Can I fix the One Drive sync on Mac so my desktop is not rearranged? Do I have to use a third party app?

Dear @Nicole,

This appears to be a macOS desktop-view setting or a one-time layout reset, rather than a OneDrive sync issue.

Kindly try these steps:

Click an empty area of the Mac desktop so Finder becomes active.

From the menu bar, select View.

If Use Stacks is selected, turn it off. Stacks automatically groups desktop items and can move them into clusters controlled by macOS.

Select View > Sort By > None.

• This is the most important setting. Any other option, such as Name, Kind, or Date Added, lets macOS automatically reposition the icons.
• Apple specifically states that Sort By must be set to None when the user wants to control desktop icon placement manually.

Open View > Show View Options and verify:

• Sort By: None
• Adjust Grid spacing if the icons are being pushed too far apart.
• Set the desired icon and text size.

Drag the icons back into the preferred clusters.

Note: Avoid selecting Clean Up or Clean Up By after arranging them, because those commands will align or reorganize the icons again.

OneDrive backs up and synchronizes the files in your Desktop folder, but it does not synchronize each icon’s exact screen position. Opening Finder normally should not rearrange the desktop, so the behavior was most likely caused by Finder’s sorting or Stacks setting being enabled, or by the Desktop folder layout being reset during an OS or folder-backup change.

After changing the Finder settings, please rearrange a few icons, restart the Mac, and confirm that their positions remain unchanged.

I hope the information shared helps point you in the right direction. Please try the steps above and let me know if they work. If not, we can continue working together to narrow this down.

The first response may not always resolve the issue right away, but with your help and more details, we can work toward a solution.

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