Finder sidebar / spotlight issue

Hi
I'm running os x 10.4.11 on an old quicksilver machine.
For some reason when i open up Finder, i can no longer see any of the options in the Sidebar - yet when i move the mouse over them, they're there (cept invisible!!). Tried looking in Preferences, but this won't open .
Also Spotlight seems to have given up... even simple searches are returning "nada"...
Anyone else had this weird (but increasingly problematic) issue??
Thanks
Damien

Hi again. Perhaps some maintenance would be good!
Boot from your Install Disk, and select your Language. Do not press continue.
Click the little arrow at the bottom of that page.
When the Window opens, look up top at the Menu Bar, and select Utilities.
A menu will open, from this select Disk Utility.
Select your HD from the list on the left (the first one)
Click the First Aid tab, and Repair Disk. Reboot.
Now, from your Applications Folder, select Utilities>Disk Utility
Select the HD, click First Aid, and Repair Disk Permissions.

Similar Messages

Finder Sidebar spacing issue

am i late in noticing this or ?
i generally keep "Devices", and "Places" expanded and "Shared" and "Search For" collapsed. however today i noticed that after i accidentally collapsed "Placed" when i would expand "Shared" the "Places" group would slightly shift down and leave part of itself in the old place. is this happening to anyone else?
this is happening on both my Macbook Pro and iMac - have not checked the Macbook, but i would be willing to bet it happens there too...
10.5.6
video @ http://www.vimeo.com/3669717

Mine does this too!
See also http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8638859

Downloads in Finder sidebar .oes not respond,

When I open downloads tab in the Finder sidebar, Finder does not respond. I have already tried restarting my mac, downloads in the Finder sidebar still does not respond. Please help me!!!

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then try the action that you're having trouble with again. Select any messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message (command-V).
When posting a log extract, be selective. In most cases, a few dozen lines are more than enough.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Important: Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

Finder sidebar, standard dock folders (Applications, Documents and Downloads) and home folder in English (Lion and also Snow Leopard)!

A few days before I downloaded Lion, the names of the finder sidebar, the standard dock folders and my home folder changed from German to English. What can I do to change back to German?

Well I am surprised by your answer. I thought that if you had used it, maybe something of the settings was left behind after uninstalling it.
I do not think it will solve your issue, but try it, you will never know....

Finder sidebar not updating with applications open/save dialog boxes

Hi all,
I've searched the threads and can't seem to find an answer to this recurring issue that I'm having.
I save folders to current projects in the Finder sidebar. However, I find that when I try to find those sidebar folders from within the open/save dialog applications that it is often times and old version of the sidebar. In the image linked below note the Finder sidebar on the left and the InDesign CS sidebar on the right. The list of folders is different. The version via InDesign seems to be an older cached version.
Screen capture: http://www.fabianross.com/forum-images/screen-capture.png
Does anyone know how to update this cached version to see the new list of folders?
Thanks,
Jerry

Try deleting this file: com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
/Users/YourName/Library/Preferences. Drag that file from the Preferences folder to the Trash, empty the Trash and reboot. See if that helps...
Seems to me that Adobe is very picky about where the files are kept on the hard drive. You might not want them in the Sidebar. Whenever you do an Adobe software update, the installer needs the path to where those files go. If it's missing in action, it can wreak havoc.
Make sure when you do Adobe updates, if there is a link included or a Read Me file, check that out first before installing anything.
Run Disk Utility and Repair Disk Permissions BEFORE and AFTER any software updates:
Launch Disk Utility. Select MacintoshHD in the panel on the left, select FirstAid, then click: Repair Disk Permissions. Quit DU when it's finished and reboot.
Carolyn

How to hide or rename the HP Printer's Mac address from Lion Finder Sidebar

I have an HP d100a all in one printer, and since upgrading to OSX 10.7 (Lion), my printer's mac address shows up in the Finder Sidebar under Shared devices. I understand this is for the printers SD card slot to be shared over my network, however the name is not user friendly.
Is there a way to rename what is displayed in the Finder window, from the devices mac address to a friendlier name?
If not, is there a way to disable the sharing of the SD card slot so it is hidden from the sidebar completely?
I have found several posts from people not knowing what this entry is, but I have not managed to find any posts that explain how to rename or hide the entry.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have also registered to this forum to inform that the problem with showing the MAC-address in the sidebar of the finder is still not solved.
The strange thing is that the Embedded Web Server says:
"This specifies the Bonjour domain name assigned to the device, in the form <host name>.local. If a user-specified host name has not been assigned, the default host name HPxxxxxx is used, where xxxxxx are the last 6 digits of the LAN hardware (MAC) address. This option cannot be modified."
But I did assign a user-specified host name and that name does show-up everywere (also within Bonjour), except in the sidebar of the finder (hp###xx##x####). Lots of people have the same issue, when searching on the interet, but not one has found the solution.
Please help with solving this issues?

OS X 10.8.3, TM & Spotlight Issue

I just upgraded to OS X 10.8.3 and my TM is no longer backing up. This appears to be a Spotlight issue as all I get is Estimating Index Time when I open Spotlight. I tried the trick of making my HD private in Spotlight then public again - same result it's still estimating index time. I've read lots of posts about Spotlight being buggy after operating system upgrades although most are 1-2 years old. Anyone have a solution to this?

The pink box in #D2 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting shows how to do it on a Time Machine backup drive; use the same procedure, but apply it to your internal HD instead.
The index is normally hidden; you need to be able to see it to delete it via the Finder. Installing the Tinker Tool app via the link there is one way of making them visible.
Then locate and delete the index (but the one on your Mac's HD).
Which part of that do you need help with?

How to view and or delete smart folder in finder sidebar

Sounds easy, but I am having a problem. I recently had my hard drive replaced at the genius bar. I have a smart File on the finder side bar that I can not open or delete. When I click on the file I get the message "the volume for (name of file) cannot be found. I tried using both "spotlight" & "the finder go to" locate this smart folder to no avail. I cannot remember when I created this file but I had labeled it appleworks 6 manual.. I don't ever remember using this smart file, I may have just created it without ever putting anything in it. So how do I open it or just plain delete it. I can remove it from the side board but it just comes back. I also went to /volumes which took me to the hard drive, but when I looked at all the files I couldn't find a smart file with this label. Any suggestion? Thanks Paula

I made another smart folder. I wanted to see if I could get the options with the control key. My test folder worked fine and I was able to get the options. I could delete the test folder without any problems. If it is that I have an Appleworks manual stored in an image file, then how could I find the image file? And if I did find it, what would I do to it, so I could delete this smart folder that I set up? I did a spotlight search for image file, but I couldn't find anything. I also searched appleworks manual and I did find a "getting started with appleworks 6 document" with an path of '/application/appleworks (U.S. English) Applework 6 documentation ... when I click on it it opens in preview.. but that manual is stored in my appleworks in applications, so I don't think it is related to the smart folder in the finder sidebar. If I did manage to close or delete the image file that was related to this folder, does that mean I'm just stick with this smart folder that I can't delete on my finder sidebar?

I can open audio files but can't find them with Finder or Spotlight.

Hello!
I wanted to delete a few songs and found that by searching in Finder or Spotlight they couldn't be found.
I can open the files in Finder by opening iTunes, ctrl clicking the song and selecting 'view in Finder'. If I then 'get info' on the file it gives a folder, 'iTunes music' that I can't find. Is it possible the folder is there but hidden or that 'get info' is giving the wrong address?
I've recently moved my data (only) onto a new computer using Migration Assistant. On my old computer I'd find the songs by searching in Finder with no problems.
Here's an example incase I've not been clear:
I ctrl click on 'the boy who killed time' and select 'open in finder'.
It opens in finder and i again ctrl click on it and select 'get info'.
Get info gives me the following address for the file: Macintosh HD ▸ epoche ▸ Music ▸ iTunes ▸ iTunes Music ▸ vincent vincent and the villains ▸ are you ready for the country.
If I look for the song by clicking through the folders in finder (opening 'epoche' then 'Music' then 'iTunes') I can't find the folder 'iTune Music' in the 'iTunes' folder.
Any ideas? Rachel

My answer in the older thread is still valid
Maybe the "iTunes Music" folder is hidden.
Please open Terminal and issue the following command
ls -ladO /epoche/Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Music
you should get a line similar to this
drwxrwxrwx 13 yourusername staff hidden 442 12 Mar 21:49 /epoche/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music
Numbers, date and time may differ.
If you see hidden then the folder is hidden. To unhide "iTunes Music", in Terminal issue the following command
chflags nohidden /epoche/Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Music

Why do my Finder sidebar color tags contain two copies of each file?

Clicking on a color tag category in the Finder sidebar I find I have two copies of each tagged file. This is a whole new phenomenon to me as I use the new Mavericks tagging system. If I Trash one of the two copies it returns the next time I open Finder. This is not only unnecessary clutter, but makes me concerned about which one is the "right" one to use.
Why is this happening, or what am I doing wrong to cause this?

Barney-15E wrote:
What kind of a Backup is it?
I have a Time Machine backup connected all the time, but don't see those things.
If it is just a "clone" of your internal, then Finder will display the Tags for all attached devices.
If that is the case, I think you might want to provide feedback to Apple and suggest they create a "Privacy List" like in Spotlight to disable looking up Tags on the things in the "Privacy List."
https://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html
Armed with your good advice, I now see the duplicate "cloned" files come from my backup hard drive, which I always have mounted on my desktop. I use that to back up my files periodically using SuperDuper.
Good suggestion about pointing this out to Apple. I suppose I could also unmount my backup hard drive, and remount it only when doing backups, to avoid being bothered by these duplicate files.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments.

Mavericks Finder Sidebar Not Keeping Network Links

I'm having an issue after upgrading to Mavericks. Version is 10.9.3 with all recent updates installed. When I drag a server folder (create a link) to the finder sidebar under favorites, the folder links randomly vanish and I have to keep re-adding them. This is a huge productivity bottleneck because I link all my current projects I'm working on there for ease of access. I'll have anywhere from 20 projects at a time linked there. It worked fine in Mountain Lion. They were always there and when clicking on them at boot, they would open right up and reconnect to the server. Now, sometimes I'll click on them and they will disappear if not manually connected to the server first.
Things I've tried thus far...
1. Delete the .plist files for Sidebar and Finder and restart.
2. Repair permissions.
3. Add server and folder links to login startup items (When restarting they have a yellow exclamation point by them and are still not in the sidebar)
None of these have worked. Any ideas or help on this situation would be much appreciated. Thanks!
-Chris

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of this test is to determine whether the problem is localized to your user account. Enable guest logins* and log in as Guest. Don't use the Safari-only “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac.”
While logged in as Guest, you won’t have access to any of your documents or settings. Applications will behave as if you were running them for the first time. Don’t be alarmed by this behavior; it’s normal. If you need any passwords or other personal data in order to complete the test, memorize, print, or write them down before you begin.
Test while logged in as Guest. Same problem?
After testing, log out of the guest account and, in your own account, disable it if you wish. Any files you created in the guest account will be deleted automatically when you log out of it.
*Note: If you’ve activated “Find My Mac” or FileVault in OS X 10.7 or later, then you can’t enable the Guest account. The "Guest User" login created by "Find My Mac" is not the same. Create a new account in which to test, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.

FINDER - Sidebar Font Size

FINDER - Sidebar Font Size
I'm using Mac OS X v10.5.8 & have been trying to find a way to I increase the font size in the sidebar of FINDER.
Has this actually been fixed or is there a 3rd party app that will allow me to do this much like in mail! but for FINDER!
I've noticed this has been asked many times but never officially answered.
thank you in Advance.

While those font sizes appear to be fixed, and perhaps there is a way to get into
the system via Terminal or some other super-user access, an easy utility to do so
does not appear to be readily available. If one is available, this feature is under
advertised or a sub-note hidden within.
I'd just been looking into 'Path Finder' by Cocatech, I did not see a reference to
this Sidebar Font size issue; yet did read into their Forums page to note a post
there asking about this situation. Since Path Finder is a retail product and adds
a new user Finder with extra capabilities (30 day demo) license is about $40.
No mention about their adding this; however many other controls are added.
(A Leopard 10.5 & Snow Leopard 10.6 version, plus older v. Tiger 10.4 appear.)
While their screen casts of features were a bit interesting to watch (in QT .mov)
http://cocoatech.com/screencasts - the specific ability to resize Finder sidebar is
not mentioned; although their custom Path Finder application has more controls.
Note they say their app can 'replace Finder' - so maybe they will offer their own fix.
So, this probably isn't a direct answer to the pending question or a fix.
Since I haven't had much time or access to Snow Leopard, I've no idea
if the newer system version has a control to adjust Finder's Sidebar Font.
I rarely use the Finder window within the desktop 'finder' and have avoided it;
that isn't something I'd found useful, though something similar has existed in
many Mac OS systems in some form, guise, or other applicable function.
In fact the wider busy finder/folder windows are more distracting than ever
starting in Leopard 10.5; so, that's more wasted screen space to try to ignore.
{Sure, I can say that while realizing the other kinds of access this may provide
the seasoned user who is already used to tiny words & extra feature functions.}
Not sure if tweaks in tools such as Titanium Software - OnyX may offer any
type of interface customization in this area. This can change a few things,
I've used this application since it was first available, in earlier v. OS X 10.x
while not being all that interested in making a mess of what has worked well.
Perhaps someone with command line or Terminal experience has already
blazed a trail into this jungle, and left some great bread crumbs to follow.
Maybe a nice Script has come from surveying & marking the path...?
+PS: Hello, and welcome to Apple Support Discussions forums!+
Good luck & happy computing!
+{ edited }+

Finder Sidebar reorder?

Picked up Lion this morning, liking just about everything. Getting used to the minor changes, and finding "new" changes as I go.
But something came along i do not like... I can live with it, but it's annoying.
Apple reordered the Sidebar in Finder.. they inverted it. Does anyone know if there is a way to put it back the way it was before Lion?
Terminal hack.. or anything. I did not see anything new in the preferences.
Outside finding out a few apps i had are not updated for Lion.. Haven't had any other issues.
I put Lion only on my MBP for now, make sure all is well before i put it on my iMac. I can live with the inverted sidebar in finder eventually.. but it annoys the crap out of me right now. Like the inverted scrolling.... So glad i could put that back to being correct.

OK, sitting at my MBP now.
I was right on the scrolling fix. system preference>Trackpad>Scroll & Zoom>Scroll Direction. Turn off for old way.
For the Scroll bars. System Preferences>General>Show Scroll Bars.
Now if i could only find any way to rearrange the Finder sidebar order.
I'll take a terminal hack...
Although it's just a muscle memory on the Sidebar. just annoying to me now, but i *could* live with it this way.. I just don't want to do so.

Finder Sidebar Shortcuts

I run OS Lion and Parallels, to run specific Windows apps.
Recently, in finder I browsed to the Windows 7 file structure, and dragged a folder that I frequently access over to the Finder sidebar to create a shortcut. For a while it worked great. However, today, when I click on the shortcut, nothing happens. Even worse, I can't right-click on it and remove it!
Are there any known issues with Finder sidebar shortcuts in Lion that others have come across?
Thanks,
Chris

Even worse, I can't right-click on it and remove it!
⌘-Click and drag

Finder Sidebar Misbehaves

My Finder Sidebar is having all sorts of problems. I am trying to find its preference file so that I may edit it directly.
Some items can only go at certain heights within the finder window sidebar. Additionally, even with my customized finder sidebar completely empty while in the Finder, *every* open and save dialog box shows *two* copies of my Desktop in the sidebar!
How do I fix this??
thanks.

Hi Jordan,
They may be 2 separate issues.
Have you tried creating a new account and see how your Finder works in that User acct? (That will tell if your problem is systemwide or limited to your User acct.)
Open System Preferences > Accounts > "+" make it an admin account.
If this works, then log back into your problem account and navigate to ~(yourhome)/library/preferences and trash these files:
com.apple.finder.plist
com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
(You will have to reset a few finder prefs the way you like them.)
Then log out and back in, or restart.
Did this sort the second desktop in 'save" dialog?
If not, navigate to ~(yourhome)/library/preferences/com.apple.launchservices.plist. Delete this file.
Then navigate to /library/caches/com.apple.launchservices-xxxxx.csstore. You may have more than one with different negative numbers. Delete all of these.
Then navigate to ~/library caches
com.apple.launchservices.usercache.csstore Delete this also.
Then log out and back in or restaret. Let us know.
-mj
[email protected]

Finder sidebar / spotlight issue

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for