why folders disappear from finder sidebar in mavericks?

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.

>>Dottest37

Actually, what Keith is referring to is the problem many of us are having. The favorites that are connecting to network drives are disappearing after a reboot.

I have tried what Kieth has stated as his solution and our Macs will not auto login when the alias to the server is put in the users startup items. It gives an error or does nothing at all. This happened when Apple switched the default to SMB. When it was AFP/IP it seemed fine. Since the last update I haven't noticed the problem with the items disappearing but I also haven't extensively tested it either.

The solution to guarantee it would word was to make an alias folder, put all the folder alias's in it and then copy the local files into the favorites and then they would always be in the sidebar favorites.

There were some issues with that, like you can't drag files on to that sidebar favorite when it was connected to the local alias and have it go to the share correctly, but I didn't consider that near as big of an issue as losing them each time.

Just want to add my part of the finding/solution to this discussion. Not sure if it applies to everyone but, after I noticing my folders/aliases of Windows network servers disappear every once awhile after restarting, I did a little researching. I found if the drive/folder you want to add to the sidebar is a locked volume or folder, you may have problem getting it back, either connect to it automatically (via Login Items) or keeping the alias stay in the sidebar. Once I add the unlocked volumes/folders to the sidebar and my Login Items, everything went fine.

10.9.4

Mac Pro 3.7 4xE5

Have any of the folks posting here tried forcing Finder to restart? I have found that this will restore all the items in the sidebar. Restarting Finder has also worked to fix afew other issues that pop up from time to time.

Finder seems to be pretty unstable even through the last two updates. Icons for sidebar items keep changing too. Sometimes they appear as computers, other times, they appear with the proper descriptive icons.

Next time you lose your favorites, try restarting Finder. Just make sure you are not copying files or doing other tasks that are controlled by Finder.

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 am also battling this in an Enterprise environment. My latest attempt at a workaround was to create a new folder on the desktop and put aliases in there for all of the shares needed. I then copy the aliases to the sidebar. As others have mentioned, their aliases have dissappeared also but so far, mine are holding. Time will tell.

jab

I've been following this thread for a while now, but I'm not sure this has been mentioned.

There is an unsatisfactory work around. If you command drag a folder to your Finder toolbar it will stay there. I have a couple aliases to network drives that I drag to the Finder toolbar and have been using for about a month.

It's worth trying if you're desparate for quick access to your network locations.

Just putting it out there that about 10 users at my work have the same issue. When off the network, their network share favorites disappear and won't reappear once they are on the network until they reboot or reconnect to the shared drive.

Natedog828, in case you didn’t see my previous post, we’re using Default Folder X in our 4-person office, and it’s made navigating much easier.

Although I would love to see this longstanding problem with the Sidebar fixed (I always prefer a built-in solution to an add-on), Default Folder X is great. If Apple fixed the Sidebar issue, I’d still use DFX for it’s ability to provide other controls, such as accurate recent folders (another Apple weakness), and lots of customizability.

Erick

The best workaround I've found for this is to browse to the folder on the server and create an alias. After you create the alias drag it to your sidebar. They seem to stay in place from what I've found.

You can delete the alias from the server once you move it to the sidebar.

After trying every workaround and shortcut to this problem, including installing Default Folder app to make navigation easier, it seems like the problem has been resolved with the update to 10.10.2. I just started adding folders to the sidebar again, and after multiple sleeps and restarts, the folders are coming back each time. I would like others to verify this result. This has been frustrating since switching to a new Mac Pro, with all of my work drives being connected via Thunderbolt rather than internally. Each sleep or restart would remove the folders. Now, when I wake or restart, the folder are missing initially when the desktop come back up, but when the drive mounts, the folders are popping back up in the sidebar! Please, confirm my results if you have updated to Yosemite 10.10.2

stewbot wrote:

A hugely frustrating issue which (I think) started with Mavericks and has not been addressed. I must've added the same folders to my favorites at least 100 times! Very frustrating. I tried to report the bug as was suggested but I couldn't log in! Is this just happening to me or are Apple just fed up with people reporting bugs?!

It is. Here is a solution that works well for your situation: make a folder called 'alias' then inside the folder put all the network aliases in there that you want quick access to. Now drag the 'alias' folder to your sidebar or drag the alias' to your sidebar. If they get deleted from the sidebar they are easy to still have in the folder or copy them back to the sidebar.

What I have done on the computer is to make my own solution that I read on the forums here. Make a folder under your user called "alias" or something that you like. Then add that to the sidebar. After that put aliases of the folders/drives that you want in there. Then when you disconnect from the network, the alias' will still be in there ready for when you are going to reconnect.

Wow. "Working as intended," seems to be the answer you're getting from Apple. That doesn't really make sense. In previous versions, having that 'shortcut' there would mean that if the volume wasn't mounted when you clicked on it, it would prompt you to login to the volume. That seems like a much more reasonable way for it to work!

I have at least two users who have this issue and are aggravated by it. As a result, they've created a folder on their desktop with alias/shortcuts to those folders in it, and when they disappear from the Finder Favorites Sidebar, they drag it back in from there. I've also recommended they just put the Alias/Shortcut folder itself on their Finder Favorites Sidebar, and since it's a local folder on the HD, it shouldn't go away. They can just jump there and copy it back, or go on to where they really wanted to go in the first place. Not a great workaround, but one that seems like it works for now. It would be nice if this just worked the way it used to, which made much more sense.

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.