Accidental Clean Up By Name in Desktop...Need to Undo

[nsilva85]

Hi everyone.

A colleague had her desktop files and folders organized the way she wanted.
Unfortunately there was an accidental Clean Up By Name and rearranged her entire desktop. I tried to undo but with no success, tried to sort by None with no success. I've tried to test in my own computer to view the ds_store file to see if I could delete the desktop action with no success.
Time Machine is not configured on her mac so I can't use local snapshots.

Does anyone has any idea on how I can recover her desktop layout??

She's using El Capitán.

Thanks.

 

[MacInWin]

Clean Up By Name

What does that mean? There is no "Clean Up By Name" option that I am aware of.

 

[nsilva85]

When you right-click on the desktop theres an option called Clean Up By and then appears a menu with the options Name, Kind, Date Created, Date Modified, Size and Tags.

 

[toMACsh]

If it was sorted by Name and the user had a "custom" arrangement in the "None" setting, or "Snap to Grid", unfortunately, the only option I know if is to do the rearranging manually by dragging things to their preferred locations. There is no "back to previous" in this case.

Also, if there are multiple files kept on the Desktop, that's not a good idea.

 

[nsilva85]

If it was sorted by Name and the user had a "custom" arrangement in the "None" setting, or "Snap to Grid", unfortunately, the only option I know if is to do the rearranging manually by dragging things to their preferred locations. There is no "back to previous" in this case.

Also, if there are multiple files kept on the Desktop, that's not a good idea.

Thanks toMACsh.
I kind of already thought about that as the only option but still have a tiny bit of hope. She really needs her desktop layout as it was....it was messy but it was her mess and it worked well for her.
But thanks for the reply.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

As an aside, it is OK to have a couple of things on the Desktop, but littering it with a LOT of stuff actually has a performance impact since that stuff has to be constantly drawn and re-drawn with any changes to windows of applications. If ready access to files is important, it's better to put them all in a single folder and have a shortcut to that folder on the Desktop so that Finder will open for quick searching/viewing/action..

 

[MacInWin]

When you right-click on the desktop theres an option called Clean Up By and then appears a menu with the options Name, Kind, Date Created, Date Modified, Size and Tags.

OK, well on Sierra the option is "Sort by" not "Clean Up By" which is what confused me. And +1 for what Raz0redge said about keeping the desktop clear as much as possible. It is not meant as a storage location.

 

[pm-r]

OK, well on Sierra the option is "Sort by" not "Clean Up By" which is what confused me.

I guess Apple deleted yet another option that even Mavericks has:







We such users get both.

PS: Many a time have I wished there was an UNDO function available, but I never found one that actually worked.



- Patrick
======

 

[MacInWin]

Patrick, your paranoia is showing again. That same menu is there in Sierra, so no nefarious actions from the folks in Cupertino.

EDIT: The prompt I saw was not in a drop down, but from right clicking on the desktop. I don't use the drop down menus much.

 

[pm-r]

Patrick, your paranoia is showing again. That same menu is there in Sierra, so no nefarious actions from the folks in Cupertino.

EDIT: The prompt I saw was not in a drop down, but from right clicking on the desktop. I don't use the drop down menus much.

Thanks Jake and good to know. It did seem it might have been removed when reading your previous post. And no paranoia on my end.




- Patrick
======

 

[lclev]

I do understand what the OP is saying. I have a friend who saves EVERYTHING on the desktop and organizes it into some sudoku puzzle configuration that seems to make sense to her. Organizing her desktop by name or any other selection would through off her whole equilibrium.

Unfortunately, the whole area gets covered and her computer is running slower and slower. When I explain what is going on she will let me create a folder and move older files into it, but she will never access the folder to look for an older document she might need. Eventually I get a phone call asking if I know where something is and how to access it.

She is not the only one I have like this. I have two at work with the same filing method. For some reason the filing system on a computer represents one of the unsurmountable mysteries of the computer world to them.

The only fix for the OP's friend is to manually move each one where she wants it.

Lisa

 

[pm-r]

The only fix for the OP's friend is to manually move each one where she wants it.

And as Apple recently provides access to some other folder, that often means for some users in some new folder maybe in the easily available Library or System folder as the Users Library is normally kept hidden.

Odd thing eh???




- Patrick
======

 

[harryb2448]

Ahh the old conspiracy theory lives!

 

[Randy B. Singer]

As an aside, it is OK to have a couple of things on the Desktop, but littering it with a LOT of stuff actually has a performance impact ...

I've seen this advice given on this forum several times, and we've discussed it. That was correct advice five or six years ago. Maybe up until or just after OS X 10.6. Since then Apple changed how the Desktop is handled in OS X/macOS. Though it isn't pretty, you can put more or less as much stuff on the desktop as you care to, and there won't be any unusual performance hit.

Users on other discussion lists that I'm on have tried putting hundreds of items on their desktop as a test, with no performance degradation.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

If it was sorted by Name and the user had a "custom" arrangement in the "None" setting, or "Snap to Grid", unfortunately, the only option I know if is to do the rearranging manually by dragging things to their preferred locations. There is no "back to previous" in this case.

There is a solution, but unfortunately it only works if you take some prospective action first.

Desktop Icon Manager (DIM) (free)
http://www.parker9.com/desktopIconManager2.0.html#d

DIM is one trick pony, but a valuable one. It’s way too easy to accidentally set the “View” for your desktop to something that re-arranges everything with no way to get back. With one click, DIM memorizes the location of all of your desktop icons. With another click (when necessary) it puts your desktop icons right back where they were when you last saved their arrangement using DIM.

 

[IWT]

Clean Up, Clean Up By, and Sort By all coexist when you Right Click on the Desktop. Just to add to the options/confusion



Ian

 

[MacInWin]

Ian, not for me under Sierra. All I get is "Sort by..."



Sierra 10.12.6

 

[toMACsh]

That's odd, Jake. I get what Ian posted, in Sierra.

 

[MacInWin]

Hmmm, actually that's all I can ever remember getting. Wonder if there is some setting somewhere?

 

[MacInWin]

Did some testing. It seems to be related to the View options. I use the List view as a default, and the Clean Up options are greyed out from the top bar and not visible in the right-click Desktop as my post showed. If I shift to the Icons view, the Clean Up options are now available, but the options on the Desktop right-click stay the same, no Clean Up. I don't use the Icons view anywhere except on the Desktop, where it cannot be changed, so maybe that's why I don't get it on Right Click. If I open the Show View Options from the right click on the Desktop and select "None" in the "Sort by" box, then the Clean Up options show in the right click.

So, I happen to LIKE the Sort by to be Kind, which then makes the Clean Up option unnecessary and therefore made invisible.

Mystery solved.