Mac Tahoe does not Refresh Finder

Whenever I move/delete a File or Folder from a folder in Finder, the view is not updated.


Finder leaves a blank where the item’s icon used to be but the remaining items do not move up to fill in the blank spaces.


F5 does not fix this issue and navigating to another folder and returning doesn’t work either.


I’ve read a number of threads on this issue, dating back years and many generations of the Mac OS and none had a sound solution.


Is there a solution for Tahoe?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 26.1

Posted on Nov 5, 2025 9:45 AM

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Posted on Nov 5, 2025 11:13 AM

> Finder leaves a blank where the item’s icon used to be but the remaining items do not move up to fill in the blank spaces.


In icon view? that is the default. Always has been, as far as I can recall.


There is an option to override this by telling the Finder to sort the view. Use View -> Show View Options when you're looking at your Folder, and choose a Sort option:



Now when you delete a file the other icons will shuffle to close the gap.

Not sure why it turned off if that's how you used to have it, but that's a separate question.


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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 5, 2025 11:13 AM in response to PromptCritical

> Finder leaves a blank where the item’s icon used to be but the remaining items do not move up to fill in the blank spaces.


In icon view? that is the default. Always has been, as far as I can recall.


There is an option to override this by telling the Finder to sort the view. Use View -> Show View Options when you're looking at your Folder, and choose a Sort option:



Now when you delete a file the other icons will shuffle to close the gap.

Not sure why it turned off if that's how you used to have it, but that's a separate question.


Nov 5, 2025 12:37 PM in response to PromptCritical

PromptCritical wrote:

Thanks for your response.

It’s an interesting choice by Apple to not have the view refresh after changes are made. Or provide a method to do so manually, such as an F5.

There is a way, set it to sort by something.

I can’t imagine the benefits to this choice, but it’s frustrating for some Users, that’s obvious.

You may think it is some oversight, but I have seen people here become apoplectic when the file changes location after renaming.

Mac Tahoe does not Refresh Finder

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