OSX Novice - Guidance requested - Library Folder

Hi. I am a newbie on OSX and really just learning my way. I'm looking for some guidance on the library folders. I've searched on this forum but can't find what I was looking for. Basically a couple of months back (when I had just bought the Mac) my three year old grabbed the mouse and a library folder was pulled out of place. I'm not sure from where. At the time, I put the folder back in documents. I see no real problems on a day to day basis other than new widgets lose their customisation. I have a Library folder under the HD, one under system and one under my user name. I also now have this one sitting in documents....but I have a feeling it should be elewhere (maybe Applications??) Contents of this folder are similar but not an exact match to the one under my user name - for example this folder has Widgets in it, the one under my name does not. My question is this - where should this folder really be? And if it's not doing a whole lot of harm - should I move it back or not? Thanks for your inputs.

If it was the user's Library folder that got moved, the next time you restarted a brand new one was created. So open the errant one and your regular user Library folder side by side, and add back anything that is only in the now redundant ~/Documents/Library folder to the normal ~/Library folder. If the Mac was new I would guess that the original didn't contain anything like mail or bookmarks that were critical--after several months of use you probably don't want to replace the current stuff with the old stuff! But you will want things that are in the old one, like the Widgets you mention, so move those sorts of things. When you are confident there is nothing left in it you need you can trash it.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Similar Messages

How can I move my /library folder to another drive?

I'll try and keep this as brief as possible. (tl;dr version: My library folder is on the wrong drive. How can I move it?)
About 18 months ago I switched the HDD in my mid 2009 MBP for an SSD and replaced the optical drive with a larger HDD for storage, which I then moved my home folder onto (though of course not the library folder).
This weekend the HDD got corrupted and I had to do a full erase/restore through time machine, and until I had reformatted the HDD I could not even log in. Once I had erased it I could log in again, but although the old library folder still exists on the boot SSD, it has replaced the (of course now missing until my TM restore is complete) home folder with a new one on the HDD and set up a new default library folder.
I could copy the old library files into the new folder, but I'd prefer to have the library on the SSD, so what I want to know is how would I get OSX to recognise the old library? Or if I just updated the new one, could I move it?
I know moving the library is a bit of a minefield, so I'm hoping one of you can help!

You should leave the Library folder that is at top-level on the Boot drive right where it is.
The ~/Library (in your user_Id) folder should be moved off the Boot drive with the rest of your User files if you choose to move the Home folders.
What are you talking about?

How can I access my iPhoto library folder?

My hard drive recently had to be replaced, and when they replaced it, they updated to OSx 10.9. I had not backed up my photos before my hard drive crashed, but they backed up all my files for me. I went to open my iphoto library from the backup files and as a new (to me) version of iphoto 11 opened, I got a message saying that it had to update the photos in my library in order for them to be compatible with this version of iPhoto and that after updating them, I'd no longer be able to read them on an older version of iphoto. I clicked ok. It only imported 9 photos (out of several thousand). I went to finder and tried to open the iphoto library folder (which contains the library file and the cache, etc.), but the folder will not open. Instead, when I click to open the library folder, it brings up iphoto, as though to indicate that my library is there. Did I somehow unknowingly overwrite my library or something?? Any ideas why I can't access my iphoto library? Are my photos gone?
I'm stupid so I don't have copies of the photos anywhere else. I don't have Time Machine or anything. Did I irreversibly screw up??

I didn't think to check what photos were there or what the library size was before trying to import at first. How do I restore my backup of the iphoto library? (sorry if that's a stupid question). I checked in the Masters folder and only saw a few of my photos (the same ones that were imported to iphoto).
I definitely know it was a mistake not to have a backup of the photos. It'll be the first thing I do if I can get them back. The mistake I was referring to in my initial post was clicking "ok" when it asked to update---but from what you're saying it sounds like that wouldn't have deleted anything.
I'm thinking maybe the backup is not complete (even though I asked the tech people 5 times if it was!), because I checked the imovie events folder, and it's also empty (and it definitely shouldn't be)! If this turns out to be the case, I may have to go back to the repair place to see if they can still pull files off.

Where did the User Library folder go?

I installed OSX 10.7 yesterday and was quite excited to do so, and by day two I am regretting it. whether it is the uslessness of launchpad, to all of the old things i find missing. One thing i just noticed was that i cant find is the User Library folder. The system Library folder is there but not the user. am i missing something? oh and getting rid of front row? why? i watched trailers there all the time!...sorry sorry...off topic. grr
Lion 5 out of 10 Stars

Use the following:
chflags nohidden ~/Library/
Generally, ~ should be used instead of manually providing the home folder path.
(59561)

After updating to system 7.2 the library folder in my home folder has disappeared.. anyone know if this is a byproduct of OS7.2

After updating to system 7.2 on my MacAir, the library folder in my home folder has disappeared.. anyone know if this is a byproduct of OS7.2

Not with 10.7.2 but with OSX Lion since it was released.
Apple has hidden the Library folder by default.
In Finder option-click Go in the menubar and it will appear under Home.
Or permanently with this Terminal command: chflags nohidden ~/Library
Stefan

Albums folder in iPhoto Library folder missing

The Albums folder in iPhoto Library folder missing. This means when I try to sync photos to my iPod (video) in iTunes, none of my photo albums show up (though I can seclect a specific folder useing year, month day, etc.). It also mens that I must navagate through the date folders to find photos when trying to attach them to e-mails.
I am running a G5 with the latest version of OSX, iPhoto, iTunes.
How do I recreat this folder?
Thankd for any help.
Cheers__ Heath

Hi Heath,
iPhoto 5 now stores the Album information in a data xml file. The Albums folder within the iPhoto Library folder is no longer used. At some point, usually after a rebuild, you will no longer have that folder in the Finder.
If you need to access photos from an album it is very difficult for a third party application to navigate the iPhoto Library in order to find the photo you need. You will have to know the date of import in order to find the photo.
There are some third party applications that can read the xml file and can navigate the iPhoto library and show you the Albums. Hopefully more applications will be revised to read this file.
Until then you will have to Share/Export the photos to the desktop. You can then navigate to the desktop to use the photos (example: web uploading from online photo site)
If your application supports drag and drop, you can drag the photo from an open iPhoto Library window into your application.
For email you can also use the email icon within iPhoto to open a message with the highlighted photo attached.
You can also use spotlight to find images in an Album...
This is what I have done using Spotlight to find my images that are in iPhoto albums without opening iPhoto..
In iPhoto, select the album, then select all, go to Photos/batch change.
Change the comments to text. In the text field I put the name of the Album.
Do this for each album.
Close iPhoto.
Open Spotlight and put in the name of the Album ( you have to remember the names of the albums or have then written down)
In the spotlight search results. click on "show all"
Under "Images" click on the "xx more" to show all the images in the album.
Make sure you have it in icon view, the icon view box is the last one on the blue images line.
Now you can control click on the image to "reveal in finder", open in iPhoto or Mail, etc.
I am not sure if this is going to make you happy and it is a little more work, but you can find images in albums and even view them in a slideshow (by clicking the play arrow at the end of the Images highlighted blue line) using Spotlight, all without opening iPhoto.
One important thing to know is you can set up a graphic program to be an external editor (when you double click an image in the library} such as PhotoShop or PS Elements. You set up that within iPhoto Preferences. Just make sure you save the image flattened and with the same name. The edits will then be relected in iPhoto when you hit "save".
Two Apple kbs for you to read
Don't tamper with files in the iPhoto library folder
About the iPhoto Library folder
Also, when you choose a folder to sync for your iPod, choose iPhoto in the drop down menu in iTunes, then choose the Album you want to sync. Do not choose a folder on your hard drive and then the Albums folder in the iPhoto Library folder.
Lori

In order to select multiple bookmarks and move then altogether into one folder in a single drag operations the use of the Library Folder was recommended. Where is the Library Folder?

I don't see a folder with the title "Library Folder" Where does one find this in Firefox 4.01 for Macintosh? (OSX 10.6.7)
thanks

The names have changed. Try:
Bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks
Does that let you do what you want?

What files can I delete from the hidden "Library" folder which is in my account folder?

I'm running out of space on Macintosh HD so I started moving things to my other computer (desktop so more storage). There should only be about 165 GB used out of 750 GB capacity however there is 459 GB used. So, I thought, where's all the space gone? Through using Finder's "Get Info" feature I tracked the 459 GB to Macintosh HD/Users/jacobhouse but in jacobhouse (my account's folder) I've stripped everything to a bare minimum. Amounts of storage used is as follows:
jacobhouse: 409.6 GB (other 50ish thats being used is applications)
Desktop: 142 KB
Documents: 500.1 MB
Downloads: 1.55 GB
Movies: 14.96 GB
Music: 19.02 GB
Pictures: 75.67 GB
Public: 44.4 MB
This adds up to approximately 111 GB if I'm correct in converting KB/MB to GB. Still I haven't managed to find the culprit until I tried showing hidden folders. When I told Finder to show all hidden folders and I sorted them by size, I found one named Library which was 409.6 GB.
As you can see by the Where in the screenshot above, this Library folder is not the one directly in Macintosh HD but rather it is in a User folder. My question now is which of the files in this Library folder am I able to delete to free up space? (contents of Library are below)
Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to provide.

jhswimmerfromst. john's wrote:
What sort of things are "other"?
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-5142
What is "Other" and What Can I Do About It? http://pondini.org/OSX/LionStorage.html

New iPhoto 6 Library/Folder Structure - Driving us nuts!

All of our photos were previously stored in iPhoto 5 in folders listed by year, month then day. This was perfect for us as we take multiple photos on one card on differant dates and made for easy tracking/finding. On upgrading to iPhoto 6 we now have the following:
Originals - Okay the folder name makes sense but they are stored by year and the a roll number, no month no day.
Modified - Again folder name makes sense (photos that were modified from original) but the same lame date/roll number filing
iPhoto Cache - Not sure what this is for (temp storage?). When and should it be cleaned out, like internet cache?
Data - Not sure what this folder is for, but has many of the same images as other folders. Same issue with they structure (year/roll)
Also 10 other files which I am sure are for library database etc.
We then have 3 addtional folders with year (2004, 05 and 06) with the structure of (year/month/day). Why are these outside of Originals? How did they maintain the preferred file structure.
Can we get back to the year/month/date file structure? In addtion, some of the dates of photos are whacked out. Trip to Oregon in 2004 is listed as 1999. I didn't even have a digitial camera then. Others of the same trip are in 2004.
Help...

restuart:
Isn't the cache folder titled "iPod Photo Cache"? It has to do with adding photos to an iPod. Even if you don't sync photos to an ipod there'll be that folder if you've ever connected an iPod.
The Data folder contains the thumbnail files for each photo.
Regarding the year folder with the old structure, I believe it's like our appendix, no longer needed. I had a 2005 folder with just photo in it. I moved it to the desktop and opened iPhoto, went to the roll that had that picture in and it was there and useable. I've since trashed that 2005 folder. Give it a try. and see if there's any problems with removing it. Make a backup of the library folder beforehand just in case.
There is some sort of bug with the roll dates. When you import an old folder of files it uses one of the modified dates instead of the captured date on many of the rolls. I haven't figured out how it determines which date on which photo to use. It's easy to change the date of the roll so it is located in the proper chronological position among the other rolls.
The current folder structure is a result of many requests to get iPhoto in line with other more professional image management applications. iPhoto's new capability of being able to use alias files instead of copying the entire file into it's new folder system allows it to be able to use soruce image files that are on another HD/CD /DVD and if the source files are not mounted iPhoto can still see the thumbnails, make and manipulate albums but cannot edit or work with books, slideshow or calendars. Once the photos come back on line iPhoto can use them again. This way users can develop their own folder/cataloging system and iPhoto will construct it's library in accordance with it.

No warning before moving the ~/Library folder...

OSX 10.7.3 on Macbook Air 13.3' i5 1.7Ghz 128GB.
Yesterday I was working on a Finder window opened on my ~/Library.
As I accidentally dragged the icon displayed in the Title area, the OS lost my user settings...
I quickly realized that my action caused my ~/Library folder to be moved to my ~/Desktop.
Since the ~/Library is a hidded folder in Lion, it may not be so trivial to figure out what happens whn you move it.
I had a CCC backup from the day before, so I restored the system with no damage.
(I didn't try to move the Library back, and opted for the safest way)
I wish that moving of critical system folders were signaled with a warning message, at least.

My own Lion system did not allow this.
I just created a new admin test account, opened a Finder window to its library, and tried to drag the library "proxy icon" at the top of that window onto the Desktop. Dragging produced only the "green plus" copy pointer, and so I could copy the Library folder but not move it, which is as it should be.
Looking in Terminal, I found that the home Library carried a protective "everyone deny delete" ACL, as do the other default subfolders of a new user account:
2010-Computer:~ t1$ ls -ldeO@ ~/Library
drwx------@ 29 t1 staff hidden 986 Feb 27 14:01 /Users/t1/Library
com.apple.FinderInfo 32
0: group:everyone deny delete
I then removed that protective ACL:
2010-Computer:~ t1$ chmod -N ~/Library
2010-Computer:~ t1$ ls -ldeO@ ~/Library
drwx------@ 29 t1 staff hidden 986 Feb 27 14:01 /Users/t1/Library
com.apple.FinderInfo 32
Now I could move the Library folder onto the Desktop by dragging its proxy icon (as mentioned, this was a temporary disposable test account!).
Had you previously altered any permissions on the Library folder or on your home folder?

"Incomplete Folder" contains Library folder

Hi everyone, hope you can give me a hand with this long standing error with my MacBook Pro?
My Mac (MBP 2GHz Intel Core Duo, 2GB RAM, 100GB HD (partition 60GB OSX 30GB Windows)) has been cleaned up a few times and I no longer store music, photo, video or docs (some) on my startup disk.
I can probably understand about 15GB being taken up but I cannot work out where the other 30GB+ have gone. I am using Disk Inventory X but it is very muddled and all over the place not giving me a clear indication. I have deleted Garageband and all loops but still loads taken up.
In my Home Folder (user) I have an Incomplete folder which I have never paid too much attention to. I'm currently trying to clear some space so I can install CS4 and leave CS3 just incase I have any errors. But in this 'Incomplete' folder I have a Library folder!!! I am pretty sure it cannot be doing anything and I still have a HD and User Library folder.
So my questions are.......
If this Incomplete folder contains a Library (1.5GB) is that Library doing anything or can I delete it?
What methods are out there for me to troubleshoot where the space is being taken up?
On a standard machine how much space should system/library files take up?
What is safe to delete and won't leave my mac useless?
I look forward to any responses thank you.
Rivers
p.s. Background info: couple of years ago my mac went crazy and I think it might of had something to do with a friend accidentally moving my library into that incomplete folder when playing with my Wacom. But I do not know this for certain and live in fear of deleting any library folder.

Hi Allan, thanks for speedy response!
I have used Limewire in the past, but not so much anymore (other means and waste of time in my opinion) so will probably delete it. I noticed as well that most Google hits link back to Limewire but wanted to check that it is an application directory and nothing to do with OSX?!?
I will try your solution and I think I have worked out the reason. Like I said at the end of the post my friend may have accidently moved the library into this Limewire incomplete folder which screwed up my permissions so I reinstalled MacOSX and recovered the data on the Hard Drive. So have a functioning mac with all the right data and a spare Library folder!
Now just need to work out where the rest of my space is being taken up??
Thanks for the reply!

Using font folder in the Library folder OSX10.2.8?

Hi. I've checked postings and searched the database but couldn't find anything. This may be a dumb question. I work on OSX 10.2.8 Jaguar with OS9.22 (Classic). For Classic apps I use ATM Deluxe for font management. I don't have a font management program for OSX. Is it possible to drop the same fonts into the Fonts folder in the Library folder that are also loaded into ATM so that I can access them from both OSX and Classic? Thanks.
Cathy

If you want both OS X and Classic apps to see the same fonts, you place them in OS 9's /System Folder/Fonts/ folder. This is a big hassle though (as you likely already know) since you can't put subfolders of fonts in that folder. Meaning everything has to be tossed in loose, including Type 1 PostScript fonts. Deactivating them is harder. You can just drag the fonts back out, but once placed in its Fonts folder, Classic will not release fonts until you shut it down, even though they're not in the the Fonts folder any more.
You current best bet at a replacement font manager is Master Juggler. It can open and close fonts simultaneously for OS X and 9 (Classic). Suitcase X and X1 did this, but the newest release, Fusion, does not.

Sizing down the library folder.

I have had this install of OSX tiger on my MacBook Pro for quite some time now and have added and removed many applications.
Currently I have very few applications left after I uninstalled all of the programs I don't use. I now have less than 6 Gigs of programs, but my Library is over 12 Gigs.
How do reduce my library size; is there residual install folders or caches I can clear?

If you had installed GarageBand, it leaves behind some HUGE folders. Put your Library folder into List view, then go to View->Show View Options and click on the "Calculate all sizes" option and make sure there is check mark to show the Size column. In the Library folder window click on the Size column header to arrange by size and see which folders are huge. If you click on the disclosure triangle in front of a folder, the sub-folders will also have their size calculated. My Audio folder is 9.75GBs, with almost all of it in the Apple Loops folder. If you aren't using a sound program such as GarageBand or SoundTrack Pro you can trash the Loops folders. The Application Support folder may also have some pretty impressively sized support folders. Again, if you aren't using the program you can trash the support folder.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Motherboard went in my g5 desktop so i go my hard drive extracted with all my data..I now have an ibook g4 laptop and am trying to get gb working but get this message: he Instrument Library is invalid. GarageBand expects a valid Instrument Library folder?

Motherboard went in my g5 desktop so i go my hard drive extracted with all my data..I now have an ibook g4 laptop running off OSX 10.4.11 and am trying to get Garageband working but get this message: The Instrument Library is invalid. GarageBand expects a valid Instrument Library folder?

Contact Apple Support:
http://www.apple.com/support/contact/
Apple - How to Contact Us:
http://www.apple.com/contact/
Be sure to refer to the repair ticket number.
Sounds like a terrible mixup.
Good luck & happy computing!

Can't access library folder on Time Machine Backup

I'll try to explain this as clearly as possible...
1) I have wiped my hard drive and completed a clean install of Mavericks. I did this due to persistant problems with disc permissions that I could not eliminate.
2) I did not want to take a chance on introducing problems with migrating a profile from my Time Machine backup so instead of using Migration Assistant, I used Finder to browse the Time Machine backup I made prior to reformatting my drive to simply copy all my necessary data files back onto the drive in my newly created profile.
3) I've reinstalled the majority of programs I use and everything is looking good (no disk permission problems when I've checked using Disk Utility).
4) Mail is working just find with all my accounts having been restored using my Apple ID.
Here's the problem....
I forgot that some of my mail had been stored on my local hard drive. I beleive this mail should be in my user/library/mail folder of my time machine backup. However, I cannot access my User/Library folder in Time Machine. I've tried opening my current (new) User/Library folder in Finder and then selecting "Browse Other Backup Discs" from the Time Machine icon and, although this opens the Time Machine backups, I cannot do any time travel...in other words, although there are many stacks of folders shown in the backup, I cannot move into the past from the present.
Any suggestions on how I can get this Mail folder out of the Time Machine user/library? I know there is some stuff there that I'm going to have to get to.
Thanks!

It woked to get me into my current User/Library of my "new" profile but I cannot move back in time into the actual backups despite the timeline increments on the right side of the screen in Time Machine showing they're are backups for the past several months. I'm stuck on this moment so to speak.
Got to hit the sack...head is swimming. Thanks for the suggestions Barney. Let me know if you think of any others.

OSX Novice - Guidance requested - Library Folder

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