How to keep Desktop icons where you position them

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How to keep Desktop icons where you position them

Mac OS X used to be a great tool for visually finding icons I group on the Desktop. Sometime over the last couple "upgrades" this feature has apparently been abandoned. Is there a way to at least emulate the very handy function of NOT getting my icons "automatically" rearranged on the desktop? So far any settings I have made do not persist across reboots. I am currently on macOS Sierra Version 10.12.6. Does High Sierra resolve this? Or does High Sierra just make it worse?

MacBook Pro TouchBar and Touch ID, macOS Sierra (10.12.6)

Posted on Feb 26, 2018 1:44 PM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

685,203 points

Feb 26, 2018 7:42 PM in response to IsOSXstillViable

If the above doesn't work, it might be a corrupt .plist.

Do a backup, preferably 2 backups on 2 separate drives.

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/com.apple.finder.plist and com.apple.desktop.plist. Move the .plists to your desktop.

Re-launch Finder by restarting the computer and test. If it works okay, delete the plists from the desktop.

If the same, return the .plists to where you got it from, overwriting the newer one.

Thanks to leonie for some information contained in this.

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Answer 2

Feb 26, 2018 2:00 PM in response to IsOSXstillViable

From the Desktop> control click command J to open the info pane>Sort by none

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How to keep Desktop icons where you position them

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