If I move the Documents folder in my user directory and create a symbolic link - ln -s ... things work fine however at some point MacOS removes my link and recreates the actual Documents folder. It does not affect my moved Documents folder.
How can I use a symbolic link on the Documents folder without the OS recreating the actual folder.
macOS Catalina
Thanx
iMac Line (2012 and Later)
Catalina has a number of special rules for the Downloads, Documents, and Desktop folders. Whether this is a bug or an attempt to avoid malicious code is unclear. Personally, I would not have a link file for any of these subdirectories of the user root directory as it introduces some possibilities for attack. You can make a link file inside the Documents directory, and call it something like ~/Documents/LinkedDocuments. If you could tell me why you want to do this, I might be able to suggest another method of meeting your needs.
With the sync services like DropBox and OneDrive, they won't follow symlinks (In DropBox this is a new change). What they want is for the directory to be inside their folder and then symlink back to the original location. So ~/DropBox/Documents and ln -s /Users/~/Dropbox/Documents /Users/~/Documents
This works for a while but at some point macOS replaces my symlink with an actual Documents folder.
Tim
I would not attempt a symlink with Dropbox. Every time Dropbox asks me for closer integration I say no.
Is your problem that your Dropbox database is too big to echo into your Mac home folder?
Or are you trying to merge your Dropbox and home documents folders?
Do you not need an empty Documents folder to exist in order to make the symbolic link?
I assume you have not set up Docs Desktop and Downloads in icloud?
MacOS recreates Documents Folder
