1. The home link on the sidebar of finder is missing. How do I get it back?

2. Is there a way to search for files and/or plists using a search window? I've put them in the Finder search window before but it doesn't seem to work. I'm not sure what that window is for since I've never been able to find anything in Finder using it.

Finder > Prefs > Sidebar > Favorites > Rita(?)

There's no sidebar option under Finder prefs, but I finally found it under Finder - Go - Home Folder. Not sure why it's there, but at least it's there. Now if I can only remember that when I need it. Update: After going into Network for another reason, the home folder shows up under Finder Prefs. This is going to be a bit more to get used to that I thought. Nothing obvious here. Why does all the weird stuff happen to me?

Can you also tell me how to get to:

Users/<You>/Library/Autosave Information/ (I went to Finder - Go - Library but I never see a users folder) I was never very good at finding stuff in the library and could never find "users" to get started.

and how to:

Examine the log in Console.app to see if some input manager is causing Bean to crash on start up? (My Bean word processor app doesn't work now that I have Catalina. I d/l'd the one for Catalina but it keeps crashing. The above was suggested by the author of the app to fix it but I don't understand how to do that.)

You managed to get to the Library at the root level of the drive, but if you want your User Library, in Finder click Go and type ~/Library. (If you have trouble reading this, ~ is the tilde at the upper left of the keyboard.) For clarification, read How to Always Show Library Folder in MacOS Catalina User Home Directory

Thanks, Jon. I believe I already have the library in my drop-down Go section. Funny, but in one of the steps in the link you sent me, it showed a library in the drop down and it showed the home button. So, I thought maybe it was a different library as there are two, right? I just can't always get to the user file very easily. I do sometimes in round about ways but can never r remember how I got there.
Drop Down Box

Actually there are three Library folders:

1. /Library -- at the drive root that has information pertinent to all users on the system.
2. /System/Library -- In the System folder that has information pertinent to the system itself. You don't want to monkey around in this Library as it could damage the system or even make it unbootable.
3. /Users/yourname/Library (shortcut name ~/Library) -- Information pertinent to you alone.

You want that last one. The easy way to get there is press ⇧⌘G (shift+command+G) and enter ~/Library/Autosave Information Don't forget the tilde!

1. In Finder navigate to /Applications/Utilities/Console and double click on it
2. In the Console sidebar click on Crash Repoprts
3. Look for one named Bean and click on that
4. The crash report should open but I doubt you or I would understand it
5. Click somewhere in the crash report and press ⌘A to select the entire crash report
6. Press ⌘C to copy it into the clipboard
7. Paste that into an email to Bean's developer and let him interpret the problem.

Suggestion, you might try deleting your previous version of Bean and run a clean install of the new version. You have jumped nearly four years and at least one major upgrade of the app.

Nope because I was afraid I would lose all my files. I have since looked up uninstalling word processors, and it looks like the files stay on the computer, right? If so, I will uninstall off of my Beans and redo.

Your Bean documents will not be affected by deleting the app.

[color:#CC0000]OK, so the library I have on my Finder drop down is the users library. It's just when someone says go to the user blah blah blah, I don't know where to go from there. So, I guess when I go to that "users library" I don't look for the word user but the next words that follow. I don't know why this is so hard for me.[/color]

Yeah, so I'm going to delete it now and start over. Thanks for confirming that.

Unix based computer systems, like MacOS, use a system of hierarchically nested folders to manage their files beginning from the base of the Volume. The actual location of the file can be described by a file pathname that lists each of the nested folders from the volume base to the desired file or folder. For example /Users/Plantsower/Library is a folder contained within the folder Plantsower and the folder Plantsower is in turn contained within a folder named Users. Where it gets confusing is when someone doesn't use the full file pathname or they use Unix shorthand where ~/ is shorthand for your home folder.

As a general rule, unless specified otherwise, you can assume the following:

• Any reference to the Library folder is the Library folder in your home folder, [i]ie.]/i] /Users/Plantsower/Library (or in shorthand Unix ~/Library).
• Any reference to Applications is the /Applications folder at the volume root.

Some changes to Finder > Preferences might help make things more obvious to you:

• Finder > Preferences > General > New Finder windows will show: -- For safety, I recommend you set this to your username, as you seldom need to get outside of your home folder.
• Finder > Preferences > Sidebar -- I would check all of the items under Favorites or only UNcheck those you never use. NOTE: all of these are in your user folder [u]except Applications which is at the volume root.
• Finder View -- I find the Column view works best for me as it parallels the hierarchical structure of the folders and files. but then I started out before there was any such thing as a graphical user interface. My wife's preference is the icon view because she could care less about the hierarchical file structure and focuses either on the file itself of the File > Open dialog within the app she is using. The list view, gives more information about the files and folders. The gallery view is a bit of a cross between the icon view and the column view. You have to make the choice of which fits better with the way you organize your thinking, but as you are getting used to thinking in terms of

I don't know if this helps or not. I tried to find a good tutorial online, but if there is one, I didn't find it.

~/ is shorthand for your home folder - good to know.
Any reference to the Library folder is the Library folder in your home folder, ie; Users/ritamontague/Library (or in shorthand Unix ~/Library) - Good to know.


Some changes to Finder > Preferences might help make things more obvious to you:

• Finder > Preferences > General > New Finder windows will show: -- For safety, I recommend you set this to your username, as you seldom need to get outside of your home folder. My home folder is under my actual name with the house next to it. Is there something else I should name, and if so, how do I do that?
• Finder > Preferences > Sidebar -- I would check all of the items under Favorites or only UNcheck those you never use. NOTE: all of these are in your user folder [u]except Applications which is at the volume root. Done.
• Finder View -- I find the Column view works best for me as it parallels the hierarchical structure of the folders and files. but then I started out before there was any such thing as a graphical user interface. My wife's preference is the icon view because she could care less about the hierarchical file structure and focuses either on the file itself of the File > Open dialog within the app she is using. The list view, gives more information about the files and folders. The gallery view is a bit of a cross between the icon view and the column view. You have to make the choice of which fits better with the way you organize your thinking, but as you are getting used to thinking in terms of

I prefer list view and icon view, depending on what I am looking for.

I don't know if this helps or not. It does. It took some of the mystery out of it for me. I don't understand about roots, but the other stuff made sense.

The hard drive has many folders, and folders within folders. For example, one of the folders is Applications and it has all your applications in it. Since the Applications folder is not within any other folder, it is said to be at the root of the drive. The applications inside it are not root folders, therefore. Other root folders are Library, System, Users, and Shared. You may have more that I didn't mention, but if you double-click your hard drive icon to see what's inside, any folder that has not been opened is a root folder.

Oh! That's make a lot of sense. I would call them umbrella folders to make it easier for me. Thanks. Would that make the make HD the daddy root? The big kahuna?



Thanks for that.So it's the main folder

How about The Supreme Burrito?

OK now you made me hungry. Thanks a lot.

~/ is shorthand for your home folder - good to know. 👍
Any reference to the Library folder is the Library folder in your home folder, ie; Users/ritamontague/Library (or in shorthand Unix ~/Library) - Good to know.

Some changes to Finder > Preferences might help make things more obvious to you:

• Finder > Preferences > General > New Finder windows will show: -- For safety, I recommend you set this to your username, as you seldom need to get outside of your home folder. My home folder is under my actual name with the house next to it. Is there something else I should name, and if so, how do I do that? It is set correctly and you cannot change it
• Finder > Preferences > Sidebar -- I would check all of the items under Favorites or only UNcheck those you never use. NOTE: all of these are in your user folder [u]except Applications which is at the volume root. Done. 👍
• Finder View -- I find the Column view works best for me as it parallels the hierarchical structure of the folders and files. but then I started out before there was any such thing as a graphical user interface. My wife's preference is the icon view because she could care less about the hierarchical file structure and focuses either on the file itself of the File > Open dialog within the app she is using. The list view, gives more information about the files and folders. The gallery view is a bit of a cross between the icon view and the column view. You have to make the choice of which fits better with the way you organize your thinking, but as you are getting used to thinking in terms of

I prefer list view and icon view, depending on what I am looking for. I would have bet money that would be your choice. I suspect they are by far the most common views used. I learned many years ago that few people organize their thinking in outline or flowchart form as I do. I don't know if my propensity for computer software design is a result of that thinking style or vice-versa.

I don't know if this helps or not. It does. It took some of the mystery out of it for me. I don't understand about roots, but the other stuff made sense. [/quote] Glad it helped!

To take another shot at defining what is meant by the term ROOT in Unix based systems, and MacOS is a Unix based system. Perhaps these umbrellas will help you see the relationship. Using Unix notation, the pathname of your documents folder would be /Users/UserName/Documents. Because ~/ is Unix shorthand for /Users/UserName/ that same pathname can be abbreviated as ~/Documents.

For all practical purposes, the drive root will aways be Macintosh HD (assuming that is the name of the currently booted Volume Group).

Thank you!