Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Desktop icon spacing

smithy1185

smithy1185

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 16, 2008
41
0
San Diego, CA
I have a mid 2008 MBP that I hook up to my Gateway 2401 monitor at 1920x1200. I have a lot of things on my desktop(screenshots, files, etc...). My view options are 48x48, snap to grid, and grid spacing slider to the right.

I used to be able to have 12 items in a column on the desktop and after I restarted my computer today, I can only fit 11 items in a column. Its like the space right above the dock is no longer useable. If I try to put anything there it jumps back. This is driving me crazy and I'm hoping it's just some simple little thing that somehow got changed.

Can anyone please shed some light on this?

*edit* Nevermind, for some reason it suddenly works now after trying countless times.

*edit* It's been happening again for the past couple weeks. Anyone know what the problem is?
 
Last edited:
Is your Dock hidden? I'm able to place things all the way at the bottom with my Dock hidden. When I access the Dock, it covers the icon at the bottom.
 
No, the dock is not hidden. If I do hide the dock I can place items lower where they used to be but when I unhide and click clean up, that item jumps up.
 
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist

Drag that file to your Desktop, then Restart the computer. A new one will be created. You can always put the old one back, if there's any reason to do so.
 
Ok, I moved it out of that folder and restarted which gave me the default background. It did not fix the problem but when I checked in the preferences folder, it did not create a new com.apple.desktop.plist file so I moved the old back in without needing to replace a new one.
 
smithy1185 said:
Ok, I moved it out of that folder and restarted which gave me the default background. It did not fix the problem but when I checked in the preferences folder, it did not create a new com.apple.desktop.plist file
Click to expand...

That's odd, incredible, darn near unbelievable. What Account were you logged in under, and which User folder did you move the file out of? You don't have to give away your Account name, the two should be one and the same.

You could try creating a new Account and logging in from it to see if that fixes your problem.
 
I was under my account which is the admin. Thanks for all of your help. I'll try a new account in the morning and see if that fixes it.

I thought it was odd too that a new plist file was not created. I've deleted those in the past for certain apps and it's always created new ones.
 
Well I created another account and the problem persists. It just strikes me as odd that at some point something changed. Maybe next time I swing by the Apple store, I'll try it out. I have access to a MacBook but it has 10.5.8 so that doesn't help.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back