Unhide Library folder in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion
August 2nd, 2011
After upgrading to OS X Lion, I released that the Library folder in my user’s home folder (where all the .plist files from the installed apps are stored) was gone. I wish Lion would have respected my folders and installed apps from my Snow Leopard installation during setup (it also removes iSync. Not big deal unless you use some kind of old-school Nokia cell phone). As there is no option to show hidden folders in OS X (or I haven’t found it), the only way to bring back the Library folder is via terminal. Open the Terminal.app (found under Utilities folder or search it with Spotlight) and paste the following command. Yes, you are done!
chflags nohidden ~/Library/
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August 28th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
tried this and it didn’t work…..any other ideas?
August 28th, 2011 at 6:05 pm
Paste the code exactly as it is here and it will work Steve
You should be in the root folder (in terminal) when you type that, and of course you need to have an account with admin rights!
September 22nd, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Fantastic post — saved my life!
October 17th, 2011 at 5:00 pm
Thank you SO MUCH! I had lost all my personal Photoshop actions (hundreds). This saved it all.
October 20th, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Thank you for this! Worked perfectly and I can access my templates again!
October 25th, 2011 at 4:41 am
In OS X Lion merely hold down the option key while you navigate to find the library. Go to “go” and hold down the option key. You’ll see the library immediately. Keep holding down the option key as you navigate deeper into the library. On a Mac, everything is easy.
October 27th, 2011 at 11:17 pm
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU This tip worked for me!
November 3rd, 2011 at 4:48 am
select iPhoto library, select the icon that looks like a gear and select show package contents.
November 8th, 2011 at 5:34 pm
OK, I found the Library, all of above worked. But I still cannot delete a Word Template that I created. In Word if you edit a template and save, Word in Mac will not replace the template, because it is in use. Ridiculous. So, I unhid the Library and found the offending template file, However I cannot delete the file.
November 13th, 2011 at 10:54 am
@George: Check the file permissions of the Word Template! You should have read/write/modify permissions (right or ctrl+click the template>get info>check permissions). Another way to solve this issue is to log in as an administrator user (the default user has these privileges!
November 21st, 2011 at 4:27 am
OUTSTANDING! Thanks.
November 24th, 2011 at 1:56 am
This helped me a lot, thank you!
January 4th, 2012 at 8:40 am
awesome. thanks. wish they didn’t hide it tho.
February 2nd, 2012 at 12:56 am
Excellent description. I also used terminal for the first time and succeed ed in making the Library appear for Lion.
Thanks