getting rid of the Documents folder?

[boston04and07]

I've just recently set it up on my Mac that all of my documents that would normally be in the Documents folder are now on my iDisk, in another folder named Documents. I've created a local copy of my iDisk so that my stuff is always in sync. However, just to make it easier on myself, what I would like to do is delete the (now empty) Documents folder in my Home folder, and replace it with an alias for the local iDisk documents folder. That way, I can still go into the Home folder as usual, but the Documents folder there will just point me directly to the local iDisk location. However, OS X isn't letting me do that - I can't delete the Documents folder to replace it. Any way to get around this??

 

[Ashka]

The user Documents folder is part of the Operating system along with Desktop, Downloads, Library, Movies, Music, Pictures, Public & Sites folders.
Best to leave them alone and use other names for your folders which are normally at a lower level ie inside the User Documents and other OS folders.
Any folder you make at the same level as the OS folders will not be hidden or locked from other user accounts on your Mac.

 

[Hydramus]

If you're really keen on doing that, then you could log on as root in terminal and delete the Documents folder and then create the symlink. Do this with caution, as doing anything in root is risky stuff.

Open up Terminal, and then type

sudo su -
cd /Users/(your username)
rm -rfv Documents
ln -s (location of local idisk documents folder) Documents

The first line changes you to root, second line changes the directory to your home directory, then we delete the Documents folder, and finally create your symlink to the idisk folder.

Be careful what you type, expecially when messing around with rm .

 

[boston04and07]

Ehh...thanks for your help! I wish there were an easier way to do this. Not sure if I'll end up doing that or not, for now while I decide I guess I'll just put the alias somewhere else!

If only they made it easier to sync a non-iDisk folder to Mobile Me...

 

[powernose]

Hello Hydramus.

I have deleted the documents folder. Thank you!

What if I want to recreate it? Like a system folder again ?

Thanks!

Powernose

 

[macrem]

If you're really keen on doing that, then you could log on as root in terminal and delete the Documents folder and then create the symlink. Do this with caution, as doing anything in root is risky stuff.

Open up Terminal, and then type

sudo su -
cd /Users/(your username)
rm -rfv Documents
ln -s (location of local idisk documents folder) Documents

The first line changes you to root, second line changes the directory to your home directory, then we delete the Documents folder, and finally create your symlink to the idisk folder.

Be careful what you type, expecially when messing around with rm .

Do you really have to be root to delete that folder?? The user owns it. However, I would not recommend mucking around with this particular folder. I would set-up iDisk to sync whatever is in the user's Documents folder.

 

[mac2x]

Do you really have to be root to delete that folder?? The user owns it. However, I would not recommend mucking around with this particular folder. I would set-up iDisk to sync whatever is in the user's Documents folder.

Agreed...best to not fool around with system folders unless there is a real pressing need. If there's a way not to do it that way, take it.