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Dashboard Widgets in OS X 10.8

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Osullivan1

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 1, 2011
283
13
London
In previous versions of OS X, when you install a widget to Dashboard, it is stored in /Users/*USERNAME*/Library/Preferences/. However in OS X Mountain Lion, I cannot find the widgets stored anywhere on my Mac.

I can find all the default widgets (Calendar, Weather etc...), however even if I do a search for .wdgt, or anything associated with the widgets, none of my them are found.

Am I missing something? Because to me it looks as if, after the Launchpad style widget manager and it becoming a "space" in OS X Lion, Apple might be lining up a Widget part of the Mac App Store, or something... maybe? :)
 
Angrinkin

Angrinkin

macrumors member
Feb 5, 2008
49
1
The widgets are located in /Macintosh HD/Library/Widgets/ in ML. I had lost all of mine the other day and found them there. Hope that helps!
 
D

dtshelley

macrumors newbie
Oct 5, 2012
1
0
All of the widgets stored on your computer will be found in your Mac HD library as frederikolafsen said, and any that you download and install in your user can be found in your user library, ~/Library/Widgets
 
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Matt KB

macrumors newbie
Nov 22, 2012
5
0
Hmmm I've installed a widget but can't find it in that folder. There isn't a library folder for my user account. Tried searching for it in folder but no joy :(
 
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Matt KB

macrumors newbie
Nov 22, 2012
5
0
Simplicated said:
Library folder is now hidden by default. Click Go in the Finder menu bar, hold the Option key and Library will appear.
Click to expand...

Silly question, what is the option key and how long do I need to hold it? Have tried holding a few keys but with no success.
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,136
15,598
California
Matt KB said:
Silly question, what is the option key and how long do I need to hold it? Have tried holding a few keys but with no success.
Click to expand...

It is the key two spots to the left of the space bar. It is also labelled "alt". Just hold the key down when you click that Go menu and you will see the Library as a choice.
 
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Matt KB

macrumors newbie
Nov 22, 2012
5
0
Weaselboy said:
It is the key two spots to the left of the space bar. It is also labelled "alt". Just hold the key down when you click that Go menu and you will see the Library as a choice.
Click to expand...

Got it - um this is sounding really stupid, what's the go menu?
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,136
15,598
California
Matt KB said:
Got it - um this is sounding really stupid, what's the go menu?
Click to expand...

Just click on the desktop to bring focus to the Finder and you will see it at the top left of your screen like in my screen cap below.

QZozc.png
 
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Badagri

macrumors 6502a
Aug 9, 2012
500
78
UK
What I find irritating is even though revealing Library, chflags nohidden ~/Library/ after a certain time frame, usually a week, Library seems to hide itself again. Why...
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,136
15,598
California
Badagri said:
What I find irritating is even though revealing Library, chflags nohidden ~/Library/ after a certain time frame, usually a week, Library seems to hide itself again. Why...
Click to expand...

It should not hide itself, but every time a point update like 10.8.2 comes out it rehides it. I noticed the update to 10.8.2 that came out a week or so ago his it again too. That is probably what you are seeing.
 
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mjenks

macrumors newbie
Oct 17, 2011
16
0
This is a Lion question, but I thought maybe someone who'd been messing with widgets might be able to help--I can't seem to get any downloaded widgets to work in Lion. This thread was helpful as I found where the widgets are stored in the Library, but maybe the problem is that they all look like .plist files? Or the widgets that I found were named something like: widget-com.apple.calendar.plist.

Maybe I can save downloaded .wdgt files as .plist somehow? Or is there any way to make older widgets work on any of the new Apple OS? I'm happy to have them work from my desktop or from anywhere. I've had this same problem downloading apps. Shouldn't all Apple apps work from the interface?
 
B

Bear

macrumors G3
Jul 23, 2002
8,088
5
Sol III - Terra
Osullivan1 said:
In previous versions of OS X, when you install a widget to Dashboard, it is stored in /Users/*USERNAME*/Library/Preferences/. However in OS X Mountain Lion, I cannot find the widgets stored anywhere on my Mac.
...
Click to expand...
.../Preferences are the preference files for the widgets. Not the widgets themselves. They have always been in the Widgets folder in the Library folder.


mjenks said:
This is a Lion question, but I thought maybe someone who'd been messing with widgets might be able to help--I can't seem to get any downloaded widgets to work in Lion. This thread was helpful as I found where the widgets are stored in the Library, but maybe the problem is that they all look like .plist files? Or the widgets that I found were named something like: widget-com.apple.calendar.plist.

Maybe I can save downloaded .wdgt files as .plist somehow? Or is there any way to make older widgets work on any of the new Apple OS? I'm happy to have them work from my desktop or from anywhere. I've had this same problem downloading apps. Shouldn't all Apple apps work from the interface?
Click to expand...
The .plist files are preference files. What you need to do to install a widget(.wdgt) is to run it from finder as if it was an application. What happens from there should be obvious.
 
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