Is this a bug or a feature?

[ouimetnick]

Hi guys! So in OS X El Capitan, one thing that I find incredibly annoying is that finder doesn't remember it's place. In previous versions of OS X, if you scrolled down through files/folders, and opened a sub folder, then click the back arrow, you start at the top again.

I made a quick video to show what I mean. This is quite annoying especially when going through a folder with many items, and having to start from the top again.

Is this intentional, or a bug? And is there a way to fix this?

 

[jbarley]

Not sure if I understand your problem.
When I use finder to look through progressive folders - files and then use the back arrow, it takes me back one step at a time, the exact reverse of how I progressed in the beginning.
Which is the very same as I'm used to with previous OS X versions.

 

[ouimetnick]

Not sure if I understand your problem.
When I use finder to look through progressive folders - files and then use the back arrow, it takes me back one step at a time, the exact reverse of how I progressed in the beginning.
Which is the very same as I'm used to with previous OS X versions.

Same here, but if you had say 100 sub folders with in a folder (sort by alphabetical order) and you scroll down and open a folder starting with "M", then click the back arrow. Instead of seeing the folder starting with the letter "M" that you clicked on, the computer starts from the top with "A" instead.

 

[matreya]

Is this intentional, or a bug? And is there a way to fix this?

I know exactly what you mean, and it's a new behaviour from previous OS X versions. I have no idea at this point whether it's a bug or whether Apple have deliberately changed the behaviour...

 

[jbarley]

Same here, but if you had say 100 sub folders with in a folder (sort by alphabetical order) and you scroll down and open a folder starting with "M", then click the back arrow. Instead of seeing the folder starting with the letter "M" that you clicked on, the computer starts from the top with "A" instead.

OK now I see where you're coming from, and yes that is also the way I'm seeing it.
I just fired up another system with 10.5 Leopard on it and what do know, it behaves exactly the same way.

 

[matreya]

You're clearly not doing it right if you don't notice that the Finder in El Cap doesn't remember the position it was in when you step back using the back arrow.

I just double-checked my other Mac, a Macbook Pro running 10.10.5, and went into a folder in list view, scrolled down to the last sub-folder in the list, which is about halfway down the list, opened it, went back and it returned to the exact position in the list. In El Cap it returns to the top of the list.

 

[jbarley]

You're clearly not doing it right if you don't notice that the Finder in El Cap doesn't remember the position it was in when you step back using the back arrow.

I just double-checked my other Mac, a Macbook Pro running 10.10.5, and went into a folder in list view, scrolled down to the last sub-folder in the list, which is about halfway down the list, opened it, went back and it returned to the exact position in the list. In El Cap it returns to the top of the list.

You clearly did not understand my post #5, the part where I was telling him that I too was experiencing El Capitans lack of memory.
"OK now I see where you're coming from, and yes that is also the way I'm seeing it"
So obviously I was doing it right.

 

[redheeler]

I know exactly what you mean, and it's a new behaviour from previous OS X versions. I have no idea at this point whether it's a bug or whether Apple have deliberately changed the behaviour...

Probably a bug just like the small sidebar issue that was fixed a few betas ago. The feature has been there since Snow Leopard, not sure why it would be removed now in 10.11.

 

[dianeoforegon]

Try Column view instead.

 

[Ritsuka]

When in doubt, report it as a bug.

 

[Julien]

This same behavior is also in iTunes now.

 

[dugbug]

This same behavior is also in iTunes now.

Probably more about common code base than design intent

I'd report it as a bug

 

[Erdbeertorte]

This same behavior is also in iTunes now.

That was my first thought as I read the thread title and it is really annoying. I thought it was a new issue when the version with Apple Music came. Is it only in El Capitan's iTunes or also in Yosemite and older with the same iTunes version?

I did not recognize so far that's in Finder too.

 

[umzyi]

It is definitely a bug and I have reported this several times over past months and it doesn't seem to get apple's attention. Here is my description:

If you go to a folder/place which has several folders inside so that you have to scroll down to see the very last folder. Now open that very last or the second last folder, now press back button. Here you will notice that finder will take you on the top of the page instead of keeping the focus to the last line of folders.

I have tested this is on Mavericks and Yosemite. I can confirm that in previous versions of OS, this wasn't the case! if you go inside a folder and come out by pressing back, the focus of finder stays there on same folder areawhich you came out from. Now in El Capitan, when you press back button, it scrolls to the top of the page and you have again scroll down to see those folders.

 

[umzyi]

Right bad news!!! I have installed the latest GM release and it seems Apple have ignored all out feedback on this. It has not been fixed. I do not what else to say...

 

[redheeler]

Right bad news!!! I have installed the latest GM release and it seems Apple have ignored all out feedback on this. It has not been fixed. I do not what else to say...

Functionality-wise the GM candidate is pretty much exactly the same as beta 8. The fix may come in a later GM candidate.

 

[xgman]

Yosemite had a similar (back/forward finder) bug when first released and it took several updates for Apple to notice and fix it as I recall.