How to Show the Library Folder on Mac (and Open Other Hidden Folders)

Steps use macOS 14 and later names. Menu wording can differ slightly between versions.

Open the Library folder once

Apple's Mac Help says your Library folder is hidden. Here is the quick way to open it:

1. Make sure Finder is active

   Click the desktop, or click a Finder window.

2. Open the Go menu with Option held

   Press and hold ⌥, then click Go in the menu bar. A Library item appears in the list.

3. Choose Library

   Click Library while you still hold Option. The folder opens in a Finder window.

Apple describes the same steps: press and hold the Option key, then choose Go > Library. This opens the Library folder inside your home folder, not the system one.

Keep the Library folder visible

1. In Finder, choose Go > Home, or press ⇧⌘H. Apple lists that shortcut as opening the Home folder of the current user.
2. Choose View > Show View Options, or press ⌘J.
3. Tick Show Library Folder.

Start in your home folder, because the option is part of that folder's view options. To hide Library again, untick the box.

Open a hidden folder by its path

The Go to Folder command opens any folder if you know its path. It works for hidden folders too.

1. In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder, or press ⇧⌘G.
2. Type the path. For example, type ~/Library for your Library, or ~/Library/Application Support. A tilde means your home folder.
3. Press Return.

A slash at the start of a path, such as /Library/Fonts/, starts from the main level of your startup disk. That is the system Library. It is separate from the one in your home folder and is shared by all users of the Mac. Apple's Go to Folder page uses /Library/Fonts/ as an example path.

Terminal commands for the Library folder

You can do the same from Terminal. These three commands only open the folder or change its hidden flag. They do not delete anything:

open ~/Library

chflags nohidden ~/Library
chflags hidden ~/Library

ls ~/Library

ls -lOd ~/Library

The second command prints the folder's flags. Library shows the word hidden while it is hidden, and no flag after chflags nohidden. Library is hidden by a flag, not by a dot in its name.

To see hidden items in other folders, press ⇧⌘. in a Finder window. The hidden folder on Mac guide covers that shortcut and how to create hidden folders. Hidden items are only out of sight. They are not private. See macOS hidden files vs a vault.

Why people open the Library folder

• A support page for an app tells you to remove one of its settings files.
• You want to find where an app stores its data before you move to a new Mac.
• You want to check how much space app data takes.

In each case, open the folder, look and stop. If your reason is to hide your own files, Library is the wrong place. Read how to hide files on Mac and how to lock a folder on Mac instead.

What is inside, and what to leave alone

Back up before you change anything

• Follow a step only if a support page for that app tells you to.
• Change one thing at a time so you can undo it.
• Leave the system folders at the root of your startup disk alone, including /System/Library.