Finder not showing user library folder

Funny, I'm a power user and I haven't noticed any train wreck.

BTW, the proper way to give that command to users who are not tech savvy is:

chflags nohidden ~/Library

No need to make any modifications to the command that way.

The folder is probably visible in Terminal (command line) but not in Finder. The administration of Finder is not correct.

You can solve this:

- Create a new subfolder (eg zzz) in Terminal or a third party browser/FTP program.

- Go to the folder in Finder

- Press "Go" and start typing the name of the new subfolder (eg zz), do not press Enter yet

- After some seconds you'll note that Finder has update its administration, also the previous hidden folder is now displayed.

That folder is now invisible in Lion. You can go there by entering a path in Go -> Go To Folder or by holding down option while the Go menu is open and then choose Library (which will disappear from that menu if you let go of option).

I wonder why they made this change.

My suspicion would be that Apple techs have handled a lot of goofy problems caused by people deleting or otherwise mucking around with that folder. So they decided to hide it. I guess they didn't do the same with the root-level System and Library folders because users feel more respectful of those, but have no problem trashing stuff willy-nilly from a folder they perceive as having full ownership of.

But, of course, that's all guesswork! 🙂

Just another example of the dumbing-down of the system with Lion (on their way to some sort of enhanced iOS that will be horrible for anyone who wants to do anything more than surf the web, take photos, listen to music, and chat). The dumbing-down might be OK for new users, but it is an absolute TRAINWRECK for experienced power users. I have been supporting Apple using Macs for professional graphic design since 1984, and this is as bad as when soda executives ran the company! I would have gone backwards to Snow Leopard (oh, how I wish I could!) but I just got two new Macs (fastest, biggest iMac and MacBook Pro) that have been prevented from running Snow Leopard (shame on you, Apple; where is Steve when we need him?) If Mountain Lion dumbs down the system more, I will be permanently mired in Lion forever (or until Apple recovers their brains).

Anyway, if you need to access the ~/Library folder from within an application, you can make the folder permanently visible. Just open Terminal and type in:

chflags nohidden /Users/[username]/Library/

Replace [username] with your user name(!) and hit return. Then you can quit Terminal and your user Library folder will be visible.

Good luck!

Or you can just search 'Users' in Spotlight, select the Users folder (it's the top hit) and, once Finder has opened, drag the icon to the left of where it says 'Users' (at the top of the window) into the sidebar on the left. That's what Apple and the new Mac operating systems are about - finding intuitive ways to do things that non-specialists can understand. If you're going to constantly moan about how Apple is failing then go use a Windows PC, and good luck to you. And by the way I so admire you for buying the biggest and fastest iMac and MacBook Pro.

J.Richardson: I'm sorry, but what you described is not intuitive at all (to me, at least). Mac OS is not bad at all, but unless Apple gets off their high horse and maybe provides some *intuitive* controls for fine-grain system administration, people will continue to have valid points to cite Windows (version whatever) as having legitimate advantages over Mac. Recent example that they FINALLY changed; not being able to resize windows from any border.

Humboldtrick: Thanks for the terminal command! I was also incredibly frustrated by this change.

Thomas A Reed:

I have noticed the train wreck when dealing with (for instance) a SQLite management program - trying to view the contents of a database created in the temp space XCode's "iPhone Simulator" uses - can't browse into the correct directory, nor does the search tool look within the directory, NOR can you simply type a path in. Only other way I would've been able to access files created there would be to use terminal to copy them to a directory not within the "Library", every single time I wanted to view the results of a change! Since the process lost efficiency, and gained annoyance for no benefit to me, that is a train wreck. Also, your "chflags nohidden ~/Library" syntax only works if the user has terminal sitting at the correct directory; there was no reason at all to have griped about what Humboldtrick provided.

your "chflags nohidden ~/Library" syntax only works if the user has terminal sitting at the correct directory

No, you're confusing that with "chflags nohidden Library". The "~/" part specifies that what follows it is in the current user folder. Try it yourself if you have any doubts.

Actually, I'm not confusing it with anything - I am not familiar with many commands at all - YOUR syntax was the very first thing I tried, and it said something back about no folder of that name existing. I then tried Humboldtrick's syntax, and immediately, the folder displayed again in finder.

To your credit, what I said about the chflags command sounds declarative, but I intended it to sound like that was my best guess as to why what you said to try didn't work for me. I have no idea why it didn't work; it just didn't. As far as I know, I typed it in correctly.

You must have made a typo somewhere. Don't type it... copy everything below and paste it directly into the Terminal:

chflags nohidden ~/Library

BTW, you can compare what you typed earlier with this command by going to the Terminal and pressing the up arrow key to scroll through the command history.

@J.Richardson this makes no sense by the way, way to go the intuitive route. And be super cool about it

Thanks, your scrip really does the trick.

Thanks, Thomas! This code really did the trick for me. This "problem" was driving me batty, but now all is well. And this is the first time I have ever used the Terminal command! whoo hooo. I feel so geeky... :-)