Finder Sidebar Missing on a Mac? How to Get It Back

Quick answer: If the Finder sidebar is missing on your Mac, click a Finder window and press Control-Command-S, or choose View > Show Sidebar. If that option is dimmed, choose View > Show Toolbar first. If the sidebar is there but items are missing, tick them again in Finder > Settings > Sidebar.

You open a Finder window and the column down the left has gone. No Downloads, no Applications, no AirDrop. Just a big grid of files with no way to jump anywhere else.

Nothing has been deleted. The sidebar is only a list of shortcuts, and every way it goes missing has a fix built into macOS.

Why has the Finder sidebar disappeared?

Usually because it was hidden, by a shortcut or by hiding the toolbar. The sidebar is a per-window display setting, and one keystroke turns it off. Apple's support article on a Finder sidebar that's hidden or missing items covers three separate problems, and it helps to work out which one you have:

• The whole sidebar is gone. The window shows files and nothing down the left.
• A section looks empty. Favourites, Locations or Tags is there, but nothing is listed under it.
• Particular items are missing. The sidebar is fine apart from Downloads, iCloud Drive, an external drive or a folder you added yourself.

How do you show the sidebar again?

Press Control-Command-S with the Finder window in front. Or choose View > Show Sidebar from the menu bar. Apple's article gives both, and adds one step people miss: click the window that has no sidebar first, so it's the active one. The setting belongs to the window, not to Finder as a whole.

You may also see Option-Command-S, which is what Apple's list of Mac keyboard shortcuts gives. On macOS Tahoe 26.2 both keys toggle the sidebar, and the View menu shows Control-Command-S. If neither does anything, the menu always works.

Why is Show Sidebar greyed out?

Because the toolbar is hidden. Apple's guide to customising the Finder sidebar says that if Show Sidebar is dimmed, choose View > Show Toolbar first. Show the toolbar and Show Sidebar works again.

Apple's shortcuts list gives Option-Command-T for showing or hiding the toolbar. Command-T, the new-tab shortcut, differs only by the Option key. Our list of Finder keyboard shortcuts has the rest of the view shortcuts, if you want to know what else is one slip away.

What if a sidebar section is empty?

The section is collapsed, not emptied. Move the pointer over the section name (Favourites, Locations or Tags) and an arrow or Show button appears beside it. Click it and the items under that heading come back. Click it again to collapse the section.

It looks alarming, because the heading stays put with nothing under it, but nothing has been removed.

How do you get missing items back in the Finder sidebar?

Tick them again in Finder Settings. Apple's steps:

1. In Finder, choose Finder > Settings (Command-Comma works too).
2. Click Sidebar at the top of the window.
3. Tick the items you want under Favourites, Locations and Tags.

The changes apply to every Finder window straight away. Apple notes that these tick boxes only cover the default items: Downloads, Documents, Applications, AirDrop, iCloud Drive and the like.

What about a folder you added yourself?

Drag it back in. A custom folder that fell out of the sidebar won't appear in Settings. Find it in Finder and drag it into the Favourites section. For a single file or an app, hold Command while you drag, which is how Apple's guide says to add them.

Removing an item from the sidebar never touches the item itself. Apple calls sidebar entries links to a folder, disk or file, and says that when one disappears "the folder, disk or file remains in its original location on your Mac". If something really was deleted, that's a different problem, and our guide to recovering deleted files on a Mac is the place to start.

Why is iCloud Drive missing from the Finder sidebar?

Either its box is unticked, or iCloud Drive isn't syncing on this Mac. Check the Sidebar tab in Finder Settings first. If iCloud Drive is ticked and still absent, open System Settings, click your name, then iCloud, then Drive, and make sure syncing is on, as Apple's guide to setting up iCloud Drive describes.

On macOS 13.3 or later the switch is called Sync this Mac. Apple's shortcuts list also gives Shift-Command-I, which opens iCloud Drive in a Finder window whatever the sidebar is doing.

Why don't external drives show in the sidebar?

Their boxes are unticked, or the drive isn't mounted. Apple's guide to seeing the devices connected to your Mac says hard disks, external disks, iPhones, iPads and connected servers can all appear in the Finder sidebar, and you choose which in Finder > Settings > Sidebar. Tick the ones you want.

If they're ticked and the drive still doesn't appear, check it shows up in Disk Utility. A drive that Disk Utility can't see won't appear in Finder either, and a sidebar setting won't fix that.

What if the sidebar keeps going missing?

Reset Finder's preferences. If the sidebar vanishes every time you open a window, or your ticks in Settings don't stick, Finder's preferences file may be damaged. The fix is to move com.apple.finder.plist out of ~/Library/Preferences and restart. Our guide to Finder not responding walks through it, including how to put the file back if it doesn't help.

The reset puts every Finder setting back to its default, sidebar included, so you'll need to re-add custom folders afterwards. Safe mode is the next step after that, and the same guide covers it.

Several of the pages ranking for this problem come from companies that sell Mac utilities. None of the fixes above needs one.

Getting the sidebar back, in order

1. Click the Finder window and press Control-Command-S, or choose View > Show Sidebar.
2. Choose View > Show Toolbar if Show Sidebar is greyed out.
3. Hover over an empty section's name and click Show.
4. Tick missing items in Finder > Settings > Sidebar, and drag custom folders back in.
5. Move Finder's preferences file aside and restart if the sidebar won't stay put.

A note on Spellbin

Once Finder is back, the Bin is still at the end of the Dock, where it always is. Spellbin is our own small paid Mac app: a pixel-art cauldron that sits beside it. Drop a file on the pot and a green flame carrying the file's thumbnail rises out and dissolves, and by default the file goes to the real Bin.

It doesn't fix Finder and it isn't a clean-up tool. It just makes deleting things a bit more fun, and every drop counts towards achievements that unlock new cauldron skins. Download Spellbin if that sounds like your sort of thing.

The Finder sidebar is a list of shortcuts. Lose it and your files are exactly where they were.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get my Finder sidebar back on a Mac?

To get the Finder sidebar back on a Mac, click the Finder window that's missing it and press Control-Command-S, or choose View > Show Sidebar. If Show Sidebar is dimmed, choose View > Show Toolbar first, because Show Sidebar is unavailable while the toolbar is hidden. The setting applies per window.

Why is my Finder sidebar not showing folders?

A Finder sidebar that shows no folders usually has a collapsed section or unticked items. Hover over the Favourites heading and click Show to expand it. If particular folders are missing, choose Finder > Settings, click Sidebar and tick them. Custom folders you added need to be dragged back into Favourites.

Does removing an item from the Finder sidebar delete it?

Removing an item from the Finder sidebar does not delete it. Sidebar entries are links, and Apple's guide says the folder, disk or file "remains in its original location on your Mac". Drag the item back into the sidebar from Finder to restore the link. The original file stays exactly where it was.

What is the shortcut to show the sidebar in Finder?

The Finder sidebar shortcut is Control-Command-S, the key the View menu shows on macOS Tahoe. Apple's keyboard shortcuts list gives Option-Command-S, and both toggle the sidebar on macOS Tahoe 26.2. If neither works, choose View > Show Sidebar from the menu bar, which works on every version.

Why is Show Sidebar greyed out in Finder?

Show Sidebar is greyed out in Finder when the window's toolbar is hidden. Choose View > Show Toolbar, or press Option-Command-T, and the Show Sidebar option becomes available again. Apple's guide to customising the Finder sidebar gives this as the fix, and it works on every Finder window.

Final Takeaways

• Control-Command-S (or Option-Command-S) shows or hides the sidebar in the front Finder window.
• A greyed-out Show Sidebar means the toolbar is hidden. Show the toolbar first.
• Empty sections are collapsed. Hover over the heading and click Show.
• Missing items go back in Finder > Settings > Sidebar; custom folders get dragged back.
• Nothing in the sidebar is the file itself, so losing an entry never loses data.