Get Personal Folders Back in OS X Lion Sidebar

Updated 5 November 2026 · Standard formula, shown below

If you upgraded to OS X Lion and your home folder (the one with your name) vanished from the Finder window sidebar, you can bring it back in about ten seconds by opening Finder Preferences and re-checking the box under Sidebar. The setting is still there, but Apple turned it off by default in Lion, which is why the personal folders like Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures, and your home folder itself disappeared.

Why Lion Hid Your Home Folder

When OS X Lion (10.7) shipped in July 2011, Apple redesigned the Finder sidebar to show only the most commonly used items. The default sidebar in Snow Leopard had your home folder, the Desktop, Documents, Movies, Music, Pictures, and Downloads. In Lion, Apple kept Downloads visible but hid the rest of the personal folders by default to reduce clutter. The folders themselves were never deleted; they are still inside your home folder at /Users/yourusername/. The change was purely a preference setting, which is why the fix is so simple.

How to Restore Them (Step by Step)

Open a Finder window (click the Finder icon in the Dock).
From the menu bar at the top of the screen, choose Finder > Preferences (or press Command + ,).
Click the Sidebar tab at the top of the Preferences window.
Under the Favorites section, you will see checkboxes for your home folder (it shows your username), Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures, and other items like Applications and AirDrop.
Check the boxes next to the folders you want to appear in the sidebar. At minimum, check your home folder (the one with your username) and Desktop, Documents, Movies, Music, and Pictures.
Close Preferences. The folders appear immediately in the sidebar under Favorites, above the Devices and Shared sections.

If you do not see the Favorites section, scroll up in the sidebar or widen the window. If you still do not see your home folder listed, make sure you are looking at the correct user account (the one you log in with).

What the Sidebar Sections Mean

The Finder sidebar in Lion has three main areas. Favorites is where you can put any folder, app, or file for one-click access. Devices shows hard drives, external disks, and network volumes. Shared lists other computers on your network. The personal folders you are restoring go into Favorites. You can also drag any folder from the Finder window into the Favorites section to add it, and drag it out to remove it. That is a manual method that works for any folder, not just the standard ones.

If the Checkboxes Are Greyed Out or Missing

In rare cases, the checkboxes for your home folder are greyed out or the folder does not appear in the list at all. This usually happens when the Finder preferences file has become corrupted or when the sidebar itself has been customized to hide everything. Here is what to try in order:

Quit and reopen Finder: Hold Option, right-click the Finder icon in the Dock, and choose Relaunch. Then open Preferences again.
Reset the sidebar: In Finder Preferences > Sidebar, uncheck all boxes, close Preferences, then reopen and re-check them. This forces the sidebar to rebuild.
Delete the Finder preferences file: Go to ~/Library/Preferences/ and find com.apple.finder.plist. Move it to the Desktop (do not delete it yet), then relaunch Finder. This resets all Finder settings, including the sidebar. If everything works, you can delete the old plist. This is safe because Finder will recreate it.
Check parental controls or managed account: If you are on a managed or parental-controlled account, some folders may be hidden by policy. Check System Preferences > Parental Controls for that account.

Common Misconception: The Folders Were Not Deleted

A frequent panic after upgrading to Lion is that Documents or Pictures are gone because they are no longer in the sidebar. They are not gone. They are still in your home folder. The sidebar is just a shortcut list. To confirm, press Shift + Command + H to jump to your home folder in a Finder window. You will see all your folders there. If you want them in the sidebar, you can also drag the folder from that window into the sidebar Favorites area. That works even if the checkbox is somehow missing.

How This Changed in Later Versions of macOS

Apple kept the same checkbox system in Mountain Lion (10.8), Mavericks (10.9), and all later versions up to the current macOS. The Sidebar tab in Finder Preferences still controls which personal folders appear. The default behavior changed again in macOS Big Sur (11) when Apple added a new sidebar design with an iCloud section, but the Favorites section still works the same way. If you are on a modern Mac, the instructions are identical: Finder > Preferences > Sidebar, and check the boxes. The only difference is that the section may be called Favorites, and you may also see an iCloud section above it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did my home folder disappear after upgrading to Lion?

Apple changed the default sidebar settings in Lion to hide personal folders like Desktop and Documents to reduce visual clutter. The folders were never deleted; they are still in your home folder. The setting is simply off by default, so you need to re-enable it in Finder Preferences.

Can I add a custom folder to the sidebar?

Yes. Open a Finder window, navigate to the folder you want, and drag it into the Favorites section of the sidebar. Release the mouse when you see a blue line. The folder appears as a shortcut. To remove it, drag it out of the sidebar until you see a small X or the cursor changes, then release.

Will checking the box show the folder on the Desktop too?

No. The sidebar checkbox only controls whether the folder appears in the sidebar of every Finder window. It does not change what is on the Desktop. To show the hard drive or external disks on the Desktop, you need to go to Finder Preferences > General and check the boxes under Show these items on the Desktop.

What if I want to hide them again?

Simply uncheck the boxes in Finder Preferences > Sidebar. The folders will disappear from the sidebar but remain in your home folder. You can always re-check them later. This is useful if you prefer a minimal sidebar.

Does this work on newer macOS versions like Monterey or Ventura?

Yes. The same Finder Preferences > Sidebar method works on all versions from Lion through the current macOS. The only difference is that newer versions have an iCloud section in the sidebar, but the Favorites section (where your personal folders appear) is still controlled by the same checkboxes.

Why is my home folder not listed in the sidebar preferences even after checking the box?

If you checked the box and the folder still does not appear, try dragging the folder from your home directory into the sidebar manually. If that fails, reset the Finder preferences by moving com.apple.finder.plist to the Desktop and relaunching Finder. This usually resolves any sidebar glitch.

Method: the standard formula for this calculation, rounded as each result states. See how the calculators work or report an error.