Preference files missing in Finder view, sidebar folders disappear

I have a combination of symptoms:
* In the home/library/preferences folder, only 112 files are visible. The remaining files are there, you can find them with spotlight but not in a regular Finder view
* The icons for my mostly used folders that I had in my sidebar started disappearing after logout/restart
* Some, not all of my icons in the top finder menu bar also are lost after restart
* This may be connected to installing new version of Parallels, but I am not sure of timing
Any hints?

Some more information on this topic:
I look into the home/library/preferences folder, there are only 112 items, in alphabetic order
I search for plist files with HOudaSpot in the same folder, find eg "com.omnigroup.OmniGrafflePro.plist"
Using the "Reveal in Finder" command, I can see the file in the folder, which now contains 113 files!
However, as soon as I switch to another application and then return to Finder, this file is gone and I am back to 112
In addition, I have found a "????.plist" file in the preferences folder
Anyone got a clue?

Similar Messages

  • Files missing in finder view

    Recently, I have noticed that files are missing from the finder view. The files are still there (they show up in a "find" or spotlight search and will list if the directory is accessed over the network.) It is as if the files are hidden.
    I have tried several ways to refresh the window, none do anything.
    If I know the filename and "search it" in the finder window, it will show up. After I "cancel" the search parameters, the file/folder is visible again.
    The first time I noticed this, I had a complete list of files in a window. I clicked on the one that I needed, and it vanished from view. This happened on several other files as well.
    Any ideas?

    I found the solution to my own problem. It is an issue with ChronoSync, a third party sync program. They are fixing the problem in the next version of the program (a beta is available now, which seems to have fixed things).

  • Files Missing in Finder

    A large number of photo files have disappeared from my iPhoto library in Finder view, but still appear in iPhoto itself. I've tried browsing in Photoshop and in the Finder, as well as searching, but no files appear in the year/month/date folder structure. What happened to my files??

    Select a photo in iPhoto, Control-Click on it, and select "Show in Finder". That will show you were the actual file is.
    Also, can you view them in full-screen mode? If not, then the file might really be missing, and iPhoto is just showing you the lower-resolution thumbnail from the data folders.

  • Time Machine preferences window appears as Finder view after restore

    I wanted to upgrade to a larger disk drive, so I backed up using Time Machine to a USB drive, and then swapped out drives and did a restore. However, after the restore, now when I click on time machine preferences from the top bar, instead of the GUI appearing, a finder view appears with timemachine.prefPane in its heading. Any ideas what is going on? If I go through the System Preferences route, it works.

    Not actually answered... Has been reposted...

  • Dolphin file manager flickers when viewing certain folders

    Like the title said: when viewing certain folders (my home folder and /) Dolphin flickers. When viewing any other folder there is no flicker at all. I found a post on the Ubuntu forums which claimed this is a qt3 problem, but if that is the case Dolphin should flicker when viewing any folder, right? The same holds for my video driver (fglrx 8.3).
    Anyone got any suggestions?

    We once had a patch for qt3 applied to our packages, which prevented the flickering in konqueror by creating a small buffer for the icons... It was exactly the same scenario you are describing here...
    However, this patch does not work properly anymore (it does apply, but there are some small rendering issues, especially when moving icons on the desktop), but if you are a programmer you could take a look at it
    Here is the patch: http://www.kdemod.ath.cx/svn/branches/k … view.patch
    Apart from that, i have no idea...

  • Files Missing in Finder but Listed in Terminal

    I have a bunch of Videos on an External Drive. When I double click them to open, they disappear suddenly. However, QuickTime launches and even Plays the file
    The missing files show up in Terminal.
    Copying the Videos folder does not solve this. Finder does not see these files even after setting it show show Hidden Files.
    I have unmounted the drive, remounted it, restarted my computer, but no luck.
    How do I get Finder to show my missing files again ?

    For some reason, I now see all my files in Finder.
    I have no idea why or how this happened.
    I hope to move on from this experience now.

  • Some files missing sound some not; all play on another computer

    Both my wife and I have MacBookPros running 10.4.8. I put some video files from a VCD onto both our hard drives. They started out with a .DAT suffix, but I read that they could be manually changed to .MPG format by re-labelling and that they would play in QuickTime.
    On my wife's Mac, it works flawlessly. On my Mac, it only plays the video but no sound. Other video files have sound on my Mac in Quicktime, and these VCD files play with sound in VLC on my Mac; so there must be something about my Quicktime (and not hers) that is causing this behavior. I replaced every QuickTime related plist, plugin and preference file I could find on my Mac with those from her Mac, all to no avail. Created a new user on my Mac and still no sound, only video. Any suggestions appreciated.
    Second question. Canon XLIM's AVI movies show white screen but do have sound on both our computers. I've tried Perian but it crashes my Quicktime after briefly showing video. I must be missing a codec. If anyone with this camera has solved the issue, please let me know. the AVI movies play in VLC just fine.
    Thanks for reading!
    MacBookPro   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

    Thanks for getting back. I have the movies downloaded to my computer. I went to 'Get Info' and now I do see that they are Copy Protected. I was able to copy them to a DVD as I said. And to make sure I wasn't watching the original when I put the DVDs back in my computer for testing, I closed iTunes and used Qucktime to view them...and it worked. When I was burning them I got no warning that they were copy protected and went through the near hour it took to copy each one and it said I would be able to play it on 'any Apple or Windows computer..but not on a DVD player' and that was why I lent them to a friend to watch. But I guess if they are copy protected that was surely in vain. I wish I had gotten prompts telling me that, instead of wasting 5 DVDs and several hours..not to mention getting them to my friend and getting her all excited to see the films. Oh well...she will have to come over here to watch them. Thanks.

  • Sidebar folders don't "spring open" any more

    I've seen this behavior on a number of Macs (including mine). At some point the ability to drag a file onto a Finder window sidebar folder and have that folder "spring open" to show its contents has disappeared. All other drag & drop works fine and the spring-loaded folders ability on all other folders (in Finder windows or on the Desktop) remains.
    It's just the Sidebar folders that refuse to spring open. Note I can still drop items on those sidebar folders and have the dropped item moved (or copied).
    My Intel iMac (OSX 10.4.6) now has this problem whereas my new Macbook works fine. I'm pretty sure there's some app I've installed that's pooched this. Im also pretty sure I saw this problem (and the answer to it) posted somewhere. Any help will be appreciated.
    Thanks,
    Barry

    Barry,
    Plist files contain instructions for recording and executing tasks associated with the the application or function that owns them. They can and do become corrupted. If you look in the ~Library/Preferences Folder you can usually guess what application or function the .plist serves by analyzing the file name. In your case com.apple.sidebarlists.plist was the suspect.
    Proper identification of the appropriate .plist is not always so obvious, but for example com.apple.iCal.plist is the preference file for iCal. When an application malfunctions, removing the associated .plist file from the preferences folder to the Desktop is often the best first troubleshooting step.
    If you have a problem with an application, Quit the application, find the associated plist file in the Preferences Folder, and move it to the Desktop as a first step in your troubleshooting procedure. Then log out/in or restart and re-evaluate the performance of the application.
    A new default .plist file is automatically created in your Preferences Folder after you remove the recalcitrant .plist and initiate the log out/in restart sequence. You can expect default application behavior and you will have to reset some preferences. If the application or function returns to normal after removing the .plist file, it will prove that the original file was corrupt, and you can now safely trash the .plist file which you placed on the Desktop.
    If the application or function is unsatisfactory, the original copy of the plist file which was placed on the Desktop can be safely returned to the preferences folder. Just allow the system to replace the newer plist.
    If you are having problems with any aspect of OS X, experiment with deleting the appropriate .plist file. Plist corruption is common and .plist file deletion often cures many problems. Too many users try intricate solutions first and end up complicating their problem.
    ;~)

  • Finder is hiding files based on the view

    In my Downloads directory, I have many files. In column-view (Cmd-3), I see all of them. But when I switch to list view (Cmd-2), it shows a very small subset of my files. I've checked extended attributes, Finder info, and I've found no reason why these files should be hidden. The selection seems random, as some files with the same extension are hidden, but others aren't. Oh, and all of the files are visible in icon view (Cmd-1) also.
    Here are some examples: Documents.zip appears, but Anxiety.zip is hidden. alerts.cl is shown, but eistein.qi is hidden.
    Removing the .DS_Store file has no effect.
    Perplexed,
    John

    Are you using iPhoto 08? If so, I have heard that it holds its file structures very differently in Finder than iPhoto 06 or earlier. Basically, everything is accessible from WITHIN iPhoto, and will also show up in Spotlight as you have found. However Apple in their wisdom have decided to discourage people from manipulating iPhoto documents from outside iPhoto, as it might interfere with iPhoto's file management and lead to problems.
    As the iPhoto files (your photos and folders) are now held inside iPhoto itself, if you do a 'Show package contents' you will see them. If you would rather organise / keep your photos OUTSIDE iPhoto, then go to Preferences and uncheck the 'Copy to iPhoto Library' option under Advanced > Importing (that is an option in iPhoto 06 which I am using - you will have to check if it is still available in iPhoto 08). Then you simply choose yourself how to keep your photos organised, how to import them, etc, and use iPhoto mainly as a viewer & simple editor.

  • Dashboard preferences file is missing. Causes my CPU to run at 100%

    I have Mid 2009 MBP here. Since I've upgraded to mavericks my computer has been running extremely hot and my fan as been speeding at 6200 rpm all the time. I figured out that the dashboard is not responding and in the activity monitor it says it is using about 95% of my cpu. after researching this online people have deleted the preferences file for dashboard and it fixed the issue when they rebooted. I don't have a dashboard preferences file! I've looked and looked and looked but I can't find it. When the system reboots it is supposed to automatically regenerate any missing preferences files, mine apparently doesn't regenerate dashboards file. Please help!!!! I feel like my computer is going to melt! Here's a link to a screen shot of my activity monitor http://imgur.com/4VaxmB4

    My PC runs at high rates too. And I too like to use iTunes at the same time I use Safari.
    And there's no quick solution to this...at least not yet. But here are few tips and tricks that you can apply to get this thing half solved.
    1. First of all, if you don't intended to watch images while browsing, You can turn it off...Simply by going to 'Edit> Preferences> Apperance (Tab)' and from there deselect ' Display images when the page opens'
    2. Secondly, Don't open too much tabs if it's not needed.
    3. Thirdly, if you're using Safari for a few hours. Just try to close the whole window time to time. And after reopening get back to the last session (View) by selecting History> Reopen all windows from last session'
    This will probably help you. Btw, these tricks are exclusives from me. Happy Surfing buddy!

  • Top 2-3 files displayed in Finder are hidden under Finder's menu bar. How do I modify view to correct this?

    Recently updated to Yosemite 10.10.2 on MacBook Pro (early 2011) and now when I open a folder in Finder, the top 2-3 files displayed are hidden under Finder's menu bar. I can scroll up to see the files, but they snap back under the menu bar preventing me from selecting or opening them. This problem occurs in the following Finder view preferences, "icons" "in lists" and "in columns" but not "Cover Flow".  Any assistance would be appreciated. Thank you.

    This sounds like a Windows thing ( You can post a photo and I can tell you for certain). Those folders are Windows system created folders that your computer has had since it was installed, all Firefox does is use the Windows File picker, which is what you see when you open that window. So, to customize you'd have to do that from Windows Explorer (not Firefox).
    The Window should however remember what folder you were in last.

  • Sync archive is successful, but cannot find latest config file in the config viewer

    Sync archive is successful, but cannot find latest config file in the config viewer, Prime LMS 4.2.4

    Hi,
    Go Admin > Collection Settings > Config > Config Archive Settings
    Make sure   enable shadow directory is Checked
    Also check you have folders like shadow , devfiles ..etc under NMSROOT/CSCOpx/files/rme/dcma
    If these folders are missing ... then it is a database issue..
    if files and folders are fine then check if it happening for any particulr device or set of devices or all the devices ?
    Thanks-
    Afroz
    ***Ratings Encourages Contributors ***

  • Mountain Lion forgets my finder view preferences after a restart

    Hi all,
    I've set the finder view preferences in my applications folder to 36 size by 32 spacing. However, after a restart, the icon sizes are back to 64 and mashed together without any spacing. It seems to be related to changing the icon sizes since my other folders (ex: Documents set to column view remains unchanged). Could this be a permissions issue? I had to boot into single user mode to resolve an issue with boot camp so I'm wondering if a similar fix is available for this.
    Thanks

    Back up all data.
    Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:
    rm -i /Applications/.DS_Store
    Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
    Launch the Terminal 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 Terminal in the icon grid.
    Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).
    You should be prompted to confirm that you want to delete a file named ".DS_Store". If that's what happens, press the Y key and then the return key.
    Relaunch the Finder or log out and log back in. Test.

  • Can't find my Photoshop preferences file

    I KNOW this is stupid, but on Windows 7, 64-bit, with all the stuff turned on to show me hidden files and system files and everything, Photoshop CS6 (13.0.1?), and Lightroom 4.3
    I'm trying to follow the advice that everything I do in Photoshop should be backed up somewhere other than as part of Photoshop, I periodically move all the stuff in
    the Users/<me>/AppData/Roaming/Adobe...  folders to a backup drive...  And, by and large, I can find and figure out what stuff is.
    But, I can't find my preferences file.  I went to the Adobe help, and it says:
    General settings
    Adobe Photoshop CS6 Prefs.psp (32-bit version)
    Adobe Photoshop X64 CS6 Prefs.psp (64-bit version)
    Users/[user name]/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CS6/Adobe Photoshop CS6 Settings
    I don't have ANYTHING called "Prefs.psp" in the Users stuff.  As near as I can tell, I don't have anything called Prefs.psp ANYWHERE on the disk.. 
    Do I get to pick where this file gets put?  Could I have put it somewhere ELSE?  Or, is it actually named something else?
    I wouldn't be much concerned about his, but my latest stupid human trick (we won't go into that please) has convinced me I should do a better job of making sure I can restore Photoshop and Lightroom in the event of a "small error in judgement"

    Thanks Noel.  It's nice to know that at least THIS time, I'm not crazy..........
    As far as backups, I've got a good setup, EXCEPT for the system backup...  I'm using Syncback to back up everything but the O/S, and I've recently added a backup that takes everything from the system except the Windows folder tree...  So, every night at 1 a.m. everything gets backed up to internal backup drives and a large external backup drive. 
    What I'll do is add an (hopefully) automated Windows Backup to the other backups.  Given the appallingly stupid things I periodically do I figure I need suspenders and a belt.

  • Sometimes I can't drag files into Sidebar folders... and then I can... etc.

    I cannot figure out what causes the erratic misbehavior of sidebar folders. At one point I'll easily drag a file or a folder from the same Finder window into a Sidebar folder, but moments later the sidebar folders simply won't spring open. But a few minutes later they will.
    Anyone got a tip?
    NB: I had this same misbehavior before I completely rebuilt my HD - I even zeroed to write over bad blocks, reinstalled OS & updated from Apple, gradually added my 3rd party apps by reinstalling each of them (whew!). I had figured that and some other (minor) glitchy behaviors were too little free space, bad block, some directory corruption, etc.

    Depending on the file, it may just take a minute to decide.
    Ray

Maybe you are looking for