I have a Power Mac and OS10.5.7 - I have created a folder on the desktop to temporarily store photos from different sources. I am unable to arrange them manually in whatever order I choose. I have gone to “Show view options,” and have tried turning everything there on and off and it makes no difference I am still unable to put the files where I want, Is this possible to do, am I missing something obvious? Thank you

Larry

Sometimes a folder can get corrupted, What happens if you create a new folder and just transfer everything over and trash the old folder?
Mark

I tried and it didn't work, they just keep popping back.

Under View Options, how are they arranged, is it by None? I know you said you turned everything on and off, but I just want to be sure.
Mark

What happens when you choose one of the other "Arrange by:" pop-up options, such as Kind, Name, Size? Does it comply with that instruction? Selecting "Arrange by: None" or "Arrange by: Snap to Grid" should allow you to push things around where you want them.

The View settings for your desktop are contained in an invisible file in the ~/Desktop folder named .DS_Store, as is the case with every other folder in your Mac. Sometimes that .DS_Store file gets corrupted and refuses to accept changes in the View settings. The solution is to delete the .DS_Store file and then change your settings, which will create a new, uncorrupted, .DS_Store file.

The trick, of course, is how do you delete an invisible file. You can first make the file visible using the invaluable freeware configuration utility Tinkertool or in the freeware utility OnyX under the Maintenance tab there is an item labeled Display of folder's content that will directly delete the .DS_Store. There are any number of other utilities and ways of doing this, but those two have the advantage of being free.

the only view in which you can arrange files is Icon View, and Arrange by None must be selected. so, if you're trying this in List or Column view, it won't work.

Hi joemikeb, I was aware of Onyx, but thought I would offer a simpler solution that might work. What I was curious about is assuming the .DS_Store file was or is the problem, why would not just creating a new folder and transferring the files over, not work.
Thanks, Mark, and also thanks for all the great suggestions you have given over my time as a member here.

Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back.
When I am on the desk top the View Option menu has a “none” selection and I can move the Icons where ever I want, but when I am in a folder the View Option menu does not have the “none” selection all the other functions work.
I tried the utilities OnyX and Tinkertool, but didn’t have any luck, the best I could do was to make the .DS_Store files visible, I trashed the files, but they reappeared immediately and the problem remained. Thanks for any help.
Larry

Roger, customized arrangements are also possible when SVO is set to Snap to Grid. I do it all the time.