Show Hidden Library Folder Mac

Hidden library in the sphinx

Follow this step-by-step guide to access hidden user library files in macOS when troubleshooting problems with your Adobe products. The user Library folder is hidden by default in macOS X 10.7 and later releases. Use one of the following methods to make the user Library content visible. Show hidden files and folders in Windows 10. In fact, you can check out all of the hidden files on your Mac by following just three easy steps: In Finder, open up your Macintosh HD folder. Press Command+Shift+Dot. Your hidden files will become visible. Repeat step 2 to hide them again!

Oct 03, 2018  Learn how to access the hidden Library folder in your Home folder on your Mac so you can tweak app settings and access app files. Inside the home folder on your Mac is a Library folder that. May 01, 2019  In macOS, the library folder is used to store user account settings, preference files, app support files, caches, and other important data that allows your Mac to function as it should. Mar 21, 2018  Many of these files are in your Mac’s main Library folder or in the /Library folder, which is in your User folder. Both these Library folders are hidden, but inside them are folders and files that hold things like preferences for apps. How to view hidden files on Mac. Before you make your Mac show hidden files, it’s important to. Dec 30, 2016  While many Mac users may never need to access their User Library folder while running macOS Sierra — some advanced users, may need to get in there and access support data and such when troubleshooting. The folder is hidden by default in macOS Sierra, but it only take a few moments to access it, or make it so that the folder is always visible. Some troubleshooting procedures require you to navigate to and view a hidden folder on Mac. You can access the Library folder with the Go To Folder command or from the Terminal app. Access the Library folder in Finder: In Finder, choose Go Go To Folder In the Go To The Folder field, enter /library/ Click Go. To permanently show all.

Your Mac has a secret. Thousands of them in fact, in the form of hidden files and folders lurking on its hard drive or SSD. Don’t worry, though. These files and folders are all supposed to be there. In fact, many of them are essential.

Many of these files are in your Mac’s main Library folder or in the ~/Library folder, which is in your User folder. Both these Library folders are hidden, but inside them are folders and files that hold things like preferences for apps.

In this article, we’ll tell you how you can view hidden files on your Mac and make your Library folder visible.

What are the hidden files on Mac?

The hidden files are a throwback to macOS’ Unix roots. In fact, the convention of naming them starting with a “.” comes from Unix. For that reason, you can’t use a “.” at the start of a regular file name, otherwise OS X will hide it.

The files themselves contain data like access rights and privileges for files and folders, application support files, and preferences.

There are a number of reasons files and folders are hidden. Mostly, though, it’s because they contain data critical to the smooth running of your Mac and that you shouldn’t interfere with. In addition, there’s no real reason for most users to see or access them. Also, if they were all visible, your Mac would look horribly cluttered.

How to view hidden files on Mac

Before you make your Mac show hidden files, it’s important to remember they’ve been hidden for a reason. The data they contain could cause havoc if you delete or alter it and don’t know what you’re doing.

If your goal in viewing, for example ~/Library is so you can manually delete application support files for a program you’ve uninstalled, consider using a dedicated uninstaller like CleanMyMac X. That will make it easy to remove all the files associated with an application with one click. You can download CleanMyMac X for free here.

CleanMyMac X will also allow you to get rid of all the hidden files you no longer need. Many of these files are created and used then not needed anymore. They just sit there clogging up your hard drive. CleanMyMac X scans your Mac, identifies this system junk and allows you to quickly and easily get rid of it, potentially several gigabytes of disk space.

How To Show Hidden Library Folder On Mac

If you still want to view hidden files on your Mac, you need to go to the Finder and do the following:

  1. Open a new Finder window and click on the name of your Mac under ‘Devices’ in the sidebar.
  2. Click on Macintosh HD, or whatever you’ve called your startup drive if you’ve renamed it.
  3. Press Command-Shift-. (period). You should now see lots of files and folders who’s name starts with “.” become visible.
  4. To re-hide the files and folders, hold down Command-Shift-. again.

How to view your Mac’s ~/Library folder

There are a couple of methods for making your ~/Library folder visible. Here’s the simplest:

  1. Click on the Finder in the Dock.
  2. Open a new Finder window and navigate to your user folder (Tip: if it’s not in the sidebar, go to the Finder menu, choose Preferences, click Sidebar and check the box next to your Home folder)
  3. Click on the Go menu.
  4. Hold down the Option (Alt) key.
  5. You should see that in the dropdown menu, Library appears below Home. Click on it.

Alternatively, do this to view your Library folder:

  1. Click on the Finder in the Dock.
  2. Click on the Go menu and choose Go to Folder.
  3. In the window that opens, type “~/Library”

With both these methods, your Library folder will disappear again when you close the Finder window. It’s easy enough to run through the steps above again to make it visible again when you need to, but if you want it permanently accessible, there are a couple of ways to do it.

The quickest is to drag the Library folder to the Finder’s sidebar. That will create a shortcut to it that will persist. If you want to keep ~/Library visible but don’t want it clogging up the sidebar in Finder windows, do this:

  1. Click on the Finder in the Dock.
  2. Click on the View menu and choose Show View Options.
  3. Check the box labelled Show Library Folder at the bottom of the window.
Show hidden library folder mac

How to make macOS show hidden files using Terminal

If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you can use the Terminal command line interface to view hidden files and folders. Here’s how to do it:

Mac Os X Show Hidden Library Folder

  1. Open Terminal from the Utilities folder in Applications, or by searching for it using Spotlight. You can also use the Go menu in the Finder to go directly to the Utilities folder.
  2. Type, or copy and paste, this command: defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles true
  3. Press Return
  4. Type: killall Finder

To hide the files again, repeat the above steps, but replace ‘true’ with ‘false’ at the end of step 2.

How to hide any file or folder using Terminal

Now that you know how to view hidden files and folders on your Mac, you may be wondering how you can hide other files or folders, to keep them away from prying eyes. There are a number of third-party applications and utilities that offer to do this for you, but you can do it yourself in Terminal, like this:

  1. Launch Terminal.
  2. Type: chflags hidden
  3. Press the spacebar.
  4. Drag the file or folder you want to hide from the Finder onto the Terminal window.
  5. You’ll see the path to the file or folder displayed in Terminal after the command you typed.
  6. Hit Return to execute the command.

The file or folder you dragged onto the Terminal window will now be hidden. To see it again, use one of the methods described above to see hidden files.

I already updated the body of this user tip to include Sierra; now I can update the 'written for' line as well. Apple disclaims any and all liability for the acts, omissions and conduct of any third parties in connection with or related to your use of the site. Mac merge two photo libraries. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided; every potential issue may involve several factors not detailed in the conversations captured in an electronic forum and Apple can therefore provide no guarantee as to the efficacy of any proposed solutions on the community forums. Apple Footer.This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only.

To make the file visible permanently again, use the steps above, but in step 2 type: chflags nohidden

As you can see, viewing hidden files and folders on your Mac is very straightforward. There are a number of ways to do it, and you can make them visible temporarily or permanently.

2020-4-5  How-To Factory Reset Your Mac with macOS; So here’s how I got my user library in macOS to show-up permanently in my user folder. First, go to Finder and select Finder Preferences (or use Command+Comma) Choose Sidebar from the top list of tabs (General, Tabs, Sidebar, Advanced) Under Favorites, tick the checkbox next to your user folder’s name. 2020-4-6  Before going ahead with the steps to Access the Hidden Library Folder on your Mac, you need to be aware that /Library Folder contains important Data and Files related to Mac User Accounts. Hence, make sure that you are accessing the Library Folder for a good reason and you do know as to what you are trying to achieve. Where is my itunes library mac. 2020-4-3  Sometimes, in the troubleshooting process, you will need to access files and folders in the hidden User Library. Some troubleshooting procedures require you to navigate to and view a hidden folder on Mac. You can access the Library folder with the Go To Folder command or from the Terminal app. Access the Library folder in Finder: In Finder. It's not clear why Apple decided to hide the user's Library folder, but you have multiple ways to get it back: two Apple provides (depending on the version of OS X you are using) and one in the underlying file system. The method you use depends on whether you want permanent access to the Library folder or only when you need to go there.

However, just because you can view hidden files, doesn’t mean you should — the files are usually hidden because accidentally deleting them or altering them could cause chaos on your Mac. So, while it’s fine to have a peek, don’t do anything with the hidden files unless you know what you’re doing.

If you want to declutter your Mac or uninstall applications, use a dedicated application like CleanMyMac X. It will safely remove all useless files, add-ons, broken login items, caches, large and old files you didn't know about. Most likely, you won't even need to look for hidden files — CleanMyMac will do all the job for you.

We also showed that many of those files are stored in Library folders, including the one in your User folder, ~/Library. That folder is hidden by default, but you can view it or make it permanently visible using the techniques described above.

These might also interest you: