Just updated to Lion and I can't find files that I had saved under my user name on Snow Leopard. I figured out how to unhide the Library folder, but I cant find files I need that were under my name on SL... I might not be very clear, but I am missing a couple important tax forms and legal documents I had saved. Any suggestions?
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Can't find files on Lion
- Thread starter qzxyu
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Not sure on the terms so Ill try and make sense. In the SL finder window on the left my name was at the very top, if I click on that the folder was in this area. And when I updated to Lion, I downloaded it from the APP store and followed the on screen instructions.
Ah, I see. Here is what you can do under Lion to show the icon to the home directory on the sidebar:
- In the Finder go to the menu bar Finder -> Preferences.
- In the window that opens click on the Sidebar icon.
- Now you will see a list of checkboxes, your username should be one of the options under the "Favorites" category.
- Check it and close the window.
Now when you open a new finder window you will see the icon to go to your home directory and find your files.
Alternatively from the Go menu choose "Home" and it will bring up a new window with your home user directory.
Hope that helps!
- In the Finder go to the menu bar Finder -> Preferences.
- In the window that opens click on the Sidebar icon.
- Now you will see a list of checkboxes, your username should be one of the options under the "Favorites" category.
- Check it and close the window.
Now when you open a new finder window you will see the icon to go to your home directory and find your files.
Alternatively from the Go menu choose "Home" and it will bring up a new window with your home user directory.
Hope that helps!
Yea, did both and still can't find them. Is there a way to search my entire computer, it seems when I search under spotlight it only looks for certain file types or folder.
You can perform a computer wide search from any Finder window. The search box on the top right corner. When you do the search, a bar appears saying "Search: This Mac, "yourusername", Shared", etc. Click on "This Mac" and it will search the whole computer for what you enter in the search box.
Still nothing.. This is frustrating. Think they may not have made it to Lion somehow? I can't find any of the folders or sub-folders
I use "Find Any File" (at the App store, NOT free) for things like that.
It doesn't find things in the contents of your files, but it reliably finds files that Spotlight is prone to hide or misplace.
open terminal and type "ls -a" this should be the contents of your home folder. Do you see your hidden files?
Hidden files in my terminal? Or when I re-open the finder window?
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Last login: Thu Oct 27 19:07:55 on console
unknowne4ce8f554d23:~ BlasterBox$ is-a
-bash: is-a: command not found
unknowne4ce8f554d23:~ BlasterBox$ ls -a
. .cups Music
.. Desktop Pictures
.CFUserTextEncoding Documents Public
.DS_Store Downloads Sites
.Trash Library
.bash_history Movies
unknowne4ce8f554d23:~ BlasterBox$
This is my terminal.
----------
The folder may have been locked, I can't recall. If this makes a difference.
----------
Last login: Thu Oct 27 19:07:55 on console
unknowne4ce8f554d23:~ BlasterBox$ is-a
-bash: is-a: command not found
unknowne4ce8f554d23:~ BlasterBox$ ls -a
. .cups Music
.. Desktop Pictures
.CFUserTextEncoding Documents Public
.DS_Store Downloads Sites
.Trash Library
.bash_history Movies
unknowne4ce8f554d23:~ BlasterBox$
This is my terminal.
----------
The folder may have been locked, I can't recall. If this makes a difference.
I had a folder I saved some documents and affidavits in, I do not recall exactly where I saved it, but I can't find it now. It doesnt show up when I search for it and since the folders are different on Lion I cant seem to find it.
Yeah, this is a problem. If you don't know where it was, then you won't know where to find it.
Yeah, no idea. If you knew where you originally saved it, this would be easier to figure out.
The folders are exactly the same in Lion. No changes. Library was hidden but this was never a place where documents should have been saved anyway.
Did you save them using a particular application?
Here's why I ask: some applications have a default location for finding their stuff. And you, as a user, might not go to the Finder to find them, but use the application that created them. So you never remember where that application put them. Is that the case here?
I'm also suspecting that they are in one of the two Libraries (one is in your user folder, one is at the root of your boot drive). Check in both using a utility that can reveal hidden files. If they were hidden by the application that created them then Spotlight won't necessarily find them (there are more than one kind of hidden and/or invisible file and spollight doesn't index them all).
Finally, spotlight might still be rebuilding itself. I seem to recall it did so when I installed Lion. And that might be a reason why the files can't be found using a search.
Here's why I ask: some applications have a default location for finding their stuff. And you, as a user, might not go to the Finder to find them, but use the application that created them. So you never remember where that application put them. Is that the case here?
I'm also suspecting that they are in one of the two Libraries (one is in your user folder, one is at the root of your boot drive). Check in both using a utility that can reveal hidden files. If they were hidden by the application that created them then Spotlight won't necessarily find them (there are more than one kind of hidden and/or invisible file and spollight doesn't index them all).
Finally, spotlight might still be rebuilding itself. I seem to recall it did so when I installed Lion. And that might be a reason why the files can't be found using a search.