server, as goilala said.


Thanks for everyone's comments. If anyone finds an answer to this, let me know.

Jul 28, 2013 12:05 PM in response to FenwayPark

Tried all the suggestions. None of them work. However, if you remove any mutual funds type tickers, the normal stocks show up just fine. I had to remove Fidelity and American Growth funds, but normal tickers such as LUV, Amazon etc and the three index stocks, it works fine. So definitely a server side error affecting some tickers that are not mainstream stocks it seems. Once you remove the offending ones from your list, or create a new list without them, the rest show up just fine.

Jul 30, 2013 12:26 PM in response to Bradley Sager

I agree, Bradley, I've used the Fidelity widget for about a week now as a replacement for the Yahoo Finance widget, and it works well.


I did report this new problem with the Yahoo Finance Stock widget to the Apple OS X people via their form for reporting errors, not that I need it now, but just to be thorough. We'll see if it's repaired, but I have a feeling their interest in widgets is waning, The Movie widget that comes with OS X also stopped working a couple of months ago and hasn't been repaired. They seem to be more interested in Mac Apps than widgets these days. Too bad, because I like using widgets.

Yahoo Finance stock widget stopped working

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.