Now, if you aren't looking for complete control of the apps on your Mac, there is another way to modify how everything operates. You could be amazed at how much space you could save. Pro Tip: If you’ve previously used iPhoto - but are now using Photos on your Mac - you could have duplicate iPhoto libraries. However, you may need to do that again after accessing it as Apple prefers to keep this hidden. Place a checkmark next to Show System or Library Folder.Īnd that should give you quick temporary access to the System folder.Within the Finder menu, click View > Show View Options.Open a Finder window and go to your Home folder.This method will make the folder permanently visible, so if you’d prefer it was only temporary, there is another way - for those using Mac OS X (or macOS) Mavericks and later. Only attempt this method if you are comfortable using Terminal and have used it before. Press Alt and the Library icon will show up.Open Finder and click Go in the top menu.This way you can make the Library folder visible. Many users don't know this but pressing the Alt button will often show hidden options in menus. Click Return again, and it should be back to how it was.If you ever want to restore this to how it was before, enter the following command in Terminal: chflags hidden ~/System.The System folder should now be visible in the Finder > Go menu. (If nothing shows up under that name, try /Library as an alternative).Enter this command in Terminal: chflags nohidden ~/System.Launch Terminal which you can find in /Applications/Utilities.However, if you would prefer doing this the manual way, here is how you can access the System folder: Within these folders, you benefit from complete control and can modify settings or clear out cache files. Maybe an app is misbehaving, so one way to solve this problem is to “Delete the application's plist,” which is only possible with access to the System folder or Library. However, there are times when you need to access these folders. Therefore, it is safer if certain folders, such as the Library and/or System folder, remain hidden. Not only that but if an inexperienced Mac user were to make a mistake - or delete something important - native or downloaded (third-party) applications could stop working. How to access the System folderĪpple prefers to hide folders that could be at risk from viruses and cyber-attacks. In this article, we look at how to access the System folder and what you can modify within System Preferences, which is not hidden and contains valuable tools and ways to make changes within your Mac.

But to help you do it all by yourself, we’ve gathered our best ideas and solutions below.įeatures described in this article refer to the MacPaw site version of CleanMyMac X. So here's a tip for you: Download CleanMyMac to quickly solve some of the issues mentioned in this article.

Library folder on mac