Sidebar and Toolbar Missing in Finder

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Level 1

4 points

Sidebar and Toolbar Missing in Finder

Sometimes I find that Finder will randomly hide the Toolbar or Sidebar (or both) for no apparent reason. IDK why this is. Usually closing and re-opening the Finder window restores them. But sometimes it doesn't, even after a force quit of Finder.

SOLUTION:

If the toolbar is hidden, while in the Finder window, click View > Show Toolbar.
If the sidebar is hidden, click View > Show Sidebar.
If both are hidden, click View > Show Toolbar first, because Show Sidebar will be disabled until toolbar is shown.

Related question: Sidebar Missing in Finder - Apple Community (Why is Apple locking up old threads where new info cannot be added?)

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.7

Posted on Mar 3, 2025 08:54 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

adtc Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 11, 2025 10:03 AM in response to adtc

@VikingOSX I don't know what your goal here is. I am trying to share some knowledge with those who may be having the same problem, so they can be helped to solve the same issue. Just because you have never seen it, you accuse me of hallucinating problems in the "perfect operating system" that is macOS. Wake up to this fact: Nothing is perfect. macOS, just like any software, has myriad of problems. No OS is perfect, or we wouldn't be seeing new versions of it.

I have never once said that it's "application Open/Save File panel". It's NOT, and I'm not so stupid that I can't tell the difference. It's the actual Finder.app that's opening when you do any of these:

> I also open Finder other ways such as by clicking Open containing folder in Chrome downloads, or by clicking Reveal in Finder on a context menu in VS Code, or by using "open" command in Terminal.

Please fully understand the comment before replying. If you don't have any experience with these ways of opening the REAL Finder (not some Open/Save panel made by the application as you imply), then please refrain from replying and making false accusations. Thanks.

Even if you don't use Chrome or VS Code, at the very least you can open Terminal.app and type in "open ." press Enter and see what happens...

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

122,136 points

Mar 4, 2025 03:10 PM in response to adtc

Look at the keyboard shortcuts in the Finder's View menu for Show/Hide Toolbar or Show/Hide Sidebar. Are you inadvertently pressing those keyboard shortcuts?

I have never lost Finder Window Sidebar or Toolbar panels unless I deliberately choose that effect.

There are no Apple employees in these user-supported, public communities to answer why questions about Apple actions.

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Answer 3

adtc Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 6, 2025 03:19 AM in response to VikingOSX

What are the ways you open Finder? Besides the Dock icon, I also open Finder other ways such as by clicking Open containing folder in Chrome downloads, or by clicking Reveal in Finder on a context menu in VS Code, or by using "open" command in Terminal.

Arbitrarily, one of these ways will eventually deliver me a broken Finder window.

[Edited by Moderator]

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Answer 4

VikingOSX

Level 10

122,136 points

Mar 6, 2025 03:00 AM in response to adtc

The File Choosers that Chrome, VS Code, and all Apple applications use are not the real Finder, but a highly stylized Finder-like Framework (library) that emulates the Finder look. It may be an Apple Cocoa Framework, or it may be based on another visual Framework such as Qt that maps to a Cocoa Framework appearance.

In the context of an application Open/Save File panel, I haven't seen a missing sidebar or toolbar, but have seen some items missing from the sidebar — just not from Apple applications. I do not use Chrome or VS Code and any issues you have with those application's presentation of a File Chooser would be on the respective application developer, the UI Framework that they used, and how they coded that interface element. So, the bug (or coding omission of the application developer) is theirs, and not necessarily an Apple Finder bug.

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Answer 5

fdragan

Level 1

12 points

Mar 13, 2025 06:56 AM in response to adtc

In the very recent past, when I double-clicked on a folder to open it, it opened in a new tab in the same finder window with the toolbar is missing, instead of the folder opening in the same tab, like it's supposed to. The toolbar will be missing in any tab that is open in this manner. The toolbar is still there in the original tabs containing the folders I double-click on.

After finding this post, I did View > Show Toolbar on one of the weird tabs, and, inexplicably, everything went back to how I expect it to work, i.e. double-clicking on a folder stopped opening a new tab without a toolbar and went back to opening the folder in the same window. Completely baffling, but I hope to reassure someone else in the future they are not, in fact, nuts.

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Answer 6

adtc Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 6, 2025 03:17 AM in response to VikingOSX

There's a person on the other side of the wire who is just trying to be helpful.

This is a bug in Finder. To be clear, the panels don't disappear spontaneously when I'm using Finder (because I inadvertently pressed a keyboard shortcut as you imply). They randomly become absent when I have closed it with them present and I reopen it next time.

[Edited by Moderator]

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Answer 7

VikingOSX

Level 10

122,136 points

Mar 5, 2025 10:31 AM in response to adtc

I wasn't judging you or being rude. I simply cannot reproduce what you state is happening across several different major versions of macOS, and if it were a bug, I would have encountered it and agreed with you.

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Answer 8

Mar 13, 2025 01:28 AM in response to adtc

You might uncheck all the options in Finder settings.

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