New Files/Folders Not Showing Up

[summitster]

I was using Lion until I did a clean install with Mavericks recently. Since then some truly bizarre things are happening:

1) If I save a new file from within a program (Photoshop, Word, etc.) and then browse to the location in Finder, it doesn't show up. If I search for it in Spotlight it is found, and after clicking on the item from the Spotlight search it then shows up in Finder. I've tried this repeatedly and it is consistently happening.

2) If I create a new folder from within Finder, it does not show up in the Open File dialog from within programs. For instance, I unzipped a folder, and then tried to upload something from it to a webpage using Chrome / Safari, and the folder is not there to use when trying to access it from the web browser (also tried in Word, Photoshop).

This is of maddening of course - I can barely use my computer.

Things I have tried to do to fix the problem:
Re-indexed Spotlight for my entire computer (no change)
Repaired permissions and rebooted (no change)


Does anybody have any idea what could be going on?

 

[Partron22]

It's the Finder doing asynchronous updates of the user interface.
That can be maddening at times.
Restarting the Finder usually brings things up top date promptly.

 

[summitster]

It's the Finder doing asynchronous updates of the user interface.
That can be maddening at times.
Restarting the Finder usually brings things up top date promptly.

Not sure we're talking about the same thing. I just saved a file, and it wasn't showing up in Finder. So I restarted Finder as you suggested, and yea, the file shows up now. But then I save another file, and again it doesn't show up.

Surely I'm not supposed to have to restart Finder every single time I save a new file? Is this related to some new "feature" of Mavericks? It is maddening. I'm about to revert back to 10.7 or 10.8 because of it.

 

[Partron22]

We're talking about exactly the same thing. My Mac was worst at it in 10.7, but it does seem to have made a comeback with Mavericks. Perhaps we're all supposed to be running our Systems off SSD's these days, where Finder updates might get faster.
Besides, you don't need to restart Finder every single time you save a new file, just when you want to access that file quickly from Finder, and it doesn't appear. They show up on their own, eventually.

If it really irritates you frequently, you could write a little Automator Script (Service) to restart Finder, and then assign it a keyboard shortcut. Given how long the problem's been with us, I don't expect Apple to do anything about it any time soon.

 

[summitster]

Wow, I never had this problem in 10.7. It seems like the most basic thing, to be able to access a file that exists, when you want to. It's a huge problem because I almost always need the file immediately. For instance I save a PDF, and then need to upload it to a website, attach it to an email, etc. No can do without restarting Finder? I've waited 5+ minutes and it doesn't show up. And I am using an SSD.

No offense, but I can't believe this is just the way it is. If so this is one of the worst bugs ever - I've never even had this happen in Windows (gasp).

If I can't find a way to fix it (apart from restarting Finder 50 times a day), I think my next step will be installing 10.8. Do you know if 10.8 has this bug too?

 

[Partron22]

Yes it's present in 10.8. I think it got in when Apple started getting serious about dealing with network devices. They need to be handled asynchronoisly, so why not handle local drives that way too...?
How bad the problem is seems to depend on what you're running at the time. Obviously Finder/Unix prioritizes async tasks somehow, we just don't what the parameters are to optimize Finder display performance.

 

[Reno Richter]

I have the problem from time to time on several different machines (using 10.6.8, 10.8.5 and 10.9.2) What I do to make the new files show up is add a new untitled folder to the place where the files were expected to show up and click off the new folder and then right click on the folder and delete the folder and bam the files all show up as expected.

 

[summitster]

It's hard to believe that if this were happening for everyone, that Apple wouldn't make it a top priority to fix this bug.

Which tells me there's got to be something unique happening with those who are affected by it. If anyone has further insight into how to fix this permanently I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[BrightBold]

Aargh. Same problem here and I'm on 10.8. This just started recently but I can't pinpoint exactly when. It's maddening. I had also found that restarting Finder causes the files/folders to show up but what a pain - especially since I also have TotalFinder installed so it's a 2-step process each time. So I will definitely try Reno Richter's untitled folder trick.

Also, it applies not only to Finder but to other applications that list files, like Coda. (Restarting Coda will also reveal the new files.) Like the OP, I have repaired permissions and rebuilt the Spotlight index but to no avail. Dying for a solution.