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You are here: Home / Mac / Mac OS X Desktop Icons Rearranged or Unsorted After Restart; Fix

Mac OS X Desktop Icons Rearranged or Unsorted After Restart; Fix

By SK 2 comments Last updated March 7, 2016

Mac OS X desktop icons may spontaneously rearrange or become unsorted (scrambled) after restarting or force quitting and restarting the Finder. In these cases, items lose their alphabetical or other sorting, and may scatter to various parts of the desktop.

Fix

You may be able to resolve this issue by deleting the .DS_Store file on your Desktop. This is a hidden file, but it can be deleted with the utility DS_Store_Cleaner. Alternatively, you can use these instructions to delete the file.

sudz - apple
SK( Managing Editor )

Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the original editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA.

Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.

In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.

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Reader Interactions

Write a Comment Cancel reply

Show 2 Comments

  1. Susie says

    August 17, 2018 at 5:46 PM

    Thanks with regard to supplying this type of well put together knowledge.

    Reply
  2. ApeX says

    June 18, 2011 at 1:43 AM

    No way. It does NOT work at all. See (also for Mac OS X 10.6.7):

    Desktop items get unsorted after cold boot on Snow Leopard 10.6.2
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2335032?start=0&tstart=0

    Reply

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