BusterCrabbe Loc: Montreal

Sometimes it is just a corrupted preference file. One thing you may try to is use some maintenance software to clean up your Mac. The one I recommend most is Onyx (google Titanium software). This is a great software to run maintenance and cleaning steps. Do both of those and I would not be surprised if the problem goes away. I have used this freeware for a very long time.

Npt Bob Loc: Newport, RI

From your description you have an icon sort like “date last opened” selected.
Left click on the desktop - a small panel appears- select sort by - change to none - any other you would like

Ira

If you right click (or control-left click ) on the screen it give you different options to SORT BY - name, date, kind, etc...
Also by adding spaces before the tile of the icon, it will force the icon to be first ( ___MacHD ) you can add as many spaces as needed.

peterg Loc: Santa Rosa, CA

On your Mac, check the settings in Finder > View > Sort By
You probably want "None".
With other settings, they will sort/move as items change.

RichieC Loc: Adirondacks

Ditch the ICONS on Destop! Desktop memory is handled different anyways, so there are several issues why you shouldn't clutter it with too many things. (https://computers.tutsplus.com/tutorials/why-you-shouldnt-store-files-on-the-desktop--cms-21721)

You are rolling your eyes- but stick with this Apple user for 30 years.

Take your Icons, and put them into a folder. The folder can be anywhere, but for now leave it on the desktop. Drag the folder to the DOCK into the area near the Trash Can, has to be between the faint vertical line and the trashcan... Right click on the folder and choose from the popup under the grey heading "VIEW CONTENT AS" and choose FAN... then right click again and you can order the listing by name, date added, date created, date modified or "kind" , ( try any of the other display settings if you don;t like "FAN") .

When you want to go to a file/application shortcut, just go to the dock, click on this folder, and your entire list will show up over the top of whatever you have open. Heck you can drag as may folders down there as you wish, or even single files. If you wan them to appear in a particular order in lets say a fan... simply name the icons: "A Icon name", "B icon name", "C icon name" etc. etc .

Hope this helps you or someone else!

JaiGieEse Loc: Foxworth, MS

I drive an iMac - 2014 vintage, with the latest version of High Sierra (10.13.3). In one aspect, there is a setting that hasn't changed in quite some time.

Click somewhere on the desktop - outside any folders/icons/documents.

You're now in "Finder" mode. Look on the desktop tool bar for "View." Click on this and move along the drop-down menu to "Sort By." If "Snap to Grid" is selected, your icons will automatically jump to the nearest sport on an invisible grid. They should remain there, or at least, they do on my iMac.

If that suits you,fine. But if you wish to tinker with this, click on "View Options" on that same menu (or use Cmnd-J) and in the little window that opens, you'll see a place wherein you can adjust the grid size.

If you don't want to fool with the grid, then go to the View dropdown and select "Sort by:None." This should allow you to place your icons anywhere you want and they should remain there - as long as you don't have "Snap to Grid" selected.

You'll notice that under "Sort by," there are some other options. You may wanna try them and see whatcha get.

JaiGieEse Loc: Foxworth, MS

I think that "what we have here....is a failure to communicate." The OP is referring to disk/drive icons, or application/Utility icons - not file icons. I would agree that the desktop is NOT a good place to store files and individual folders, with a very, very few exceptions.

I've had the misfortune of having to use someone else's computer, only to discover a desktop literally filled with icons, and usually not in any particular order. This makes it damned near impossible for anyone but the computer owner to locate anything - which could be by design, of course - but in an emergency, when you really need for someone else to locate a file, it can prove to be a bitch of a roadblock.

My iMac's desktop has a single column of drive icons on the right and perhaps two or three folders in column on the left, which I use for temporary storage for odds and ends, until I can get them properly stored where they need to be.

That's it. My Dock has all my most-often used apps and utilities, and it is set to drop down and hide unless I scroll to the screen bottom. This leaves me with a nice, clean screen which I can populate with finder/folder windows as needed.

I take it a step further by setting up Spaces - secondary screens. As I deal primarily with things of a photographic and graphics nature, I have a separate space (screen) for each of the following: InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Lightroom and Acrobat - plus my primary screen, to which nothing in particular is assigned. Each screen has a different background image. This allows me to keep each app's files/folders/windows on a screen dedicated to said app. So, for instance, if I'm working in Photoshop, and I need to locate a newsletter file, I can switch to the InDesign screen, and therein not have to shuffle though all the PSP files I have open.

But then, I'm big on organization. Can't work any other way. But it's a case of whatever peels your banana. My brother's business partner's desk looks like someone upended three or four file drawers onto it. But the guy has a good idea where everything is. He went on vacation once, and the secretary he'd just hired decided to earn some brownie points by cleaning up the boss's office. She took everything on that desk and re-filed it and nicely sorted and cleaned what was left. Looked great. But when the guy comes back from his vacation, he nearly has a heart attack. He screams that he knew "right damned where everything he wanted was," and now, he was clueless.

Some folks like order and others see order within chaos. As I said, it's whatever fills your sails ....