Finder window disarranging folder content

Hello All, I'm not sure why, but after I downloaded mountain lion, my finder window is acting up. Some folders appear as you can see in the printscreen below (folders and docs on top of each other), and when I right-click and select "Show View Options" to rearrange, i'm able to do so, but after I close the finder window and reopen again, most of the folders that I rearranged, are messed up again. I have also used "Icon Size" and "Grid Spacing" and it gets all messed up as well.
Anyone having this issues as well?
Here are some examples

hello ozoz,
I went to apple store and they helped me.. it's very simple, follow these steps.
open finder
on the bar menu on top, click on "Go"hold down the "option key" and you will see that "Library" option will show up (this is a hidden folder)
look for subfolder "Preferences" click on it.
look for "com.apple.finder.plist" and delete it.
This will clean up any glitches your finder preferences may have.
Rearrange your screens your way again and this should fix the issue.
Let me know if this helped you
RealEstateMiami

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Finder Window Toolbar Folder

Hello;
I'm on MacOS 10.3.9. I accidentally placed a folder (alias) on the Toolbar of a Finder Window. How do I remove it?
(It's one of those minor irritation that you live with for months then finally say enough!)
Chris

Hi Chris!
You can press the Command⌘ key and drag the item off of the Toolbar.
You can also press the Control key, position the cursor on the item, and select Remove Item.
ali b

How to stop Finder from opening new windows to view contents of folders.

I have 2 folders on my desktop, called "Home" and "Work." Both are aliases to files stored in user/documents on my HD. Both contain many folders within folders within folders and, ultimately, documents. When I double click on the "Home" desktop alias, a finder window opens showing contents. When I click on any folder within that window, it does what I want it to...switches to the contents of that folder (within same window, without opening a new one.) This works for everything in that folder.
When I double click on a folder within the "Work" folder, however, it opens a new window at every level. By the time I get to the document I want, I may have 5 or 6 windows open, which I then have to manually close.
I have gone into Finder/Preferences/General and the "Always open new window" box is NOT checked. Any one know why it would still be doing this? (No new applications are opening when I click on the folders, just a new finder window.) And why would it do it for one desktop folder and not the other?
I looked through discussions till my head spun and only saw the Finder/Preferences fix, so I'm hoping there's another fix, like a preference file somewhere that I just need to trash. Any help would be appreciated.
Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

I don't know if this is the problem, but for windows in "Icon" or "List" view that are set so that the "Toolbar" is not showing, a folder opened within that window will tend to open a new window. This is just a difference in behaviour between the two modes. To show / hide the toolbar, try clicking the elongated button in the upper right corner, in the "titlebar" of the window, or choose "Show Toolbar" / "Hide Toolbar" from the "View" menu.
Additionally, a workaround might be to switch to "Column" view ("View" > "as Columns" ⌘3), since opening a folder within a window in "Column" view does not appear to spawn a new window, even with the "Toolbar" hidden. Another option might be to hold down the "option" key while opening the folder - this causes the previous window to close as the new window is opened.

AppleScript That Saves Finder Window Size and Location

I wrote the following AppleScript to position and size Finder windows, but the Finder doesn't "remember" the settings the next time I open the windows.
tell application "Finder"
activate
make new Finder window to disk "Hard Drive"
set toolbar visible of Finder window 1 to false
set current view of Finder window 1 to icon view
clean up Finder window 1 by name
set position of Finder window 1 to {30, 55}
set bounds of Finder window 1 to {30, 55, 400, 625}
make new Finder window to folder " Files" of disk "Hard Drive"
set current view of Finder window 1 to icon view
set toolbar visible of Finder window 1 to false
clean up Finder window 1 by name
set position of Finder window 1 to {410, 55}
set bounds of Finder window 1 to {410, 55, 975, 455}
close Finder window 1
close Finder window 1
end tell
How do I make it so the Finder will remember the location and position?

Hello
Here is a script that I use daily.
The code used to force the Finder to "remember" the window position seems a bit tricky. If I remember well I found it on MacScripter.
As far as the Finder is not corrected, we must use this kind of trickery.
--[SCRIPT]
my commun(choose folder)
on open (sel)
my commun(sel's item 1)
end open
(* set bounds to {10, 50, 800, 600} *)
on commun(F)
set F to F as Unicode text
tell application "Finder"
if class of item F is document file then set F to (container of item F) as Unicode text
if ((class of item F) is folder) then my set_bounds(F, {10, 50, 800, 600}, false)
end tell
end commun
on set_bounds(F, b, toolbar)
local ao, i, lesFichiers, fichier
tell application "Finder" to tell folder F
set lesFichiers to every file
repeat with fichier in lesFichiers
my saveImageWithItselfAsIcon(fichier as alias)
end repeat
tell container window
set ao to class is Finder window
open
set current view to icon view
set properties of its icon view options to ¬
{arrangement:arranged by name, icon size:128}
set bounds to b
set toolbar visible to toolbar
set toolbar visible to not toolbar
set toolbar visible to toolbar
if not ao then close
end tell -- to container window
repeat with i in (get folders)
my set_bounds((i as alias), b, toolbar)
end repeat
end tell -- to folder F then to Finder
end set_bounds
on saveImageWithItselfAsIcon(F)
tell application "Image Events"
launch
try
tell (open F)
try
save with icon -- save iconimagefile with itself as icon
end try
close
end tell
end try
end tell
end saveImageWithItselfAsIcon
--[/SCRIPT]
Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mardi 13 mars 2007 20:51:14)

Can not refresh contents of finder windows

I can not get my finder windows to refresh their contents. My picture folder is the one that really bothers me. When I am trying to upload pictures to the internet, the picture folder is never accurate. I have tried the refresh finder apple script, restarting the computer, opening and closing the window, nothing seems to work.
The content is there, when I search for a specific picture file it is there, but it is not located in the right subfolder. I download and manage my pictures on kodak easyshare.

Hi there,
The content is there, when I search for a specific picture file it is there, but it is not located in the right subfolder.
Hmmm, are you saying something is moving them? Or the Finder isn't opening them to the right folder?
Have you tried this one...
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/10958253
Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), & use Disk Utility from there to Repair Permissions, reboot once more.
Then Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions...
Move this file to the desktop...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
reboot when it completes.

After installing Mavericks I can no longer save a new word document or pdf by typing the name of the destination folder in the Finder window. The save button greys out. Solutions anyone?

After installing Mavericks I can no longer save a new word document or pdf by typing the name of the destination folder in the Finder window. The save button greys out. Solutions anyone?

Please follow these directions to delete the Mail "sandbox" folders. In OS X 10.9 there are two sandboxes, while in 10.8 there is only one. If you're running a version older than 10.8, this comment isn't applicable.
Back up all data.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail
Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select
Services ▹ Reveal
from the contextual menu.* A Finder window should open with a folder named "com.apple.mail" selected. If it does, move the selected folder—not just its contents—to the Desktop. Leave the Finder window open for now.
Log out and log back in. Launch Mail and test. If the problem is resolved, you may have to recreate some of your Mail settings. You can then delete the folder you moved and close the Finder window.
This action will delete any custom Mail stationery that you have created. If you want to preserve it, ask for instructions.
If you still have the problem, quit Mail again and put the folder back where it was, overwriting the one that may have been created in its place. Repeat with this line:
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.MailServiceAgent
Caution: If you change any of the contents of the sandbox, but leave the folder itself in place, Mail may crash or not launch at all. Deleting the whole sandbox will cause it to be rebuilt automatically.
*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select
Go ▹ Go to Folder...
from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

Finder/Window-Content not responding to changes and doesn't refresh

Hi,
i have a very strange Problem with the Finder since i upgraded to 10.6.4. The Finder doesn't react to changes from certain Applications.
I noticed the effect in the Folder 'Downloads', f.e. if i try to download a file. Usually two files appear, the intended file with 0 kB and another temporary file. After the download is complete the temporary file will be deleted and only one file remains.
Usually the whole process is visible and shown in the finder window. After the update it isn't which means that if i download a file, the Window content does not reflect the changes and the new files are not shown, even after the download is complete. To see the new files i have to trigger a change, either by creating a new folder or by changing the location (moving up a level).
Interesting enough this only happens with certain Applications like Firefox or 'the Unarchiever' (a compression tool). If i download a file with Safari the temporary files and the downloaded files are shown in the window content without manually triggering a change. If i use 'keka' (another compression tool) the changes are also immediatly shown.
In order to narrow down possible errors i have taken different approaches:
a) i intently scanned and watched the console and read all error reports. There are no errors shown (with firefox or the unarchiever).
b) I created a new user profile and the effects are the same.
c) i ran 'disk utilities' and scanned the Access priviliges. Apart from the common problem within /system/java/... there are no problems
d) i ran 'onxy' to clean the user and system cache. I rebuild the LaunchService Database.
I didn't fix my Problem.
That leads me to conclude that the problem is located in some system-function which is correctly triggered by some applications and apparently not by others.
My Questions:
1. Does anyone else has this problem and possibly a fix?
2. Does anyone know how the finder is triggered by applications in order to refresh a window?
tia,
jc

Hi Jeanclaude,
You've described the problem well and took some excellent troubleshooting steps
b) When you created the new profile, were you still engaging your third party apps, or are they installed in log-in items?
1. It would be interesting to try a Safe Mode startup (It will take more time to startup in Safe Mode because it runs a directory check.)
2 If step 1 doesn't turn up anything, re-install from your 10.6.x install disk (10.6 has the ability to "install in place" without touching anything other than system specific files.) Just pop in the disk, double-click and follow the prompts. Remember to uncheck language localizations if you don't use them & Printers except the one/ones you use.
Let us know your results after these 2 steps.
-mj

Where does time machine store content that would be found in the Finder window under "All Images, All Movies, All Documents"? Also, I have many Garageband projects and mp3 files I can't find.

Where does time machine store content that would be found in the Finder window under "All Images, All Movies, All Documents"? Also, I have many Garageband projects and mp3 files I can't find.

Easiest way to find time machine files is to open up the folder or application(works for email and iphoto) they were in - then click on time machine ICON or enter time machine from the time machine menu to go back through the files.

Finder window shifts content off screen to the left.

This is posted in the Finder discussion also. I post it here also in the chance this is a Retina display issue. I never experienced this problem with Lion on my old MacBook Pro, just on my new Retina display.
On several occasions the window in my Finder shifts the contents off screen to the left. For example, in column view, the left most edge of the Finder window might be displaying files listed in column 2 or 3. And even that is only the rightmost sliver of that column, showing maybe the last 6 to 10 characters of the file/fold names. There is no horizontal scroll bar and there appears to be no way to force the leftmost content (which is off screen to the left) to come back onto the screen. This appears to happen randomly; at least I've not noticed a pattern. I'm usually in Column view. When this happens switch between view options provides no solution. Minimizing and resizing also have no affect. Scrolling does not work, nor does using the arrow keys.The only solution is to close the window and open a new one.
Anyone have this happen? Any ideas as to cause or cure?
Closing the window and opening a new one is not a "major" crisis, but the fact such a bug is running around is undermining my confidence in the system.
Thanks for your help.
Bill

Please post a screen shot of what you are seeing. If you mean to the left of the Finder Window, it goes under the Sidebar area this is normal if your focus is in the Next to right most column. Like this?
That is completely normal. The left hand side has to go somewhere when the focus in more to the right.
Although myh scroll bar does allow me to go back to the left.

Finder window shifts contents off screen to the left.

On several occasions the window in my Finder shifts the contents off screen to the left. For example, in column view, the left most edge of the Finder window might be displaying files listed in column 2 or 3. And even that is only the rightmost sliver of that column, showing maybe the last 6 to 10 characters of the file/fold names. There is no horizontal scroll bar and there appears to be no way to force the leftmost content (which is off screen to the left) to come back onto the screen. This appears to happen randomly; at least I've not noticed a pattern. I'm usually in Column view. When this happens switch between view options provides no solution. Minimizing and resizing also have no affect. Scrolling does not work, nor does using the arrow keys.The only solution is to close the window and open a new one.
Anyone have this happen? Any ideas as to cause or cure?
Closing the window and opening a new one is not a "major" crisis, but the fact such a bug is running around is undermining my confidence in the system.
Thanks for your help.
Bill

My Mid 2011 MacBook Air (shipped with Lion) has been having this exact problem for some time now.
It started being really annoying when I placed the Dock to the right part of the screen. 'Drag and Drop' anything to the Dock would almost always reproduce the problem to all Finder windows.
The only solution I found was to force close the Finder. And, of course, moving the Dock back to the bottom part. It still happened, just less often.
This issue is still happening after upgrading to Mountain Lion. But now it happens to a single window and I can solve it simply closing it.
It is not something to drive me mad either, but I am surprised there are so few people discussing this bug. I would love to know if there is already a solution.
Thanks.
Oscar

Cannot remove a broken sidebar network folder alias in Finder window

Mac OS 10.6.7 -- WinXP Home
I have a created netowork folder alias in the sidebar of my Finder window that points to a shared folder on an officemate's PC (WinXP Home). This folder has been deleted on the officemate's computer. Now, in my Finder window, I cannot click on the alias. Clicking on the broken network sidebar folder aliases or dragging them off of the side bar (they used to vanish in a puff of smoke but now they don't) does nothing.
I can right/control-click is but the only option in the sub-menu is "Open Sidebar Preferences..." and nothing else (other aliases have all the options including "Remove from sidebar"). I can't even drag the folder aliases off of the sidebar in a puff of smoke either. I'm at a loss on this one.
Any ideas how to remove these broken sidebar aliases? Even opening the sidebar preference panel yielded nothing I could see that would help.

If you have installed Developer Tools on your Mac (Optional Installs on your MacOS X installer DVD) then you can delete individual aliases in the Finder sidebar, using Property List Editor, which you'll find in Developer > Applications > Utilities.
In your Home folder go to User > Library > Preferences > com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
Control-right click and choose Open With > Property List Editor.
Scroll down to "useritems" and click the grey arrow next to it to reveal contents.
Click the arrow next to CustomListItems and you'll see a list of entries marked "Item" with a numeric suffix.
Click the grey arrow next to the Item whose number corresponds to the sidebar alias that you want to get rid of and you'll see the info associated with that entry, including its name, as seen in the sidebar.
If it's the right one, click again on the Item header (i.e. "Item [x]") and hit delete.
Quit Property List Editor and Save changes.
Quit and relaunch Finder and that item will be gone from the sidebar list. Everything else will still be there, and you won't need to rebuild the list.

Printing Finder (Folder) Contents

I often have need to print the contents of a folder as it appears in the finder (i.e. print the finder window or some list of filenames in the folder). There is no "Print" command in the file menu when a window is open. I have been taking snapshots of various views, but sometimes end up with multipl snapshots.
Is anyone aware of another way to do this?
Thanks in advance!

Just boot into OS9 it has the capability... J/K!
OK, here's a few ways...
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060720174103802
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=2004020716455773
http://mac.softpedia.com/progDownload/Print-Folder-Contents-Download-27645.html

Why does long list of files and subfolders scroll to top of finder window when a folder midway or down the list is opened?

I am not sure how long ago this first occured, but when I upgraded to OS 10.8, I was hoping this would correct itself. Now I am not sure if it is a bug or just the way Finder works. When I have a Finder window with many files and folders, and I open a folder > midway through the list while previous files and/or folders have already scroll off the top of the window, the window scrolls up to the beginning of the list and I need to scoll back down to wee what is in the folder.
I thought the finder window stayed steady and the folder openned revealing its contents without the finder window scrolling. The only work around I have found for this is to always double-click a folder open, so it is the new Finder window.
Problem or not?
Thanks,
Ray

About the only thing I can say is to keep going to Verizon, or calling customer service to get them to look at the issues. I talked to 1 rep that told me to dial either 4# symbols, or 4* symbols (Can't remember which it was) after I got the VM message but did not have the phone ring, so it would mark my account record and they could search and troubleshoot the issue.
As far as your upgrade, I think you have done the right thing so far, and that is signing up on this forum, that way you can look at the different phone forums and see what issues that people are having. Talking to people that have the phone is a great way to find out what the issues are. Verizon Sales reps will only sell you the latest and greatest, or if there is something that they are being told to push to get out of stock.
Going with an iPhone is ok, just make sure it is correct for you, because like you said earlier, once it is done, it is done and you are stuck with it for 2 years. I had a friend who made a knee-jerk reaction to a bad phone, and did the same thing. They regretted it after 6 months. I am not saying the iPhone will be bad for you, just make sure you do your homework.

Finder window cuts content view

Hi,
Somewhat randomly, when I return focus to a given Finder window, its view cuts the contents and I can't see the file's name, only the info that usually stays at its right. Please check the attached image for better explanation of this problem.
Does it happen to anyone else? Is this a know problem? Can it be fixed?
Thanks in advance,
Jorge

Might be corrupted Finder preferences ...
Open the Finder. From the Finder menu bar click Go > Go to Folder
Type or copy paste the following:
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
Click Go then move the com.apple.finder.plist files to the Trash.
Restart your Mac then try a Finder window.

When adding a folder in the finder window it makes me Authenticate.. how can i change this?

when adding a folder in the finder window it makes me Authenticate.. how can i change this?
i am logged into the computer as the root user...
i know when i upgraded to 10.6 this happened but i cannot remember what i did to fix this
and it is doint it in 10.7
message says....
finder wants to make changes. type your password to allow this...
MBP 2.66 C2D

If you need a GUI to change the owner of a file or files, try BatChMod
Download BatChmod 1.51
Works on 10.5 and 10.6
http://www.macchampion.com/arbysoft/BatchMod/Download.html
Here are similar teminal commands:
Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
#Your current user is:
echo $USER
#Let's assume myuser
#Or, you can use the id command.
id
#Remember, this will be the correct userid. You need to find the bad userid.
#You need to look on one of your bad files. To find out your UID and GID do:
cd ~
ls -ln
ls -l
ls -ln filename-of-bad-file
Now, compare the output and write down what you find.
You best use the numeric value of the old userid. In this case it is 501. Before you do a command that will change files, you should list all the files to be changed.   From an administrator account, enter the following command:
sudo find -x / -user 501 -exec ls -l {} \;
# the system will ask for your log on password. Type it in. The letters will not appear on the screen. Then, press the enter key.
# adding a -x before the / limits the search to the current file system which will be your startup partition.
# To stop the display press control-c ( hold down the control key then press c )
mac $ sudo find -x / -user 501 -exec ls -l {} \;
-rwxr-xr-x   1 na unknown 0 Oct 23 2001 /Applications/AppleWorks 6/AppleWorks 6.app/AppleWorks 6
-rwxr-xr-x   1 na unknown 0 Oct 23 2001 /Applications/AppleWorks 6/AppleWorks 6.app/Contents/MacOS/AppleWorks Essentials
-rwxr-xr-x   1 na unknown 0 Oct 23 2001 /Applications/AppleWorks 6/AppleWorks 6.app/Contents/MacOS/Clippings
-rwxr-xr-x   1 na unknown 0 Oct 23 2001 /Applications/AppleWorks 6/AppleWorks
^C
This command will change the ownership of a file.
Any file or folder with a userid of 501 is changed to 1000. Your numbers will differ.
sudo find -x / -user 501 -exec chown 1000 {} \;
#And you need to do this from an administrator id.
More examples:
sudo find -x / -user 501 -exec chown 5464 {} \;
sudo find -x / -group 20 -exec chgrp 211 {} \;
#combined change of uid & gid
sudo find -x / -user 501 -exec chown 5464:211 {} \;
Hope this helps a little.
Robert

Finder window disarranging folder content

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