AirDrop not enabled in Sidebar settings macOS 15

Mark Kaiman wrote:

When I go to the Finder settings and try to enable AirDrop to show up in the Sidebar, it won't let me do it. The check box is not responsive.

With every update, macOS gets a little worse.

have you shut down and restated more than once since the upgrade?

have you done a SafeBoot Use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support to sort anomalies...?

ref: Use Continuity to work across Apple devices - Apple Support

for your editorial comments you can submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

If the issue still persists. Try switching off all your iPhones and iPads and then restart your Mac. This solved it for me as mentioned here: Cannot add AirDrop to Finder sidebar in S… - Apple Community.

I have them same issue and have rebooted a couple of times. airdrop will not enable.

Does it work in Safe Mode?

If not, then probably Finder preferences may be corrupted. Deleting Finder preferences may fix this.

As an alternative: pressing Command-Shift-R opens Airdrop window for you, from anywhere in the Finder.

I booted into safe mode and Airdrop does show up in the sidebar then. So is there a way to fully reset the finder prefs? I tried a method of deleting two files from the library. "~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist" and com.apple.sidebarlists.plist.

That method of reset came from 2018. So maybe it's out of date.

That method would still work if the problem were corrupted preferences.

However, the fact that things work in Safe Mode suggests a different problem.

I take it that after making things right in Safe Mode, and restarting normally, the problem still exists - otherwise, there would be nothing to do.

If something works in Safe Mode but not when booted normally, that points directly to a problem with some third party software modification. Did you use any "cleaners" or "antivirus"? They are likely to be the problem.

Please run Etrecheck and post its full report here. Use the "additional text" button and paste the report into the text box.

I had the same issue but a restart fixed the issue.

Did you check in Settings in Finder>Sidebar

airdrop showed back up in the side today after a system update. Sequoia 15.1.1.