Unhide Library folder in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion

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/

35 thoughts on “Unhide Library folder in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion

    1. Paste the code exactly as it is here and it will work Steve πŸ˜‰ 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!

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. @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!

  4. Excellent description. I also used terminal for the first time and succeed ed in making the Library appear for Lion.

    Thanks

  5. Thanks so much guys. really helped. Mission accomplished with deleting the Word templates.

  6. Thanks. You kept me from going crazy looking for the gizmo that would unhide the library. I can’t believe they make it this hard.

  7. THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH! My word templates have been driving me crazy forever; now I can purge them! Copy & pasted, worked like a charm! (Which was great because I had no idea what that code was for.) Thanks!

  8. So there ,is a way to unhide the Library folder, in Mavericks at least. In your user folder, right click, select “Show View Options”, then check the box for “Show Library Folder.”

    The “Show Library Folder” option only appears in View Options when you are in your user folder.

  9. I have spent so much time trying to find the hidden library folder so I can delete some templates I made in word. I’ve tried all of the above and it does’t work. The folder is still hidden. I’m using Mac OS High Sierra if that helps. TIA

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