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How to Fix Sidebar Missing on Finder

Quick Tips
  • If it’s accidentally hidden, check the View menu > click View > Show Sidebar to return it.
  • To control your sidebar contents, go to Finder settings > Sidebar tab > choose which items appear, like Downloads or iCloud Drive.
  • Sometimes, a quick restart can fix glitches. Shut down your Mac and then power it back on.

How to Bring Back the Sidebar

Step 1: Launch Finder on your Mac.

Step 2: Go to View and select Show Sidebar.

Show sidebar option

That’s it. The Sidebar is back on Finder; you can navigate between different folders on your Mac easily. However, restoring the Sidebar doesn’t mean it restores your required options on the Sidebar.

How to Restore Missing Folders and Drives on the Sidebar

At times, the Sidebar options may disappear, which is equally annoying. So you’ll see no folders or drives under Favorites, Locations, and Tags. If that’s the issue you’re facing, here’s how to bring those options back on the Sidebar.

Note: Ensure the Sidebar is enabled first using the method above.

Step 1: Fire up a Finder window on your Mac.

Step 2: You will find several categories listed on the Sidebar. This includes Favorites, Locations, iCloud, and Tags. When you hover your mouse pointer over these options, you will see a small arrow next to each option. Click on this arrow to restore all the hidden options.

collapse arrow on finder

Step 3: To hide the options in a certain category, hover your mouse over it and click on the downward-pointing arrow next to it.

Hide missing options in sidebar

However, one more aspect that can be important to many people is customizing the elements in the Sidebar.

How to Add or Remove Items From the Sidebar

Step 1: Open the Finder window on your Mac.

Step 2: Click on the Finder option on the menu bar and choose Settings.

Step 3: Navigate to the Sidebar tab.

Sidebar tab

Step 4: Select only the ones you require. You can deselect options you don’t use frequently, such as iCloud, Hard disks, Connected Servers, Cloud Storage, recent tags, etc. This will clear up some clutter.

finder items missing in Sidebar

Step 5: Close the Settings window, and macOS will apply your settings. That’s it.

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Last updated on 31 May, 2024

4 Comments

  1. Thank you thank you thank you. We had no idea the finder had a hide button hidden! The finder folders all disappeared. Other sites were completely useless and a waste of time. Until yours. Big help. Something so simple, why would apple hide the HIDE button? It’s infuriating to make the laptop software so hard to use that you need a computer tech on staff. Big thanks. Many thanks for this information!

  2. Thank you! Your helpful article turned what I thought was a major issue into a simple fix. I appreciate you!

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