Is Finder behaving strangely? Does it keep crashing & freezing, or is it not responding? These problems can be quite irritating but don’t lose hope. These issues can be fixed quickly with this Finder troubleshooting guide. So, go through this guide and save yourself a trip to the nearest Apple service center.
Reasons for Finder Problems
Before learning the fixes, look at some common reasons Mac Finder might be behaving oddly.
- Your system has run out of storage space. When there’s a lack of storage space, all software functions and features slow down. So, Finder might become unresponsive, or it may crash. It might even close down unexpectedly.
- You may find Finder crashing and closing if the user profile is corrupted.
- If the System Preferences is overflowing with junk files and cache, it might make the Finder application unresponsive.
- The app may keep quitting unexpectedly if there’s a bad configuration.
Quick Fixes to Finder Problems
- Finder not Responding
One of the most common problems users face is Finder not responding on Mac. As a result, it might become completely unusable. Users must run a few specific commands through Terminal to make the application work again. Here’s how you can do that.
Launch the Terminal application by going to Applications > clicking Utilities and double-clicking Terminal. Then, copy and paste the command “rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist” or you can type it. When you are done, you need to press the Return key. The command is going to delete all the primary preferences of Finder. Finally, you need to restart your device to bring the changes into effect.
Once your device starts up normally, the problem of an unresponsive Finder should be fixed.
- Finder is Running Slow, Crashing and Freezing
If Finder is crashing frequently and running slowly, it might be for various reasons. The most common are corrupt system files, low memory, and errors with login items.
Start by checking how much free space is available on your device. For this, click on the Apple logo > About This Mac > the Storage tab option to see the Used and Available space tab. If you have less than 20% free space, you must free up the storage space.
To fix low storage space on your device, you need to clean all the system cache, junk files, and large mail attachments, clear the downloads folder, manage the startup items, get rid of all the old files, uninstall the apps you don’t use anymore, etc. You can do this manually or install a Mac cleaning application that will automate the procedure. For example, with a cleaning app, you can click on the scan button and let the application thoroughly scan your system to come up with all the trash items, old files, junk files, attachments, and obsolete data that must be removed. Then, you can clean all the useless files in bulk and save yourself a lot of energy and time.
If this does not solve the problem, you can try the following fixes:
- Restart your device in Safe Mode to see if the problem is with the login items and launch agents. Finding the root cause of the problem is critical, or you won’t be able to fix it. Click on the Apple Logo and click restart to start your system in Safe Mode. Then, press down on the Shift key and keep holding it. As the new login window pops up, you can let go of the Shift key. In the top right-hand corner, you will see the option of Safe Boot sign-in. You have to use your device as normal. If the application functions normally, the Safe Mode trick has worked.
- You have to remove all the launch agents and login items to see if these interfered with the application’s functioning normally. You can disable them manually by going to Users & Groups in System Preferences. The Launch Agents are typically responsible for stealing Finder’s memory, so you need to control these agents.
- Finally, manage storage space, as explained above.
If nothing else works, you need to Force Quit Finder and reset it. The files might be corrupt, so you must reset the application and all the related files. Once the settings have been refreshed, it should not crash again.
Besides these, Finder might give issues when it comes to searching for items. If that happens, you need to Safe boot your device and check the search settings of Spotlight. Sometimes, common problems might be fixed by restarting your Mac or upgrading the macOS. So, don’t forget to try those fixes.
The Bottom Line
Hopefully, your Finder problems are fixed after you have gone through the troubleshooting guide mentioned above. If not, you have to call the technicians and see what they say. Best of luck!
