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Finder repeatedly can't see files and folders in High Sierra

I did a clean install of High Sierra in Dec 2017 on a formatted late-2016 MBPr. Things were smooth for several months. The past few weeks, the Finder and (sometimes) applications seems to repeatedly lose the ability to see files and folders. I will open a folder, such as Documents, and see the usual folders I have there. But, if I select any of the folders, they appear empty. Sometimes, if I try to open the file from MS Word or other app, or attach a file using Safari or Chrome, those apps WILL see the files/folders, and other times they will not. The problem is always resolved with a restart of the computer. But, this is obviously annoying and disruptive. Why is this happening and how do I prevent it in the future?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS High Sierra (10.13)

Posted on Mar 15, 2018 7:32 AM

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Posted on Mar 15, 2018 7:55 PM

Hi Joshua!

I understand that files do not appear visible in Finder, and I'm happy to help. To help isolate this issue further, please test this behavior after doing the following:

Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac

How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac​

Cheers!

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2 replies

Mar 16, 2018 12:05 PM in response to chuck_3rd

Alex_h1, thanks for the feedback. Are you suggesting that if the behavior occurs, then boot in safe mode and see if that resolves the issue? I'm not sure how that will help because rebooting normally corrects the issue. If you are suggesting to boot into safe mode and then use my MBPr until the issue occurs, that could be a long time and would be extremely difficult to use it under the limitations of safe mode for what could be several days time. I'm mostly curious if others have encountered this type of issue and whether there have been specific issues identified, which would be more ideal than attempting to troubleshoot it from scratch.


Anyone else have this issue of the Finder and apps just not being able to see files at folders past a certain sub-folder level which is fixed with a reboot?

Finder repeatedly can't see files and folders in High Sierra

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