Finder windows STILL don't refresh. My rant, my pain:

dstranathandstranathan
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Anyone know why Finder windows still don't update/refresh when new files are added, or deleted? I used to make fun of Windows users because of this flaw, but at least Microsoft includes a "Refresh" contextual menu. Apple acts like this problem doesn't exist!



Are there any "refresher hacks" out there? I am building a scripted workflow that will rely on users being able to quickly and accurately see the contents of local and remote folders on 10.2 and 10.3 Macs. You know, like back in 1998 with OS 8.5...

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    concordconcord Posts: 312member
    I have exactly the same problem when I'm running OS:X (10.2.x)! This is especially bad on networked drives (where, naturally, all our our work is located). On OS 9 - no problem... windows refresh right away. On X, sometimes they do, sometimes they just take a long while and sometimes... they just don't.



    Very frustrating.





    Cheers,



    C.
  • Reply 2 of 3
    code mastercode master Posts: 344member
    There is a thread somewhere here that explain the rationale behind why the refreshing in X works the way it does. I think in brief it had something to do with 9 being able to refresh every time there was a system event that accessed the file system. In X, all the unix programs and ports and whatnot, can by pass those calls, so the Finder would either have to be repeatedly polling the file system, or be smart about refreshing. It should refresh every time you bring focus to the window, which causes some of its own problems, and since Panther, this has worked correctly for me.
  • Reply 3 of 3
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    See the Ars Technica thread here.



    There's a link to some source code to get kqueue events working near the bottom of the first page.
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