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Recent files don't appear in Finder - Spotlight shows them ???

logana

logana

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 4, 2006
1,396
8
Scotland
Have noticed this for a few weeks now - running 10.7.2 and if, for example, I download a zip file to downloads, then unzip to the same location I cannot see the unzipped version in Finder. If I use Spotlight I can see it and then open it.....

Seems to affect all locations. If I upload some photos to iPhoto, close iPhoto then look at my Pictures in Finder I have a completely empty folder. If I get info on my Pictures folder it says 923 items and 8.23GB.

If I rip a dvd to my movies it does not show in Finder but the folder is not empty - and Spotlight can find the file (!!).

A restart solves the problem but nothing else seems too..

Is this happening to anyone else - anybody any suggestions how to fix it ????
 
very interesting.

When you spotlight find them, can you follow it back to where the file resides?

Is this in the same directory that you were previously looking?

Are they being stored in another users Movies folder?

Make sure the paths are the same.

WRT iPhoto, your imported pictures will NOT show in Pictures, but will be in the iPhoto Library in what has to be one of the most archaic and user-unfriendly layouts imaginable... but it's how Apple does it.

Also, you have confirmed that the files are not somehow being given the hidden attribute?
 
Screen Shot 2011-12-22 at 22.51.01.png

When I mentioned importing photos to iPhoto I meant that all the other misc non-iPhoto pictures do not appear in the finder window either....

My Pictures folder appears to be empty but if I get info from the folder at the top of the window I can see that it has 923 items and 8.22GB.....

If I use the open command in preview I get the following

Screen Shot 2011-12-22 at 23.23.03.png

What is interesting is that the get info last modified date is 11 December which is the date my iPhoto library was modified.

A similar situation is happening within folders in my Documents folder. If I save a pdf to my Web Receipts folder within the documents folder then the Web Receipts folder will appear to be empty in Finder though there may be 20 files in there. Other documents within the Documents folder display fine in Finder......

I have checked my Spotlight prefs and they are ok - but I remember looking to see if there was a way of preventing Spotlight from indexing attached USB external drives but did not find an easy way since they all have different names. But even so why would telling Spotlight not to index certain drives mean that the contents don't show in Finder - Spotlight finds the files that have been recently modified without any problem....
 
Same issue on Mountain Lion

I have exactly same issue on Mountain Lion -- new files, whether created from programs (eg Word) or downloaded or came in through dropbox, do not show up in Finder view of the folder. Closing and reopening finder window does not help.

But the files do show up on spotlight immediately, and if I open a spotlight "Show all in Finder", the files do appear there.

Usually within 0.5-1 minute of finding the files on spotlight and after they became visible on the spotlight finder window, the files also appear in their proper folder window. If I dont look for the files on spotlight, they seem to appear much later in their proper window.

My posting of this on Apple support forums has no answers since couple of weeks. There are two other older 2006 and 2007 postings of similar issues, no solutions offered.
 
Search finds the files

Same problem.

Solution: search for the file in the search box.

Files appear in the search results, but still do not appear in the actual folder list.
 
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Reactions: pareshpandit
Hello,

Firstly, thanks for the tip (I know this is an old thread, but still.) I did install Refresh Finder and it did work work the first time with my "Documents" Folder. However, not working anymore with my "Downloads" Folder.

Now, am bumping this thread as I am facing this issue with the latest OSX - El Capitan. Seems like an El Capitan update for Refresh Finder should be on its way perhaps?

Also noting that both folders are Symlinked on my system and I tried the direct HDD location as well.

Any comments and direction is much appreciated. Thanks in advance. :)


AlexandreFiset said:
Yes and it did not work. But I just found this thread with a working solution which is to use a third-party plugin called "Refresh finder".
Click to expand...
 
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