I’ve gotten so used to the sidebar in OS X that I’m at a loss when it disappears on me when using my Mac.

If you’re the same way, here’s how to find it again, in both the Finder and in any Open or Save dialog boxes.

In the Finder

When you’re looking for the sidebar in the Finder, you might look for a button to press somewhere. Unfortunately, you need to head up to the View menu and select Show Sidebar. If mousing up there is too much, you can simply hit Command-Option-S on your keyboard to bring the sidebar back to your Finder windows.

If you want to reverse the process and get rid of the sidebar, then hit the same keys on your keyboard, or go back to the View menu and choose Hide Sidebar.

In Open/Save dialogs

When you’re opening a file, or saving one, you may notice that the sidebar is missing here, too. Luckily, this fix is even easier than the above. All you need to do is click on the little button in the upper left-hand corner of the Open/Save dialog box and the sidebar will appear. Or disappear if you click it twice in a row.

If all else fails

If neither of the above fixes work, you’ll need to drop in to your system files.

From the Finder, press Shift-Command-G (or use the Go menu to Go to Folder) and type or paste in the following:

~/Library/Preferences/

Find a file named com.apple.finder.plist and delete it (Command-Delete on your keyboard, or drag it to the Trash icon in your Dock). Restart your Mac, and once it’s rebooted, you should be able to either see the sidebar in the Finder and in Open/Save dialogs, or perform the above fixes.

Now you’ll be able to find your lost sidebars with ease in OS X.

Via: OS X Daily