#LIBRARY FOLDER ON MAC ACCESS MAC OS#
#LIBRARY FOLDER ON MAC ACCESS FULL#

Since folders like the ~/Library folder use the Finder as the default app to open them, you can use the open command as shown below: The Terminal command “open” will open a file or folder in the default app.

(You can use the Terminal app to gain access to your hidden Library folder.) Turns out there are many ways to regain access to the ~/Library folder, so many in fact that we’ll only look at a few of the available methods to unhide the library folder. It’s really that simple, at least in concept. If you set the hidden attribute to false for the ~/Library folder, it will become visible in the Finder once again. Set the hidden attribute to true on a file or folder, and it will no longer be displayed.

#LIBRARY FOLDER ON MAC ACCESS MAC OS#

The file system used in the Mac OS supports various flags, which are ways to indicate special attributes of a file. Hiding the ~/Library folder was an easy, and effective, solution. In many cases, tech support was probably able to trace the problem to app support files in the users library folder being deleted or manipulated without authorization, so to speak.

We don’t know Apple’s reason for removing the ~/Library folder from sight, but we can guess: Apple support was tired of calls from users complaining about various apps no longer working, or acting strangely. That changed when Apple released OS X Lion, and the ~/Library folder was banished from the Finder. It used to be just another folder in a user’s home directory, readily available from the Finder. The users library folder hasn’t always been hidden. This allows each user to customize Safari independently of the others, without requiring multiple copies of the Safari app to be installed. It stores individual preference files in each user’s library folder. As an example, consider the Safari browser. Essentially, the users library folder can contain any application- or service-related information that is specific to a user. The ~/Library folder may also contain logs, preference panes, printers, screen savers, and fonts. It’s also a preferred location for preference files used by apps to customize their user interface to meet your needs. This is one of the places where apps tend to keep any necessary support files.

One of these clandestine locations is the users library folder, commonly written out as ~/Library/.Īlthough hidden, the users library folder contains quite a lot of useful information.

#LIBRARY FOLDER ON MAC ACCESS FULL#

The Mac OS is chock full of hidden areas where data, information, or features have been secreted away from Mac users.

Library folder on mac access