General: Forums subtopic: App & System Services > Core OS Forums tags: Files and Storage, Foundation, FSKit, File Provider, Finder Sync, Disk Arbitration, APFS Foundation > Files and Data Persistence documentation Low-level file system APIs are documented in UNIX manual pages File System Programming Guide archived documentation About Apple File System documentation Apple File System Guide archived documentation File system changes introduced in iOS 17 forums post On File System Permissions forums post Extended Attributes and Zip Archives forums post Unpacking Apple Archives forums post Creating new file systems: FSKit framework documentation Building a passthrough file system sample code File Provider framework documentation Finder Sync framework documentation App Extension Programming Guide > App Extension Types > Finder Sync archived documentation Managing storage: Disk Arbitration framework documentation Disk Arbitration Programming Guide archived documentation Mass Storage Device Driver Programming Guide archived documentation Device File Access Guide for Storage Devices archived documentation BlockStorageDeviceDriverKit framework documentation Volume format references: Apple File System Reference TN1150 HFS Plus Volume Format Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Hi, I’m developing a macOS Finder Sync extension and noticed that NSMenuItem.separator() does not appear to render as a standard separator line when used inside the menu returned from FIFinderSyncController. In a normal AppKit NSMenu, the separator renders as expected. However, when the same kind of menu is returned from the Finder Sync extension, the separator appears as a blank/full-height empty row rather than a thin dividing line. Example: override func menu(for menuKind: FIMenuKind) -> NSMenu { let menu = NSMenu(title: "") menu.addItem(NSMenuItem( title: "First Action", action: #selector(firstAction(_:)), keyEquivalent: "" )) menu.addItem(NSMenuItem.separator()) menu.addItem(NSMenuItem( title: "Second Action", action: #selector(secondAction(_:)), keyEquivalent: "" )) return menu } Expected result: The separator should render as a normal macOS menu separator line between the two menu items. Actual result: In Finder’s context menu, the separator is displayed as blank vertical space / an empty menu row. I understand that Finder Sync menus are rendered by Finder and may not support every NSMenuItem feature. However, NSMenuItem.separator() is a very standard way to visually group menu commands, so I wanted to ask: Is this a known limitation of Finder Sync extension menus? Is there a supported way to display a real separator line in Finder Sync context menus? Should this be filed as a Feedback Assistant issue against Finder Sync / AppKit? I’m trying to avoid fake separators such as disabled menu items with "────" as the title, since that does not feel native and may not behave well with different fonts, accessibility settings, or appearance modes. Thanks!

(! status in pluginkit, FinderSyncExtensionHost process missing) macOS Version: 26.3.1 Beta (25D771280a) Xcode Version: 16.3 (17C529) Steps to reproduce: Create a Finder Sync Extension project Build and install to /Applications Enable in System Settings → Extensions → Finder Extensions Extension shows ! in pluginkit output FinderSyncExtensionHost process never starts Context menu never appears in Finder Expected: Extension loads and context menu appears Actual: Extension marked with ! in pluginkit, no process launched pluginkit output: ! com.github.astronautJack.EasyNewFile.EasyNewFileExtension(1.0)

Hello, I'm currently working on an app that will have a different name (and UI) depending on an environment variable that is set by that app's custom installer that I also wrote. I'm trying to change the app name that is displayed in the menu bar (top left) programmatically. I've done some research and found that it's probably not possible to do so because it's fetched from the app's Info.plist The answer is probably already there but I'll ask the question: Is it possible to change the app's name in the menu bar without tampering with the Info.plist (as it will break the signature at runtime, and it can't be done at compile time) The use case here is that I'm shipping a single app with multiple installers, because the app will be the same for all sets of users but it will have minor UI changes (which in my opinion, don't need an entire separate release), the installers will set a flag that the app will, based on, change its UI to the corresponding set of users. For the most part it's been successful but only small issue remain like this one. The reason it's done like that is when updating I'll ship 1 release for all users to update rather than having to ship multiple releases with no difference between them

Hi, I am developing a NSReplicatedFileProvider extension. Part of that I am also doing a Finder Sync Extension, but I am for whatever reason unable to enable the extension. What am I missing? it is signed properly, it has the right app group. Is there anything else I nede to enable for it? When I do this: pluginkit -m | grep -i XXXFinderSync I get com.clio.XXX-Desktop.XXXFinderSync(1.0) Not that - shows up as bullet point. The hyphen signifies it is disabled.

When running the currently latest version of macOS (26.1) on a machine with ARM CPU (I could not reproduce the issue with Intel-Based machines) Finder Sync extensions do not work any more in general. Steps to reproduce the problem: In Xcode create a new macOS App project with default settings (in my case I chose XIB for the UI and Objective-C as language, and disabled testing, but that should not make any difference) In Xcode add a new target / "Finder Sync Extension" to the project with default settings, this adds a new Finder Sync Extension with example code to the app. Run the application and open Finder and navigate to "/Users/Shared/MySyncExtension Documents" In the system settings ("Login Items & Extensions") enable the extension (Listed as "File Provider"). On systems where it is working, in the context menu of that folder an entry "Example Menu Item" will appear. On systems where it does not work it is missing. Some findings: Adding the *.appex with "pluginkit -a" registers the extension as expected, it is then visible in the system settings, removing it with "pluginkit -r" is also reflected in the system settings. "pluginkit -m -i " returns the extension on systems where it is working (assuming it is registered while this command is executed), on systems wehre it is not working, nothing is returned, regardless of the registration state. When enabling the extension in the system settings nothing more happens, there is no process started for the extension (unlike as on systems where it is working), and thus no context menu entries and no badges are displayed in Finder. Restarting Finder or the system does not help. Any ideas what I could be missing here?

In the context of a NSFileProviderReplicatedExtension I would like to only see the "Move to Bin" Finder action when files have been materlialised ( isDownloaded fileprovider attribute ) I thought it might be possible to get the isDownloaded attribute in my NSFileProviderItemProtocol class capabilities method but that doesn't seem to be the case. Possible ?

Hi guys, I'm developing a FinderSync Extension that extends Finder contextual menu with a couple of items doing some trivial file operations. I'm using Xcode 16.2 on macOS Sequoia 15.3.2 I could run the containing app in debug, and in System Preferences -> File Providers the flag is enabled for my app finder extension. Anyway, the contextual menu does not show in Finder, probably because the finder extension crashes immediately. Some output: pluginkit -m | grep "com\.[^a]" + com.mycompany.MyApp.MyAppFinderExtension(1.1.14) codesign -dvvv --entitlements - /Users/me/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/MyApp-dmzhnwmosboixodalsrrbwvwvmqm/Build/Products/Debug/MyApp.app/Contents/PlugIns/MyApp\ Finder\ Extension.appex Executable=/Users/me/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/MyApp-dmzhnwmosboixodalsrrbwvwvmqm/Build/Products/Debug/MyApp.app/Contents/PlugIns/MyApp Finder Extension.appex/Contents/MacOS/MyApp Finder Extension Identifier=com.mycompany.MyApp.MyAppFinderExtension Format=bundle with Mach-O thin (arm64) CodeDirectory v=20400 size=659 flags=0x2(adhoc) hashes=9+7 location=embedded Hash type=sha256 size=32 CandidateCDHash sha256=b59538ef9e3b6e8cf462a3e260e3bf26d050deb5 CandidateCDHashFull sha256=b59538ef9e3b6e8cf462a3e260e3bf26d050deb5e21fb27d4fa0a4fe5f3e78b7 Hash choices=sha256 CMSDigest=b59538ef9e3b6e8cf462a3e260e3bf26d050deb5e21fb27d4fa0a4fe5f3e78b7 CMSDigestType=2 CDHash=b59538ef9e3b6e8cf462a3e260e3bf26d050deb5 Signature=adhoc Info.plist entries=23 TeamIdentifier=not set Sealed Resources version=2 rules=13 files=9 Internal requirements count=0 size=12 [Dict] [Key] com.apple.security.app-sandbox [Value] [Bool] true [Key] com.apple.security.application-groups [Value] [Array] [String] [Key] com.apple.security.assets.movies.read-write [Value] [Bool] true [Key] com.apple.security.assets.music.read-write [Value] [Bool] true [Key] com.apple.security.assets.pictures.read-write [Value] [Bool] true [Key] com.apple.security.files.documents.read-write [Value] [Bool] true [Key] com.apple.security.files.downloads.read-write [Value] [Bool] true [Key] com.apple.security.files.user-selected.read-write [Value] [Bool] true [Key] com.apple.security.get-task-allow [Value] [Bool] true [Key] com.apple.security.personal-information.location [Value] [Bool] true The log is showing something very strange: log show --predicate 'eventMessage contains "com.mycompany.MyApp" and messageType = error' --last 1h Filtering the log data using "composedMessage CONTAINS "com.mycompany.MyApp" AND logType == 16" Skipping info and debug messages, pass --info and/or --debug to include. Timestamp Thread Type Activity PID TTL 2025-03-25 10:20:48.428127+0100 0x221af Error 0x53dbe 159 0 tccd: [com.apple.TCC:access] Request message contains a target_token to accessing_process (TCCDProcess: identifier=com.mycompany.MyApp, pid=4140, auid=501, euid=501, binary_path=/Users/me/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/MyApp-dmzhnwmosboixodalsrrbwvwvmqm/Build/Products/Debug/MyApp.app/Contents/MacOS/MyApp) but TCCDProcess: identifier=com.apple.audio.coreaudiod, pid=184, auid=202, euid=202, binary_path=/usr/sbin/coreaudiod is not a TCC manager for service: kTCCServiceScreenCapture. 2025-03-25 10:20:53.166554+0100 0x22139 Error 0x67ff4 163 0 runningboardd: (RunningBoard) [com.apple.runningboard:general] RBSStateCapture remove item called for untracked item 163-158-7088 (target:[app<application.com.mycompany.MyApp.36628067.36635236.92E24CD3-97A8-4340-A46E-4493456283C7(501)>:4140]) 2025-03-25 10:20:53.166575+0100 0x22139 Error 0x67ff4 163 0 runningboardd: (RunningBoard) [com.apple.runningboard:general] RBSStateCapture remove item called for untracked item 163-158-7087 (target:[app<application.com.mycompany.MyApp.36628067.36635236.92E24CD3-97A8-4340-A46E-4493456283C7(501)>:4140]) 2025-03-25 10:20:53.166582+0100 0x22139 Error 0x67ff4 163 0 runningboardd: (RunningBoard) [com.apple.runningboard:general] RBSStateCapture remove item called for untracked item 163-158-7091 (target:[app<application.com.mycompany.MyApp.36628067.36635236.92E24CD3-97A8-4340-A46E-4493456283C7(501)>:4140]) 2025-03-25 10:20:53.166593+0100 0x22139 Error 0x67ff4 163 0 runningboardd: (RunningBoard) [com.apple.runningboard:general] RBSStateCapture remove item called for untracked item 163-132-7084 (target:[xpcservice<com.apple.finder.FinderSync.IsExtensionEnabled([app<application.com.mycompany.MyApp.36628067.36635236.92E24CD3-97A8-4340-A46E-4493456283C7(501)>:4140])(501)>{vt hash: 0}:4144:4144]) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Log - Default: 0, Info: 0, Debug: 0, Error: 13, Fault: 0 Activity - Create: 0, Transition: 0, Actions: 0 Especially the first line: MyApp is not accessing coreaudiod - neither trying to get a ScreenCapture, so ... WTF??? How is it possibile? Why is the system blocking MyApp FinderExtension, or preventing it to run? Thank you in advance _Alex

Hi All, I have a finder sync extension that passes data back to my main app. It currently writes to a plist file in my group container folder. Since updating to macOS 15, I have been getting this pop-up every time I trigger this writing to the plist after the finder sync extension loads. This is how I write to the plist from my finder sync extension: let appGroupDefaults = UserDefaults(suiteName: "group.team_id.Finder-Sync-Extension-Test-Project") let items = FIFinderSyncController.default().selectedItemURLs() DispatchQueue.main.async { let url = items?.first?.absoluteString var file = items?.first?.lastPathComponent if let defaults = appGroupDefaults{ defaults.set(url, forKey: "targetURL") defaults.synchronize() } self.showWindow(with: NSExtensionContext()) } This is how I read the plist from my main app: if let defaults = UserDefaults(suiteName: "group.team_id.Finder-Sync-Extension-Test-Project") { defaults.synchronize() if let clickedUrl = defaults.string(forKey: "targetURL") { window = NSWindow(contentRect: NSScreen.main?.frame ?? .zero, styleMask: [.miniaturizable, .closable, .resizable, .titled], backing: .buffered, defer: false) window?.title = "My App" window?.makeKeyAndOrderFront(nil) textField.stringValue = clickedUrl window?.contentView?.addSubview(textField) } } It is fine if this popup happens once and the user's choice gets remembered. I just don't want it to happen every time. Any help on if this is the correct way to pass data between the finder sync extension and the main app or on how to get macOS to remember the choice of the user would be great. Thanks, James

On macOS Sequoia, the settings to enable FIFinderSync seem to have gone. I have already figured out that Extensions are no longer in the Privacy &amp; Security section, but they are now at General › Login Items &amp; Extensions. Here there is a Finder section, but that is just for the Finder-Extensions, not the Finder-Sync-Extensions. Those previously did not have their own section and were hidden away in the Added Extensions section that apparently no longer exists. I expect that it has been forgotten when migrating. Where are the settings for this – have they been forgotten?

I am trying to move my home directory to a secondary drive, but I am running into to two issues. When I try to do it via Finder I get the error - The operation can’t be completed because “<my account name>” needs to be downloaded. And when I try to do it via the terminal in recovery mode (after mounting the Data directory), It seems to copy a set of directories within ~/Library/Daemon Containers/. These appear to be snapshots of some sort, which when cp runs, end up taking up the entire drive of the target drive, which is 4 times larger than my base volume. Two questions: Why I am getting the message via finder (and how do I get around it? What is the correct process for moving the home directory to a second drive? Thanks!

Hi all, I am creating an app that, when you right-click on a file and select a custom option in the context menu, it pops open a window then processes this file. Currently, I am writing that file name and path to a plist in my app's group container folder, sending a notification from my finder sync extension to my main app, and then reading the values in my plist. Is this the best way to pass data between the finder sync extension and the main app? What is the industry standard way of doing this? Thanks, James

Not able to replicate this myself but have had a couple of users report this. I have a Finder Sync Extension. It does not, at least intentionally, change any sidebar icons. The hosting app mostly uses asset catalogs and the icon file it specifies in its info.plist is a icns file, not an iconset. Any idea what may be causing this? Seems odd to me that there isn't some explicit setting to enable this instead of requiring some set of configurations lining up.

Hi all: I am experimenting with Finder extensions. I’d like to be able to add a context menu to all folder locations. I believe the code below should work, but it doesn’t. If I hard code a path, it does work. Any tips on what I am missing? Thanks! // Doesn’t work FIFinderSyncController.default().directoryURLs = nil // Works for user folder var myFolderURL = URL(fileURLWithPath: "/users/exampleuser") FIFinderSyncController.default().directoryURLs = [self.myFolderURL]

Description We used to use FIFinderSyncController.showExtensionManagementInterface() to navigate to the corresponding Setting's path via a button in our app to make the user enable our FinderSync App. (Or user can navigate manually via "System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Extensions -> Added Extensions" themselves in Settings.app) But the UI is now disappearing on macOS 15.0 As a result, if user had previously enabled it, user will now be unable to disable it, and if user had not previously enabled it, user will never be able to enable it. STEPS TO REPRODUCE Create an empty macOS app xcodeprojc, add Finder Sync Extension and run it. Or you can use the repo here to reproduce the issue. https://github.com/Kyle-Ye/MenuHelper

I'm unable to use third party Finder Sync Extensions on macOS 15, first beta. They do not appear in the Extensions section, that is now in System Settings - General - Login Items & Extensions.

Hello, I developed a file provider extension that can access files from multiple locations. With the new macOS Sequoia I cannot access files from volumes, here is the error from Console: Refusing TCCAccessRequest for service kTCCServiceSystemPolicyRemovableVolumes from extension Sub:{com.app.ext}Resp:{TCCDProcess: identifier=com.app.ext-Driver, pid=26706, auid=501, euid=501, binary_path.... Driver}, extension point disallows prompting I added "Privacy - Removable Volumes Usage Description" values for both the main app and extension Info.plist, I click Allow on the alert, but still I receive this error message. Any solution? Thank you.

Hello, If a user allows access to, for example, Removable Volumes (TCC permission) to the main app, does these permissions will be inherited by a bundled Finder Extension from the main app? More specific, I have an app that bundles a Finder Extension and both the main app and the bundled extension need access to Removable Volumes. Only the main app can request it, since the main app is the only that can prompt the user. If the user allows, will the bundled extension also receive the permissions? If not, is there any workaround? Regards.

Hello! I want to add an option to the finder context menu. In particular the context menu that shows when you right click empty space inside a folder. Its not problem if I have to write some swift code. It must be possible, because Google drive or Dropbox also add options to that menu directly. I do not want to add a option to the Quick options, but just an option that right below the "New folder" option. Is this possible? And can someone point me in the right direction? Maybe some API from apple or something? Thanks!

'Remove Download' button in right click menu for iCloud folder in Finder on macOS does not work if total number of selected files/ folders at the time are more than 10 nos. If more than 10 non of files/ folders are selected at any time, then the 'Remove Download' button disappears from the right click context menu in macOS Finder for iCloud folders. To click and act on the 'Remove Download' button on context menu of Finder upon right click, the total number of files and folders together must not exceed 10 nos. Is this the behaviour expected, or am I missing something and this observed behaviour is a bug of Finder?