alp1116
Level 1 (23 points)
Mac OS X

Q: Mac OS X El Capitan Finder hanging when tags are added to files

On two separate occasions in the past two days, Finder has hung (spinning colored wheel FOREVER) after assigning tags to files. In the first case, I selected two documents and assigned 6 tags to them. In the second case, I used Grab to capture a screensaver and assigned four tags to the screensaver that I tried to save to my desktop. In both cases, I got a spinning colored wheel and after one or two minutes watching it spin, I ran Activity Monitor to see Finder (not responding). Running a Sample and Spindump did not stop the hang. Only after running System Diagnostics, towards the end of the diagnostic, did Finder finally stop spinning. It took a total of 5 to 10 minutes to assign four tags to one file. I would have to say that this upgrade definitely has not made my iMac mid-2011 faster. Any ideas what the problem is? Because if I have to do an erase and reinstall of the operating system to get it to work properly on both of our business computers, it had better solve the problem. I have better things to do with my time.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11), 3.4 GHz Intel Quad-Core i7 mid-2011

Posted on Oct 17, 2015 7:52 PM

by alp1116,Solvedanswer
alp1116 alp1116
Level 1 (23 points)
Mac OS X
A:

A clean reinstall of Mac OS X El Capitan v10.11.1 seems to have solved this problem as well. I do not know why I had to completely erase my hard drive and reinstall Mac OS X El Capitan v10.11.1 on a blank hard drive, but this apparently was what was necessary to get the operating system to install correctly. I do not know if the problem was a faulty installation from the Mac App Store of Mac OS X El Capitan v10.11 initially, or if the installer was faulty, but the clean install of Mac OS X El Capitan v10.11.1 did solve the Finder hanging problem when tags are assigned. And it eventually solved most of the other strange issues that kept cropping up on my Mac.

Posted on Nov 8, 2015 8:47 PM

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alp1116

Q: Mac OS X El Capitan Finder hanging when tags are added to files

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Allen A,

    Allen A Allen A Oct 18, 2015 7:47 AM in response to alp1116
    Community Specialists
    Oct 18, 2015 7:47 AM in response to alp1116

    Hey alp1116,

     

     

    I know how frustrating it can be when such a typically simple task like assigning tags turns into unexpected results and long waits. If you wouldn't mind, a bit more information should help us get a better idea as to how to approach Finder's hanging.

    1. Is this behavior occurring on both of the business computers that you mentioned?
    2. Would it be possible to post the contents of the Sample of Finder obtained while it's not responding?

     

    Looking forward to getting Tags sorted for you!

  • by alp1116,

    alp1116 alp1116 Oct 18, 2015 12:45 PM in response to Allen A
    Level 1 (23 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 18, 2015 12:45 PM in response to Allen A

    Hi Allen -

     

    The Finder hangs happened on my Mac (mid-2011 iMac, 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7, 32 GB 1333 MHz DDR3, AMD Radeon HD 6970M 1024 MB, Mac OS X El Capitan v10.11). I have not tried it on our other Mac yet (my partner's computer). His Mac, a much older iMac mid-2007, is exhibiting other issues causing spinning wheels since upgrading to El Capitan, like it is taking FOREVER for his Mac to boot and load Mail (5 to 10 minutes is common). We both upgraded to Mac OS X El Capitan on the same day. And we have both reinstalled Mac OS X El Capitan (but not done an erase and reinstall). Yesterday, in Photos, an image that he had blown up on his screen froze and the system would not respond at all. I tried Esc-Option-Command multiple times and finally had to hard-boot it by pressing the power button. A previous issue that I tried to find an answer to here in Apple Support Communities with FaceTime not working on his Mac since the upgrade still has not been resolved. You can read about that here if you are interested: Re: FaceTime for Mac not working on my husband's IMac mid-2007 after upgrade to El Capitan but it works fine on my iMac …  The last thing to try to resolve that issue based on the help received is the erase and reinstall of Mac OS X El Capitan on his Mac. FaceTime works fine on my Mac since the upgrade, but with my Mac now exhibiting issues, I am not convinced that taking the time to do an erase and reinstall on both machines will resolve the problems. Looking for some guidance or at least some additional troubleshooting steps before I do the erase and reinstall on my Mac too.

     

    Do you want me to post the entire sample or just a portion of it? That is a lot of text. Also, I can try the tagging on his Mac to see if his computer is having the same problem with it.

     

    Anna

  • by BSA Buffalo Doug,

    BSA Buffalo Doug BSA Buffalo Doug Oct 19, 2015 7:33 PM in response to alp1116
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 19, 2015 7:33 PM in response to alp1116

    I'm seeing a similar problem with Finder hangs .... I can do a relaunch of Finder from the dock ...but still its annoying as about every 2-3 finder actions require this.

  • by Allen A,

    Allen A Allen A Oct 22, 2015 9:32 AM in response to alp1116
    Community Specialists
    Oct 22, 2015 9:32 AM in response to alp1116

    Anna,

     

    With regards to the Mac Mini that's having issues with Tags in Finder, it may be as simple as using Disk Utility to verify and repair your primary hard drive while booted to Internet Recovery.

    Internet recovery can be accessed by booting the system and holding down the command, option and R keys on the keyboard.

                     
    Command-Option-RStart up from OS X Recovery over the Internet.

    Startup key combinations for Mac - Apple Support

     

    Once booted to Internet Recovery, use Disk Utility to verify and (if necessary) repair both the volume you boot the Mac from (typically Macintosh HD), and the physical drive itself.

    Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks - Apple Support

     

     

    Regards!

  • by alp1116,

    alp1116 alp1116 Oct 22, 2015 12:18 PM in response to Allen A
    Level 1 (23 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 22, 2015 12:18 PM in response to Allen A

    All internal and external hard drives are okay per First Aid in Disk Utility (using CMD R). Installed Mac OS X 10.11.1 Update to El Capitan today. Update installed with no problems. Finder still hanging when I tried to add 5 tags to one file on my desktop afterwards, with no other applications open. This is an operating system problem.

  • by Allen A,

    Allen A Allen A Oct 22, 2015 2:22 PM in response to alp1116
    Community Specialists
    Oct 22, 2015 2:22 PM in response to alp1116

    Anna,

     

    Thank you for using the Apple Support Community. Due to the nature of your issue or question you may find more information by using another one of Apple's support resources - https://getsupport.apple.com/GetproductgroupList.action.

     

     

    All my best

  • by alp1116,Solvedanswer

    alp1116 alp1116 Nov 8, 2015 8:47 PM in response to Allen A
    Level 1 (23 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 8, 2015 8:47 PM in response to Allen A

    A clean reinstall of Mac OS X El Capitan v10.11.1 seems to have solved this problem as well. I do not know why I had to completely erase my hard drive and reinstall Mac OS X El Capitan v10.11.1 on a blank hard drive, but this apparently was what was necessary to get the operating system to install correctly. I do not know if the problem was a faulty installation from the Mac App Store of Mac OS X El Capitan v10.11 initially, or if the installer was faulty, but the clean install of Mac OS X El Capitan v10.11.1 did solve the Finder hanging problem when tags are assigned. And it eventually solved most of the other strange issues that kept cropping up on my Mac.

  • by Allen A,

    Allen A Allen A Nov 10, 2015 6:39 AM in response to alp1116
    Community Specialists
    Nov 10, 2015 6:39 AM in response to alp1116

    alp1116,

     

    I'm glad to hear that you've gotten it sorted, and thanks for the update!

     

    Cheers!