# Fail to load files in a group
**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Tags:** vtk
**Created:** [December 13, 2024, 5:36pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861 "2024-12-13T17:36:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mingwang](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mingwang)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2024, 5:36pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/1 "2024-12-13T17:36:22Z")
I am trying to load a temporal series of files as a group. While these files appear grouped in the Open File dialog (the first image below), after clicking OK to load them, they are displayed separately in the Pipeline Browser (the second image below).
I have been using ParaView for many years, and this functionality has always worked fine. I am not sure why it is suddenly behaving unexpectedly.
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### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2024, 8:43am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/2 "2024-12-16T08:43:49Z")
I have no idea why it would not work anymore, however ParaView 5.11.2 is old, you may want to update to 5.13.0
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### Author:  [@mingwang](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mingwang)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2024, 10:24pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/3 "2024-12-17T22:24:19Z")
Thanks for your reply, but upgrading to 5.13.0 does not work.
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### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2024, 8:11am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/4 "2024-12-18T08:11:52Z")
Which OS are you using ?
Try moving your settings file or use `--dry-run` instead
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### Author:  [@mingwang](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mingwang)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2024, 3:30pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/5 "2024-12-18T15:30:41Z")
I am using macOS.
I tried to start paraview using the command on Terminal: `/Applications/ParaView-5.13.1.app/Contents/MacOS/paraview --dry-run`, but paraview still does not group the files.
In the directory `~/Library/Preferences/`, I also removed the file containing “paraview”, and the problem still exists.
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### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2024, 3:33pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/6 "2024-12-18T15:33:17Z")
I’m afraid I have no further ideas, but I’m not macOS expert. Maybe @cory.quammen has an idea.
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### Author:  [@wascott](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/wascott)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2024, 5:26pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/7 "2024-12-18T17:26:17Z")
Hi Mingwang, If you can give us 2 files, I will take a look. I’m on a Mac.
Alan
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### Author:  [@mingwang](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mingwang)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2024, 6:01pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/8 "2024-12-18T18:01:05Z")
Hi Alan,
Attached are the 2 files I am using.
Your response made me realize that the problem might be caused by the \*.vtk files themselves rather than ParaView. I tried loading files from another directory, and those files were grouped successfully!
It is strange that the attached vtk files cannot be grouped in Paraview since I used the the same format when writing them.
Mingwang
[grain\_step0.vtk](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/short-url/1u74wBMBbEv5ScYSx0Jy5uRiXWW.vtk) (216.2 KB)
[grain\_step10000.vtk](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/short-url/cReNzFGdLfGFAzvNMozZMPMsmhp.vtk) (216.2 KB)
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### Author:  [@wascott](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/wascott)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2024, 6:21pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/9 "2024-12-18T18:21:00Z")
Hi Mingwang,
The issue is with your file names I believe. When I renamed grain\_step10000.vtk to grain\_step1.vtk, it loaded as a time series of two timesteps. I believe the numbers need to be consecutive, i.e., 1,2,3,4, etc.
Alan
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### Author:  [@mingwang](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mingwang)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2024, 5:30pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/10 "2024-12-19T17:30:53Z")
Hi Alan,
Thanks for your response. I tried renaming the files as you suggested, but unfortunately it still does not work.
These files are stored on a remote cluster. After downloading them on my Mac, ParaView successfully groups them. Although it does not fully resolve the issue, it works well enough for now.
Mingwang
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### Author:  [@ewquon](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ewquon)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/11 "2025-01-20T19:25:24Z")
I am also experiencing this issue with my data. The data appear grouped in the Open dialog box but then are loaded as separated datasets in the Pipeline Browser. Renaming makes no difference. The issue shows up sporadically when I use a remote linux pvserver (v5.11.0) but have no issues when downloading the data and running locally on my mac (v5.11.1).
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### Author:  [@ewquon](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ewquon)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2025, 7:37pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/12 "2025-01-20T19:37:56Z")
Tested on these files: [pv\_loading\_issue.tar.xz](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/short-url/9LI7Ey0CsSfWQ01N26Yx3QGOgsl.xz) (3.9 MB)
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### Author:  [@ewquon](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ewquon)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2025, 8:23pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/13 "2025-01-20T20:23:43Z")
> I am also experiencing this issue with my data. The data appear grouped in the Open dialog box but then are loaded as separated datasets in the Pipeline Browser. Renaming makes no difference. The issue shows up sporadically when I use a remote linux pvserver (v5.11.0) but have no issues when downloading the data and running locally on my mac (v5.11.1).
Just verified that the issue persists with the latest 5.13.2 release.
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### Author:  [@mingwang](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mingwang)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2025, 5:20pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/14 "2025-01-25T17:20:47Z")
I recently upgraded to macOS 15.2 and downgraded Paraview to 5.10.1. Now Praview works well! Not sure why.
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### Author:  [@cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cory.quammen)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2025, 2:37am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/15 "2025-01-30T02:37:16Z")
Loading both provided file sequences (`grain_step*.vtk` and `pv_loading_issue.tar.xz`) in ParaView 5.13.2 on macOS on my Intel MacBook Pro works as expected in built-in server mode and in remote server mode, when both are on the same MacBook Pro.
It does not matter if I run with custom settings, reset my settings to default, run with `--dry-run` or without it, the sequence is loaded as a time series. I cannot get them to load as separate files.
I also tried a remote 5.13.2 server on a separate linux system, but the files still loaded as a time series as expected.
I might not be executing the same interactions as either of you, @ewquon or @mingwang. Could you reply with _exact_ steps, for example, whether you double-click the group in the file browser of select it and click the Open button (that kind of level of detail)? Thanks in advance.
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### Author:  [@Spiritoo](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Spiritoo)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2025, 10:27am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/16 "2025-05-07T10:27:09Z")
Hi,
It may be because of the ‘/1e0\_2e-0.016/’ in your file path.
I had a similar issue where the files wouldn’t group. I used the solution propesed in this thread, but none worked. Eventually I noticed, I was using dots somewhere in my file path. After removing it, the issue was gone and the files would group.
Hope this may help you or someone 🙂
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### Author:  [@rahulksoni](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/rahulksoni)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2025, 6:25am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/17 "2025-09-09T06:25:50Z")
Thanks, it solved my similar problem.
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### Author:  [@ewquon](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ewquon)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2025, 8:34pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-load-files-in-a-group/15861/18 "2025-11-09T20:34:59Z")
Solved my problem as well (with v5.11.1).