One of the irksome things about a Mac -- nay, the most irksome -- is where you drag a file or folder to the Desktop and it promptly disappears.

This evening, I was moving my ancient AppleWorks Clip-Art folders to a new location, and when I dragged them to the Desktop, two of three disappeared. Fortunately, I had the sense to open a new Finder window and click on Desktop, and there they were, in column view. But how annoying is that?

Am I doing something wrong? Is there some way this can be avoided?

I've never seen this. What version of the OS are you running?

Keith,

What you have run into is a delay in Finder window updating. This has been a feature of the OS X Finder for years. Nothing is lost except visibility of some objects on the desktop, and that only temporarily.

Because of this, some software (A Better Finder Attributes) has an an option to force an immediate Finder update after changing file catalog or metadata information.

I've seen this happen when a desktop file becomes corrupt and requires rebuilding the desktop. It only happens in OSX if you're using the Classic environment...which is why Jack asked which OS version you're using.

For further info: http://www.acs.uwosh.edu/documentation/connections/200102/mac4b.shtml

MaryG,

It continues to be a "feature" through 10.5.4 on Intel with no OS 9 or Classic. I have seen it many times, most often after "drag and drop" to the desktop.

I didn't explain myself well enough...what I meant is that "desktop file corruption" as the etiology of Keith's problem doesn't happen in OSX unless you're running in a Classic environment. The only time I've seen this problem was when desktop files became corrupted in previous OS versions.

If using OSX, I'd consider archive and reinstalling the OS because this is not normal behavior.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: MaryG,

I can't give you citations right now, but I've seen complaints about this in other venues.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, just that I haven't seen it other than as noted above.

I'm running 10.5.4 on a MacPro, and I haven't had Classic installed since Jaguar. Things disappear when moved to the Desktop, but the problem is not especially frequent or regular. Occasionally downloaded files also disappear on the Desktop. They're there, you just can't see them.

Yesterday, it happened with several folders in a row. The work-around is to open a Finder window and select Desktop, and the items will be listed, OR one may use Force Quit to Relaunch the Finder. Not much fun when you're in a hurry.

Everything else seems to be working o.k., and I ran Disk Utility to Repair Permissions a few days earlier. I ran Disk Worrier (Version 41) after installing 10.5.4. My Desktop is not very cluttered.

When these things "disappear", are you able to click on and open any other desktop items? I think you might be seeing a problem I have had with 10.5 - the Desktop becomes unresponsive and doesn't update. This happens to me all the time. I have to force quit the Finder to get it working.

Jack,

I've seen symptoms both ways on my main machine running 10.5.4:
Model Name: MacBook Pro 15"
Model Identifier: MacBookPro2,2
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.33 GHz

I've seen the disappearing problem often enough that I automatically go to a Finder Desktop window. I've probably relaunched the finder for other non-responsive conditions about six or eight times since I updated to 10.5.

Jack, I wish I could answer your question accurately, but when this disappearance happens, I'm usually focused on where the missing item went. I think the other items on the Desktop still function normally, but I'm not certain.

Just now, I've tried to duplicate the problem but it's only occasional, and it's not happening at the moment.

Keith,

Do you run Disk Utility from the install discs?

I would try that since it will do more to the system than running it from your OS alone. Perhaps "Verify Disc" then "Repair Disc" before "Repairing Permissions" will help. This is NOT an OS9/Classic issue. The link above refers to an article from 2001 that has nothing to do with OS X.

Reread the feed Dave...he never said what OS version he was running.

Keith, do you have a lot of items on the desktop? If so, that may be the problem. Too many icons can mess with the screen redraws. I battle constantly to try and be more organized, but I tend to let things that need more attention pile up. When I have to force a redraw to find something, it's a sure sign that I need to do a clean-up.

There is another problem that others have not mentioned that I have run into on occasion and that is stacked icons, meaning - icons hiding behind each other. I've even had situations before where there were serveral icon stacked atop each other making it look like one icon.

Since several people seem to have missed it, here again is my above post from August 8:

I'm running 10.5.4 on a MacPro, and I haven't had Classic installed since Jaguar. Things disappear when moved to the Desktop, but the problem is not especially frequent or regular. Occasionally downloaded files also disappear on the Desktop. They're there, you just can't see them.

Yesterday, it happened with several folders in a row. The work-around is to open a Finder window and select Desktop, and the items will be listed, OR one may use Force Quit to Relaunch the Finder. Not much fun when you're in a hurry.

Everything else seems to be working o.k., and I ran Disk Utility to Repair Permissions a few days earlier. I ran Disk Worrier (Version 41) after installing 10.5.4. My Desktop is not very cluttered.

Whew! I just spent a while dragging files and folders to and from my Desktop, trying to get them to disappear, so I could post a screen shot showing that the problem does exist, but the condition only manifests itself when it wants to.

It only happens occasionally, so I guess I should learn to live with it. It's annoying, but not a hopeless disaster.

I wonder if it's a redraw thing that only triggers when something specific is going on in the background. Maybe an automatic backup, like Time Machine.

Try Refresh Finder. Of course you would need to open a finder window to click this. This works for me when I FTP files back from my clients but they don't show up in Icon View immediately.