Finder Not Working Properly After Sequoia 15.8.2 Installation

I don't know whether this AI response will help but it's worth a try.

This behavior is a known display bug in newer versions of macOS Sequoia, where minimized Finder window thumbnails in the Dock fail to dynamically update their titles and instead display the same generic or cached folder name.

Because this is tied to how the Dock renders minimized window previews, restarting the Finder process alone usually only offers a temporary fix before the cache glitches again.

You can bypass or resolve this visual glitch using one of two approaches:

Method 1: Change Minimize Behavior (Recommended Workaround)

If you prefer keeping your minimized Finder windows accessible from the Dock without dealing with incorrect thumbnail titles, changing how windows minimize forces macOS to route them through the main app icon menu where titles display correctly.

1. Open System Settings from the Apple menu (\apple).
2. Click Desktop & Dock in the sidebar.
3. Scroll down to the Windows section.
4. Toggle on Minimize windows into application icon.
5. Verification: When enabled, minimizing a Finder window sucks it directly into the main Finder icon rather than creating a separate thumbnail tile on the right side of the Dock.
6. How to view them: Right-click (or Control-click) the Finder icon in the Dock to see a clean list of all open windows with their correct, unique titles.

Method 2: Force Relaunch the Finder

If you want to temporarily clear the window server cache and force the Dock to redraw the thumbnails:

1. Press and hold the Option (\⌥) key on your keyboard.
2. Right-click (or Control-click) the Finder icon in your Dock.
3. Click Relaunch at the very bottom of the pop-up menu.
4. Verification: The desktop and Finder windows will flash and refresh as the process restarts, temporarily clearing corrupted UI caches.

Hmmm.... I have not experienced that issue after the Sequoia 15.8.2 update.

Try restarting the Mac mini, then minimize some new Finder windows to your dock.

If the issue returns, start up in Safe Mode followed by a Normal restart and re-test.

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

I suddenly experiencing terrible problems with Finder until I disconnected the external drive that was being used for Time Machine. It worked fine after that.

I replaced the external drive, formatted it to use with Time Machine and haven't had any problems since then.

KGPALMER wrote:

I already tried that before posting here in the Apple Community. It didn't help. Btw... I'm on a MacBook Pro, not a Mac mini. 😉

Sorry about that, I was on my iPhone at the time.

How are you minimizing those Finder Windows..?

What View are you using in Finder..?

(Icons, List or Columns)

I would start by trying a different View and checking the Title's before minimizing the window(s).

With Finder in Columns View, I always see the Title of each Minimized Finder window.

KGPALMER wrote:

1. Thank you, den.thed for following up! In answer to your questions:

I minimize Finder windows by either clicking the yellow "-" button or by double clicking the top of the Finder window. But usually the yellow button method most often.

2. I use Column view in my Finder windows.

Re: your suggestion about trying a different view & retesting — that's interesting! I'll try that.

I have an update about my Finder's behavior & the Dock...

I reinstalled OS 15.8.2 via Recovery. It now seems that the Finder windows only display the same name after rebooting the computer. Once I expand a Finder window from the Dock onto the desktop & then shrink it back down, the Finder window retains the proper folder name. If I open a new Finder window & shrink it to the Dock, the Finder window retains the proper name. It's only when I reboot the laptop that all Finder windows return to sharing the same folder name. So this "mislabeled Finder window in the Dock" behavior is only affecting me after rebooting the laptop — whether it's restarting or shutting down & booting up.

It's progress but I'm still unhappy about all the Finder windows displaying the same folder name in the dock.

I'll let you know if changing the view option in the Finder windows makes a difference.

Kind regards,

KP

You're welcome.

FWIW I see that same scrambled behavior with multiple open finder windows after a cold boot or restart.

My work around for that, is to just leave the Mac on and only restart when forced by a macOS update.

You can send feedback to Apple about this issue with Sequoia 15.8.2.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/mac-mini/

https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos/

However, I don't think they'll spend a lot of time digging into and patching an older macOS version.

Thank you, den.thed for following up! In answer to your questions:

1. I minimize Finder windows by either clicking the yellow "-" button or by double clicking the top of the Finder window. But usually the yellow button method most often.
2. I use Column view in my Finder windows.

Re: your suggestion about trying a different view & retesting — that's interesting! I'll try that.

I have an update about my Finder's behavior & the Dock...

I reinstalled OS 15.8.2 via Recovery. It now seems that the Finder windows only display the same name after rebooting the computer. Once I expand a Finder window from the Dock onto the desktop & then shrink it back down, the Finder window retains the proper folder name. If I open a new Finder window & shrink it to the Dock, the Finder window retains the proper name. It's only when I reboot the laptop that all Finder windows return to sharing the same folder name. So this "mislabeled Finder window in the Dock" behavior is only affecting me after rebooting the laptop — whether it's restarting or shutting down & booting up.

It's progress but I'm still unhappy about all the Finder windows displaying the same folder name in the dock.

I'll let you know if changing the view option in the Finder windows makes a difference.

Kind regards,

KP

Hello den.thed,

I tried different views in the Finder window, but unfortunately that didn't make a difference. I'm also experiencing Finder freezing up, the pinwheel turning, & greying out of the window to the point of being completely unresponsive.

KP

Hello Ian R. Brown,

Thank you for your AI suggestions.

1. Re: Changing the Finder windows to minimize into the Finder icon on the Dock... that's definitely a possible workaround. Even if I don't do that, when I control-click the Finder icon, the list of open Finder windows appears & I can select a window's folder name to expand on the Desktop that way. So I can confirm that function is working in Finder which is good.
2. Re: Relaunching the Finder. That doesn't work. It doesn't matter how many times I relaunch Finder, or if I remove Finder's .plist file (so the system regenerates it), the problem persists. When I relaunch Finder, the name at the top of the Finder windows change to a different folder name, but they all have the exact same name no matter the contents of the window.

Thanks for chiming in,

KP

Hi we04ndy,

I don't keep external drives connected to my Mac. I only connect the Time Machine drive when I'm backing up. Same with other SSD backups of folders & files.

Glad that helped you, though, & thanks for sharing.

KP

Thank you den.thed for the bug report link. I reported the issue.

On my system, even if I don't reboot or restart, the Finder bug occurs when I put my laptop to sleep. So it's a constant issue since I installed OS 15.8.2 unfortunately.

KP

Hi den.thed-

I already tried that before posting here in the Apple Community. It didn't help. Btw... I'm on a MacBook Pro, not a Mac mini. 😉

Thanks for trying,

KP