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I've tried searching for it, and going to my Minecraft app and looking at its contents but there was still nothing. I need the folder so I can install mods.

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  • Do Macs have a %appdata% folder? I have Windows but I might be able to help.
    – Yoshi24517
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 6:05
  • @Yoshi24517 Not exactly and you can't just make comparisons like that.
    – grg
    Commented Jan 10, 2017 at 17:09

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The minecraft folder lives inside your Application Support folder, which is inside your personal Library folder… which MacOS hides from you.

There are two ways to get to your minecraft folder:

1. Easy way

Open Minecraft and launch the game. Click Options…, Resource Packs…, then at the bottom of this screen, find and click Open Resource Pack Folder.

You will now have a finder window open that is inside your minecraft folder. Navigate up one folder by typing ⌘↑ and you will be looking at your minecraft folder.

2. Harder way, but more permanent

You can tell MacOS to un-hide your Library.

Note: Don't use this method if:

  • this is a shared family login
  • if you're concerned about you or someone else messing with the stuff inside Library and breaking something
  • you have any other doubts

The Library is hidden mostly because things can go slightly (not usually badly, but inconveniently) wrong if the files inside it are messed with. (Minecraft being an exception, because you're here to mess with it on purpose instead of accidentally.)

If you have any doubts, just use the easy method. If you're Master and Commander of this computer and you're not worried you'll break anything though, I find this way more convenient.

With an unhidden Library, you can always get to your minecraft folder by navigating Home → Library → Application Support → minecraft.

To un-hide your Library, you need to run a command inside Terminal.app. Either search for Terminal.app, or find it inside Applications → Utilities. Run Terminal.app, and when it's ready, copy this command into it and press enter:

/usr/bin/chflags nohidden ~/Library

If it gives you errors or says you can't do that, then that's OK, no harm done — you just have to give up on this method and use the easy method.

Optional: Make a shortcut for next time

Now that you're here, you may want to make a shortcut (also called an alias) to make this slightly easier.

  1. Navigate up one more folder, so that you're looking at your Application Support folder.
  2. Right click on minecraft to get the context menu, and choose Make Alias. A shortcut named minecraft alias will appear.
  3. Drag that shortcut (not the original!) to your Desktop or anywhere else convenient. You can rename it to whatever you like. Opening this shortcut later will open your minecraft folder.
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  • You don't need to unhide the library folder to navigate to it as there's so many other ways, such as ⇧⌘L from Finder, or hold shift from Finder's Go menu, or to go straight to the minecraft folder ⇧⌘G from Finder and paste ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft.
    – grg
    Commented Jan 10, 2017 at 17:16
  • @grgarside It's true that it's not necessary. But ironically, the less comfortable with the OS someone is (which is who Apple had in mind when making it default hidden), the harder those alternatives are and the more useful unhiding becomes, so I think it's a useful option to include.
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented Jan 10, 2017 at 17:30
  • It just seemed weird that you went straight to Terminal and unhiding using chflags. ⇧⌘L (which is Apple's standard way of accessing the folder) is much easier than getting someone to run some command they may not understand directly into Terminal, let alone encouraging people to run random commands off the internet in their shell in the first place. Just my opinion
    – grg
    Commented Jan 10, 2017 at 18:00
  • @grgarside Maybe it's because I'm oldschool and the hidden Library strikes me as such an egregious misfeature for Minecraft players. :) On further thought though you're right that ⇧⌘L going directly to Library would be the cleanest way to start navigating to the minecraft folder. However, is that new in Sierra (or an old method deprecated by the time of El Capitan)? It doesn't work on my El Capitan setup, though others like ⇧⌘H and ⌥⌘L are working fine.
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented Jan 10, 2017 at 18:15

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