Choosing download destination in Safari - favorite section is missing

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Level 1

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Choosing download destination in Safari - favorite section is missing

Hi there. I think since the OS X El Capitan has come out I face a problem while choosing download destination in Safari. Like in finder I used to see there even my favorite section (I mean such as Music, Documents etc...), but something has happened and I do not see that favorite section any more. Just take a look at screenshot of Finder and Safari and you will know what I mean. Please does anyone know any fix for that problem? Thank you!

MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2013), macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Oct 14, 2016 7:49 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

362,023 points

Oct 14, 2016 8:40 PM in response to václav

A Favorites entry in the Finder's sidebar was dropped quite a while ago. That is why you don't see it. And, there is no Favorites folder inside your /Home/ folder. The Favorites folder is now located in the /Home/Library/ folder. That Library folder is normally invisible:

Three Ways to Make the Home/Library Folder Visible

A. This method will make the folder visible permanently. Open the Terminal application in the Utilities folder and paste the following red colored command line at the command prompt: chflags nohidden ~/Library then press RETURN.

B. Click on the Desktop, press the Option (⌥) key, select Library from the Finder's Go menu.

C. Select Go To Folder from the Finder's Go menu. Paste the following in the path field: ~/Library and click on the Go button.

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Answer 2

václav Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 15, 2016 1:41 AM in response to Kappy

Hi Kappy. Firstly thank you for your advice, but to make it clear I do see Favorites entry in the Finder (even if you told it was dropped quite a while ago), but I do not see it in the Safari while choosing download destination. And I remember that once in the past I have found some terminal command or something that has helped me to see favorite folder even in Safari again, but unfortunately only for a while...

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

362,023 points

Oct 15, 2016 10:13 AM in response to václav

Safari's Download default folder is your /Home/Downloads/ folder, but you can change it to any folder you wish.

As you can see above there is a drop down menu in Safari's General prefs. Select Other to change the default download folder. If you open the Favorites folder from the Finder's sidebar, then CTRL- or RIGHT-click on the new window's title bar icon to find where the folder is located. You need to enable the Show Path option in Finder's View menu.

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Answer 4

Eric Root

Level 10

685,323 points

Oct 15, 2016 10:28 AM in response to václav

Go to Finder and hover your cursor over Favorites. If you see Show, then Favorites is not a folder, but an 'index' for things listed under Favorites. If you go to Finder/Preferences/Sidebar, you will see it listed there with items listed underneath.

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Answer 5

václav Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 15, 2016 3:22 PM in response to Eric Root

Thank you for the answer. Yes, favorites might be only index, but my problem is that I see that index in Finder but not in safari while choosing download destination. And that is weird, because it used to work well in the past which means I was able to see index even in safari.

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Answer 6

václav Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 15, 2016 3:36 PM in response to Kappy

Kappy, thank you for the answer. I know about that option but I usually save a lot of different files to different locations and that is a reason why I prefer another option that can be seen in your picture - Ask for each download. And while safari is asking me about choosing download destination the only section I see in the sidebar is devices section and not favorites section even if favorites section used to be in this sidebar in the past. That is my problem. You know missing favorites section means for me three more steps to choose download destination (for instance when I wanna save file to music folder

1) without favorites section Macintosh HD ->Users->"My user name"-> Music

2) with favorites I may just press Music section...

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Answer 7

Kappy

Level 10

362,023 points

Oct 17, 2016 2:02 AM in response to václav

As I stated earlier, I think, the Favorites folder is in the /Home/Library/ folder. If you want it to show in the Finder's sidebar, then drag the folder's icon into the sidebar, but first, drag the current folder out of the sidebar.

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Answer 8

Eric Root

Level 10

685,323 points

Oct 16, 2016 7:03 AM in response to václav

If you click on the box in the screen shot, do you get more options?

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Answer 9

václav Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 17, 2016 2:00 AM in response to Eric Root

Hi Eric. Yes I do, just take a look at first picture that I posted. That is what I see after clicking on the box as you mentioned. As you can see Favorites is missing (in Czech Favorites is Oblíbené).

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Answer 10

Eric Root

Level 10

685,323 points

Oct 17, 2016 6:54 AM in response to václav

Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J. When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder. Select Library. There is a Favorites folder there. Is that the one you want?

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