why folders disappear from finder sidebar in mavericks?

I know this is an old thread but I have just started having the same issue with El Capitan. My sidebar has only the top level entries - the favourites are not listed, nor are the built-in basics like Music etc. I can get them all back by restarting but then later they disappear randomly again. I've followed the tips listed here but none of them solve it - only restarting. Anyone have any ideas?

Hey - that is a cool tip. Actually I am using Default Folder for many years but always ignored the icon in the menu bar. Now not any more. This is even better than opening a finder window to click on a sidebar folder, just to open a favorite folder.

I just suggested to the programmer of DF that we would like a modifier key that would display the favorites right away. This would be even faster and avoid hoovering around first.

I cannot believe that this bug has existed for so long. I've only just started using my mac for work and it is infuriating. Please apple, fix this. I would rather the icons appear greyed out or with a question mark (like the dock) than to disappear.

Oh man moving from windows was not really the right choice with constant small issues that can not be resolved easily as it seems.

I have qnap NAS in my network and always those shared SMB/AFP folders dissappears .. I kinda understand when the NAS is rebooted or disconnected but not whenever my iMAC go to sleep mode ... plus I need to re-enter passwords every other day ...

Thank you!! That was it.

That's insane I lost all my handcrafted fav folder and I just can't remember the order of them. This kind of things are slowing down workflow a lot.

Don't panic - they're not gone forever, just reboot. Or actually I found that logging out and back in again fixes it too.

I haven't found that rebooting or logging out fixes it. It happens mostly when the computer leaves the local network. They are usually permanently gone. The best solution I have found is to create alias' and put them in a folder in documents or somewhere else and then put the alias' on to the sidebar. I haven't any had any of those disappear.

If the issue is about network connections, I've found that it makes difference whether you connect to the server with afp protocol versus smb. Which protocol are you connecting with? (This is a different issue from the known bug where all the favourites suddenly disappear from the sidebar - and can be restored by logout/login).

Because Apple makes ****** software.

That's actually a good idea/suggestion. But this is not the place to suggest it. I hope you'll follow through and post it as a suggestion to Apple Support.

"Complicated." Yes, true.

Yes, restarting Mac fixed this problem, relaunching Finder not worked.

PS

I must add that these behavior appeared after I tried to connect to the shared disk on another mac and got error, so network access/error may be related to this issue.

Your message isn't clear... you refer to a "known bug" where all the favorites suddenly disappear from the sidebar, but can be restored. I have not had the experience of them being restorable. I am connecting via SMB. Are you suggesting that if the connection to the server is via AFP, they are restorable by logout/login?

But you also seem to be saying that this is not the issue you're talking about here, so I'm not sure what the other issue is that you are talking about! Thanks.

What I mean by "it's a different issue" is that there are two separate and (as far as I know) independent topics here:

1. The network reconnect issue that you're talking about. I think you may find that if you connect via afp instead of smb that this issue may go away. That's what I found - however, I didn't confirm it rigorously and these things can sometimes be coincidences. Oh, by the way, I also have the network drives listed in my "startup items" so that they automatically reconnect at startup.

2. Another issue (not related to network connection) where the sidebar favourites disappear but can be restored by restarting or relogging. It's a known bug.

PS - I just realized this thread is titled Mavericks; however, I'm talking about El Capitan - I assume other recent posters are also.