Can't rename Documents and Downloads folder in Catalina users home folder?

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Level 1

6 points

Can't rename Documents and Downloads folder in Catalina users home folder?

When I press Enter, or delayed click on Documents or Downloads the folder name stays as is, it doesn't become an edit box.

Rather Enter opens those folders. Option Click or Mouse Right Click does not show Rename in the context menu.

I just upgraded to Catalina. I keep Documents and Downloads on another disk (RAID 1 as the boot drive doesn't allow RAID setup).

With High Sierra I rename Documents and Downloads to Documents.save and Downloads to Downloads.save. Then I create aliases for Documents and Downloads folder on my RAID1 drive and copy them to my home folder.

How do I do that now?

Thanks!

Then

Mac Pro

Posted on Jan 25, 2021 12:05 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

charliez Author

Level 1

6 points

Jan 25, 2021 5:37 PM in response to VikingOSX

Thank you!

After a little bit of more thought, I achieved what I needed:

sudo mv ~/Documents ~/Documents.save
sudo mv ~/Downloads ~/Downloads.save
ln -s /Volumes/Storage/Documents ~/Documents
ln -s /Volumes/Storage/Downloads ~/Downloads

I then removed the original Documents and Downloads shortcuts from the sidebar and replaced them with the newly created links.

Everything works as it did in High Sierra again :-)

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,176 points

Jan 25, 2021 12:10 PM in response to charliez

Folders with an embossed image on them are special folders installed by the operating system upon account creation and they are purposely protected against all forms of change including renaming and removal. The operating system expects these folders to remain unchanged like you would the lock on your front door.

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Can't rename Documents and Downloads folder in Catalina users home folder?

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