User profile for user: daniel.q
daniel.q Author
User level: Level 1
27 points

Why did my desktop icons get all jumbled?

The other day I opened a screenshot image with Preview, and wanting to make the image bigger, I used the Cmd + command, twice in rapid succession. Apparently I had inadvertently clicked on the desktop and the focus must have been on the desktop rather than on the Preview window, because all my desktop icons suddenly got very large. But at the same time that they got large, they all jumped rightward on the screen. There seemed no order or pattern. The result was that there were no icons remaining on about the left-hand third of the screen; there was a jumble of icons in the middle third, and the right-most third was a complete, apparently random jumble of overlapping icons. There was no pattern, rhyme, or reason. Sadly I did not have the presence of mind to grab a screenshot. I can only describe it as if you shook up a jigsaw puzzle box while tilting it slightly to the right.


Hoping to undo the mistake, I hit Cmd - twice. This reduced the icon sizes, leaving them much smaller than when it all began, but did not change their positions. I managed to find a slider control that allowed me to restore the size of the icons to approximately where they'd been before, a size I like. But they remained jumbled toward the right-hand side of the screen.


I was able to move them one at a time by hand and rearrange them to my liking. All is well now. I do not have an ongoing problem. It was a one-time thing and has not happened again (though I have not attempted to reproduce it as I'd rather leave well enough alone).


But I am really curious as to what could have caused this. I can think of no command that I might have inadvertently made when I thought I was using Cmd + on the Preview window, that should have caused all my icons to jump rightward by random amounts and wind up in a messy dogpile of icons. I cannot imagine why any such command should exist.


Has anybody else experienced anything similar? Is there a known bug? How likely is it that I've hit upon an unknown bug?


Any information would be appreciated.


Thanks.


24-inch iMac, 2021, 8 GB; MacOS Sonoma 14.6.1


iMac 24″, macOS 14.6

Posted on May 8, 2025 02:19 PM

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User profile for user: Tesserax
Tesserax
User level: Level 10
157,248 points

Posted on May 8, 2025 03:07 PM

I have wondered this myself, and what you described sounds like a rare but explainable hiccup in how macOS handles desktop icon layout, especially when rapidly adjusting icon size via keyboard shortcuts like Cmd + or Cmd -.


AFAIK, when the Finder is in focus—particularly the Desktop view—those shortcuts directly change the icon size setting for the Desktop layout. macOS then dynamically recalculates icon positions to accommodate the new spacing requirements. Normally, it’s orderly. But if the layout engine gets momentarily confused—say, due to rapid size changes, or a lag in updating the icon grid—it can result in what you saw: a spontaneous, chaotic shuffle of icons.


It’s unlikely that this is a deliberate or intended behavior; rather, it seems like you briefly tripped over a layout bug or race condition in the Finder. Based on what I have read, it’s not uncommon for users to report similar icon shuffles after resolution changes, display configuration changes (like plugging/unplugging external monitors), or rapid changes in icon size via the slider or shortcut keys.


What’s interesting in your case is that the rearrangement was extreme and one-sided (everything moving rightward), which suggests a possible momentary miscalculation in the icon grid's origin point or spacing logic. The Finder may have calculated new positions before fully applying the new size, causing a cascade of misplaced icons.


Should it happen again, try right-clicking the desktop and using “Clean Up” or “Clean Up By” from the context menu to auto-sort without manually rearranging.

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User profile for user: Tesserax
Tesserax
User level: Level 10
157,248 points

May 8, 2025 03:07 PM in response to daniel.q

I have wondered this myself, and what you described sounds like a rare but explainable hiccup in how macOS handles desktop icon layout, especially when rapidly adjusting icon size via keyboard shortcuts like Cmd + or Cmd -.


AFAIK, when the Finder is in focus—particularly the Desktop view—those shortcuts directly change the icon size setting for the Desktop layout. macOS then dynamically recalculates icon positions to accommodate the new spacing requirements. Normally, it’s orderly. But if the layout engine gets momentarily confused—say, due to rapid size changes, or a lag in updating the icon grid—it can result in what you saw: a spontaneous, chaotic shuffle of icons.


It’s unlikely that this is a deliberate or intended behavior; rather, it seems like you briefly tripped over a layout bug or race condition in the Finder. Based on what I have read, it’s not uncommon for users to report similar icon shuffles after resolution changes, display configuration changes (like plugging/unplugging external monitors), or rapid changes in icon size via the slider or shortcut keys.


What’s interesting in your case is that the rearrangement was extreme and one-sided (everything moving rightward), which suggests a possible momentary miscalculation in the icon grid's origin point or spacing logic. The Finder may have calculated new positions before fully applying the new size, causing a cascade of misplaced icons.


Should it happen again, try right-clicking the desktop and using “Clean Up” or “Clean Up By” from the context menu to auto-sort without manually rearranging.

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Why did my desktop icons get all jumbled?

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