I'm running Yosemite (10.10.5) on a 27" iMac (mid-2011). The arrows have only disappeared at the top directory level of the Finder—all other levels are intact.
Also, this is not the case on a similarly equipped MacBook Pro (2015). How do I fix that issue?
Airport Extreme 802.11ac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)
This article has the answer. You're probably familiar with 'Arranging' by name, date, size etc., but there is also a thing called 'Grouping'. When Grouped, the arrow next to the folders disappears. Go to 'View' -> 'Arrange By' and then select 'None'. The arrows should reappear.
This article has the answer. You're probably familiar with 'Arranging' by name, date, size etc., but there is also a thing called 'Grouping'. When Grouped, the arrow next to the folders disappears. Go to 'View' -> 'Arrange By' and then select 'None'. The arrows should reappear.
1st… open the folder you are speaking of…
2nd… while the folder is open use the following keyboard command "command J"
3rd… here is the important part… where is says "Arranged By:" … select None
your folder arrows should return
Hey Ferd:
That's a cool trick and one that I hadn't explored before (thanks!), but it doesn't fix the problem. I get the feeling I may need some sort of Terminal hack to bring them back. It might appear to be a minuscule issue—more of an annoyance, really—but it really gets in the way of everyday productivity. Without those arrows, I can't drag-copy any content at that level. I'm including a screen shot of my current, minimalist viewing state.
VAMacGuy,
Thanks for that, it helped me understand your problem, but I'm not too sure that I will have a solution.
After ensuring that you have a backup, two ideas come to mind:
1. Drag the com.apple.finder.plist file which is located in your ~Library>Preferences Folder to your Desktop. Then log out/in or restart.
2. Download and install theMac OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 Combo Update
Sure did. Here's the resulting warning message:
I assume, because I'm already running 10.10.5, there's nothing to update.
Oh, well—thanks anyway. She's an old workhorse, getting ready to be put out to pasture before too long. Five years is an eternity in the world of ones and zeros. Three years ago, she had a brain transplant—new logic board, new HD and power supply. Starting to run hot again—so her days are numbered.
Hi,
List View folder expansion triangles are not available when the view has been modified with the "Arrange By" options. Simply set "Arrange By" to "None" and the list view folder expansion triangles will return.
Navigate to Finder Menu: View > Arrange By > and Select None. All your folder arrows in List View should immediately return.
The default keyboard shortcut for "Arrange By: None" is: ⌃⌘0
If you prefer using the toolbar, this is the Finder toolbar icon:
If it is not in your toolbar, ⌥-click in the toolbar or navigate to Finder Menu: View > Customize Toolbar… and drag the icon into your toolbar.
Normally it is best to solve all problems before upgrading, but in this case you can try that since it is a system reinstall.
Check to make sure your applications are compatible.
Application Compatibility
Applications Compatibility (2)
El Capitan 10.11 Compatibility information
Do a backup before installing, preferable 2 backups on 2 different drives.
Here is how to access the file. Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J. When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder. Select Library. Then go to Preferences.
Thanks, Eric—that's also nice to know. However, all nuking the Finder preferences did for me was to take my start-up drive off the Desktop (restored through a view option in Finder Preferences). Still no lock with the folder arrows, however--:(!
Try a restart.
Do a backup, using either Time Machine or a cloning program, to ensure files/data can be recovered. Two backups are better than one.
Try setting up another admin user account to see if the same problem continues. If Back-to-My Mac is selected in System Preferences, the Guest account will not work. The intent is to see if it is specific to one account or a system wide problem. This account can be deleted later.
Isolating an issue by using another user account
If the problem is still there, try booting into the Safe Mode using your normal account. Disconnect all peripherals except those needed for the test. Shut down the computer and then power it back up after waiting 10 seconds. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches, forces a directory check, and disables all startup and login items, among other things. When you reboot normally, the initial reboot may be slower than normal. If the system operates normally, there may be 3rd party applications which are causing a problem. Try deleting/disabling the third party applications after a restart by using the application un-installer. For each disable/delete, you will need to restart if you don't do them all at once.
Safe Mode - About
Safe Mode - Yosemite
Ouch—I thought my iMac booted slowly, without Safe Mode! Alas, neither logging in using a different user account nor booting into Safe Mode were able to restore the arrows. For giggles, I also rebooted using the OS on my Back Up drive (a clone of my local HD), Rebuilt the Permissions and Repaired the Disk, to no avail.
FYI, I'm pretty fastidious about updating software and performing regular, routine maintenance (using Disk Utility and Onyx) and don't often encounter issues such as this. As I mentioned previously, my issues have mostly been hardware related (including a replacement video card, last year, that I neglected to mention).
Any other ideas?
Epilogue: the scorched earth approach turned out to be the best, in the end. After performing a full backup, I booted into the recovery partition, ran Disk Utility (repairing the volume and disk permissions), then wiped the drive clean (erasing in several passes), and reinstalled Yosemite OS. Voila, the arrows magically reappeared! Hopefully, the old gal will provide a few more years of faithful service for my daughter (and granddaughter). Meanwhile, I'm loving my new, souped-up, 27" iMac Retina 5K. A lot has changed in five years...
Just had this problem today with a network share under El Capitan (10.11.4). Since the folder was shared by others, I thought that maybe corruption had occurred in the hidden .DS_Store file, located at the root level of the folder in question, and that deleting it might fix the problem. I used the Terminal, but there are other utilities that might also show hidden items, or clean out the .DS_Store file directly. After I did so, the folder opened as expected with arrows visible. I checked on two separate computers and the result was the same.
VAMacGuy,
Have you tried to "Customize Toolbar?" Finder>View>Customize Toolbar..., or right-click on the Toolbar, and choose Customize Toolbar...
VAMacGuy,
Could you provide a screenshot of the view that you are trying to reproduce. which exists on your MacBook Pro?
Folder arrows, in list view, have disappeared. How do I view them again?
