This minHour teaches you how to force your Mac's user "Library" folder to show up in the Finder window. While the "Library" folder is hidden by default, you can prompt it to appear both temporarily and permanently.
Showing the Library Folder Temporarily
Open Finder.
Click the icon that resembles a blue and white smiley face on the far-left side of your Mac’s Dock. This will open a new Finder window.
Click Go.
It’s a menu item at the top of the screen. Clicking it prompts a drop-down menu.
Hold down the ⌥ Option key.
This key is in the lower-left corner of the Mac keyboard. Holding it down will prompt the folder to appear in the drop-down menu.
Click Library.
It’s in the middle of the drop-down menu under the “Home” option. Doing so will open the Library folder in the Finder window.
- Once you close the Finder window in which the Library folder is open, you can let go of the key.
Showing the Library Folder Permanently
Make sure that your Mac is up to date.
Menu options change with different versions of your Mac’s operating system, though the following instructions should work on macOS Sierra and High Sierra.
Open Finder.
Click the icon that resembles a blue and white smiley face on the far-left side of your Mac’s Dock. This will open a new Finder window.
Click Go.
It’s a menu item at the top of the screen. Clicking it prompts a drop-down menu.
Click Home.
This option is near the middle of the drop-down menu. Doing so opens the folder in the Finder window.
Click a blank space in the Finder window.
Doing so will ensure that your Finder window is centered on the folder.
Right-click the window.
On a Mac with a trackpad or an Apple mouse with one mouse button, click the Finder window with both fingers to perform a right-click. This will prompt a drop-down menu.
- Alternatively, you can hold the key and click the Finder window to perform a right-click.
Click Show View Options.
It’s at the bottom of the drop-down menu. A pop-up window will open with some additional options.
Check the “Show Library Folder” box.
This option is near the middle of the pop-up window.
Click Use as Defaults.
It’s at the bottom of the window. At this point, you can close and re-open Finder without worrying about the option disappearing from the menu or the folder.
Tips
- For most purposes you’ll want the user Library described above, but your computer does have two additional Library folders. One is at the root level of your hard drive, and one is in the System folder. These hold computer-wide files and are only visible to administrator accounts. Do not change their contents unless you know what you are doing.
- Installing a system update can hide a revealed Library again. Once you reveal it again, it should stay visible until the next update.
- You can also access the Library folder by opening Spotlight and typing in the path to the Library folder. The path is /Users/name/Library where name is your Mac’s username.
Warnings
- Do not move, rename, or delete anything inside the Library folder unless you know what it does.
- The Library folder is not for storing documents. If you’re looking for photos, music, or similar files, you’ll want to go to the Home folder.