why folders disappear from finder sidebar in mavericks?

Why do, for no apparent reason, the folders I have added to the Finder's sidebar just disappear when I open a Finder window?

Posted on Nov 13, 2013 7:53 AM

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Posted on Nov 13, 2013 7:57 AM

Sounds like a preferences issue...


Go to your Finder "Go" menu hold the option key and choose Library. Then go to Preferences folder and trash these files:

com.apple.finder.plist

com.apple.sidebarlists.plist


Then, restart, or log out and in again.

(You will have to reset a some finder prefs the way you like them.)

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Nov 13, 2013 7:57 AM in response to Jon Levinson

Sounds like a preferences issue...


Go to your Finder "Go" menu hold the option key and choose Library. Then go to Preferences folder and trash these files:

com.apple.finder.plist

com.apple.sidebarlists.plist


Then, restart, or log out and in again.

(You will have to reset a some finder prefs the way you like them.)

Jun 5, 2015 12:40 PM in response to Roger30

I was having the same problem, and am a little embarrassed to say how simple the problem was for me.


To fix the issue, I had to hit "Show" when moving the cursor over "Favorites", "Shared", and "Devices" - and then it showed the items again.


It's still a mystery how all the items were gone, as if I'd hit "Hide" on them. I haven't restarted my machine, so if I have any troubles with this issue after that, I'll post a reply to this posting.

Nov 11, 2015 2:03 PM in response to Jon Levinson

I'm not sure if anyone in this thread actually communicated with Apple on the subject, but I did today (via support chat) and we may have identified the problem and solution.


I never had my sidebar favorites disappear before this year, and it's happened three times now. All of the folders that disappear are links to a mounted server volume. In going through various aspects of my system configuration, the Apple staffer suggested adding the external volume(s) to my Login Items (System Preferences / Users & Groups / [select account] / Login Items tab). When I opened it up, I immediately realized that I in fact used to have the server volume there, and now I didn't. I don't recall removing it, but may have done so. This could well be the problem.


I've now added the server volume to my Login Items, and will monitor the situation. If I'm good for the next few months without losing the shortcuts, I'd be inclined to say that this is the solution. I don't know of a way to force the situation to occur, as a test, so I'm just going to wait and see what happens. I'd suggest others having this problem ensure that the volumes they are accessing are included in their Login Items list, and let's compare notes.

Nov 23, 2015 10:22 AM in response to Keith Gardner1

Actually using the start up items may only work if you are connected to one NAS. If you are connected to different NAS this will not work either.

So the clue is, you have to be connected to the volumes BEFORE Finder starts. To ensure this i wrote a small skript which you can change to your efforts and store as a program in applications folder. After you eddited it in Apples Script Editor, run this generated program on startup in the startup items list (maybe at the very beginning) and all links should work fine.

All you have to do is to replace your volume pathes with the ones in the script.


First part will close Finder to ensure no links get lost when connecting to the different volumes

If some volumes should not be disconnected use exceptionsList


tell application "Finder" to close every window #Close Finder to not loose links

set exceptionsList to {""} #Volumes which should not get disconnected, write as following {"VolumeX","VolumeY",...}

tell application "Finder"

set diskList to the disks

repeat with mountedDisk in diskList #Make sure all Volumes are disconnected

if name of mountedDisk is not in exceptionsList then

eject mountedDisk

end if

end repeat

end tell


set netStatus to (do shell script ("ping -c1 192.168.yyy.xxx > /dev/null; echo $?")) #check online status of Volume1 (IP)

set netStatus2 to (do shell script ("ping -c1 192.168.yyy.xxx > /dev/null; echo $?")) #check online status of Volume2 (IP) and so on...

set Volumes1 to {"Mountpoint1", "Mountpoint2"} #Mount these MountPoints of the volumes, write as following {"MountpointNameX","MountpointNameY",...} and replace names with your Mountpoints

set Volumes2 to {Mountpoint1", "Mountpoint2"}

if netStatus is "0" and netStatus is netStatus2 then

repeat with vol in Volumes1

mount volume "smb://Volume1/" & vol #set root Volume1 e.g. smb://volume1.local and mount all Mountpoints of Volume1

end repeat

repeat with vol in Volumes2

mount volume "afp://Volume2/" & vol #set root Volume2 and mount all Mountpoints of Volume2

end repeat

set Volumes_folder to POSIX file "/Volumes/"

tell application "Finder"

(open folder "Desktop" of home) # or use this folder, if you want to see all mounted Volumes but insert line without brakets: open Volumes_folder

end tell

else #dialogue if something went wrong

display dialog "Sorry Volumes could not be activated" & return & return & ¬

"NAS seems not to be running" buttons {"Ok"} default button 1 giving up after 10 ¬

with icon caution

end if


Hope i wrote no error in these lines.

Feb 11, 2016 11:05 AM in response to Jon Levinson

So Mac has its own share of bugs which might be considered unimaginable by someone transitioning from Windows. One example is the file open and save dialog. Windows has a text box where you can type the path of the file or folder and reach there straight. Well... Mac's file open and save dialog does not have a text box at all (there is one to type the filename but can't put in the path there). So you need favourite locations in the left panel from where you can navigate quickly. The bug is that they stop appearing at times and even if you add folders under favourites in the left panel, they keep disappearing. This can make file open or save really painful and slow. Luckily (with some Googling) was able to find a solution to it. Here is the solution:


1) Open terminal window. (Type Terminal in spotlight search)


2) Paste this command at the prompt. (⌘+c to copy from here and ⌘+v to paste in terminal command prompt)


cd ~/Library/Preferences && sudo find com.apple.finder.plist* -exec rm {} \; && killall Finder


3) Enter the password when asked by terminal. It won't show anything on the screen so make sure you type it correctly and press return.


4) Logout and log back in. That should resolve the issue.

Mar 24, 2016 12:41 PM in response to Keith Gardner1

Replying to my own message here – I wanted to close the loop on the test I ran.


Having added the server login to my Login Items, I no longer have the problem of disappearing folders. Period. This has solved the problem for me, and I hope others will find it to do so as well. To recap: make sure that the server on which the "disappearing folders" are stored is included in your Login Items in System Preferences / Users & Groups. If that login is done whenever you turn on the computer, and you remain connected to the server, you will not lose the folders in the sidebar.

Jan 23, 2015 8:41 AM in response to BuckyThreadkiller

This is still a problem on the new MBP I just moved to. I did NOT migrate my old User Account, so it’s not that. I also have a person in my office on a Mac Pro, who never gets off the network, who loses network folders from her Sidebar on occasion.


Here’s my temporary solution:


Install DefaultFolder. It gives you a drop-down menu of Favorites in:


1. Your main menu bar.

2. The top of finder windows.

3. Open and Save dialogues.


I have all my old favorites there, and they never disappear. It also shows Recent locations, which is fantastic. Apple’s implementation of Recent locations has a lot to be desired, and Default Folder does it right.


There are a plethora of options and adjustments that you can make to the setup, and it’s very solid software. Tech support is also spooky responsive.


Erick

Feb 6, 2015 7:48 AM in response to Jon Levinson

I just wanted to add my 2C on this and what I have seen.


Like many of you, I have the disappearing favorite folders for network drives. The standard favorite options you select in finder settings seem to stay without a problem. Some of my users are accessing these network folders on a daily, or multiple times a day. IE critical to business.


One of the biggest issues I see is, once connected to a network resource, under devices, the drives don't show up like the older OS's. As an example, I have users that connect to 192.168.1.4/common/ (a common repository that houses exports from a database) which is an smb share on an IBM power 8 (AIX 7). Under devices, you may see 192.168.1.4 but when you click on it you do not see the share "common". It DOES however show on the desktop (the share drive "common").


Additionally we are also having the favorite folders disappear (after we drag on over). This is happening for an OSX 10.6.8 server (AFP and SMB) and the IBM server.


My fix has been a log in script that auto connects any of the drives automatically on log in. It is a "tell" app that also passes username and password to access the share. This seems to be the only way I have been able to have users avoid the disappearing favorite folders. I am not sure if it works the same as (after connecting to the share) dragging the drive to your log in items. This may accomplish the same thing as my app (along with remember password checked off)


I still view this as a bug.

Oct 21, 2015 11:30 AM in response to Jon Levinson

I have been using this bit of AppleScript to re-create them. I have to re-arrange them when done, but it is faster than other methods I tried. I just keep a link to this in my Dock so I can open and run it whenever required, which is far too often.


addToSidebar(POSIX file "/EXT/SOME_STUFF") -- duplicate the above line for each path you wish to add display dialog "Finished" on addToSidebar(f) tell application "Finder" activate select f open f tell application "System Events" keystroke "t" using [control down, command down] end tell close the front window end tell activate end addToSidebar


It does require, if I recall, that you have given permisisions to control the computer under "Security & Privacy" in System Preferences, under "Accessibility". You would have to give permission to either "Script Editor.app" if you are running this as a text script, or to the compiled application if you save the script that way.


I hope someone else finds this useful. But I wish Apple would just FIX IT. This in no way can be "expected behavior". {sigh}

Nov 19, 2015 11:54 AM in response to Woop

the sidebar bug is very frustrating. i have found a workaround. it's messy but seems to work.


- make a folder on your local hard drive. i called mine "network shares" or something.

- place aliases of the network folders you want to to use in this folder.

- drag the aliases to the favorites in your sidebar


the idea is that the favorites will keep the 'file' in there but the file is actually an alias. just don't trash your network shares folder.


yes, it is a clumsy workaround, but i hope it helps.

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why folders disappear from finder sidebar in mavericks?

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