Aliases randomly lose source icons

[Princess Cake]

This one has me puzzled as it seemingly happens to random alias files. They all link to folders (no individual files) and some keep their icons, yet some become blank folders

When I do Get Info on the broken aliases it still shows the custom icon though >.>

 

[LCD]

In Mavericks the aliases of folders I move are sometimes broken and the aliases of files I rename are always broken. Orphaned file aliases can point to a previous version in a Time Machine folder or become blank like folder aliases.

 

[roland.g]

I used to use Aliases for Apps which I then categorized and put in stacks in the Dock. However, I then switched to using symlinks because Aliases of apps can get quite larger (MB) when a symlink is always 32kb.

When I installed the Public Beta of Yosemite, all my symlink aliases in Yosemite returned their Alias arrows which I had previously removed. Very strange behavior. I am running 10.10 off an external usb 3.0 drive. But it is accessing all my apps and user data off the resident internal home folder. I will wait until the public release to determine what the extent of the issue is and figure out how to correct it if it is still a problem.

 

[LCD]

I then switched to using symlinks because Aliases of apps can get quite larger (MB) when a symlink is always 32kb. … all my symlink aliases in Yosemite returned their Alias arrows which I had previously removed.

Thanks for the info roland.g. Not what I want to hear. Since I use a narrow view in the Finder as Columns, I remove the arrows from aliases too.

Each version of OS X I've used (Tiger, Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion & Mavericks) gave me problems maintaining file and folder aliases. I have too many of them (1-2 thousand) so I didn't change to symlinks when I considered doing it while fixing my hundreds of orphaned (and smaller sized) Mountain Lion aliases prior to installing Mavericks.

 

[sourmac]

Late reply to an older thread

I was searching for answers and found this thread. I couldn't find an answer in my searches, but ended up playing around and found that if I delete the word "alias" from the name of the icon, then it fixed all of my issues with the icons not displaying properly. This is in Yosemite 10.10.2, this was an annoying fix, but I only have about 40-50 alias icons, so not too bad.

 

[Martyn Swain]

This one has me puzzled as it seemingly happens to random alias files. They all link to folders (no individual files) and some keep their icons, yet some become blank folders

When I do Get Info on the broken aliases it still shows the custom icon though >.>

Hi there, I know it was some time ago - but did you ever find a way round this problem? I've tried repairing permissions, copying icons across from the original info pane, but without success ...

 

[LCD]

Hi there, I know it was some time ago - but did you ever find a way round this problem? I've tried repairing permissions, copying icons across from the original info pane, but without success ...

No I haven't Martyn however Sierra finally seems to be at least trying to address this issue. It's tough to believe how few people care about it all these years. I started with Macs in early 2006 with Tiger on an Intel Core not 2 Duo and have had trouble with aliases ever since. I'm hoping for a fix in APFS.

I don't remember folder aliases handled the following way in El Capitan. Folder aliases that were 1.3mb or much larger all become 4kb after selecting the same file it points to as a new alias in the Inspector Pane of the alias file.

I don't remember file aliases handled the following way in El Capitan and possible early in Sierra. Formerly large file alases are now all 763kb or 1mb. This change seems to occur automatically in the Finder.

 

[Martyn Swain]

... Thanks for the reply, LCD. I must admit, the 'disappearing custom alias icons' has only been an issue since using an iMac (as I foolishly wait for the new Mac Pros!) They seem to come and go as they please at boot-up, but perhaps APFS will fix it.

Anyway, you've obviously tried as hard as I have to find a solution, so at least I can stop looking for a fix ... however annoying the problem is!