Thanks Neil, Rafa, and zapcat. I found the preference in my users library preferences, trashed it, and all is fine. I knew I had to trash a file but did not know what it was called or where it was. Allan Nashua, New Hampshire allanrube.com www.nebirds.com > From: Neil Laubenthal <neil at laubenthal.net> > > Put ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist in the trash. > Close all open Finder Windows. > Restart. > > On Aug 20, 2010, at 6:45 PM, Allan Rube wrote: > >> I suddenly lost the sidebars in finder windows when I do a ³new finder >> window² command. If I double-click on a folder it opens with the sidebar. >> >> My finder preferences seem o.k. I restarted. I thought there might be a >> finder preference file I could trash but I could not find one. >> >> Anything else to try.