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About Home Folders on Mac

macOS automatically creates a homefolder and certain top-level folders for each account created on a Mac. These folders are all local to the Mac, and there is no central backup for these directories.

We recommend all Mac users to install the cernbox desktop client, eg via the Mac Self-Service, and to store all your documents in the cernbox 'Documents' folder instead of using the local 'Documents' folder.

While it is technically possible to create 'links' or 'aliases' from the top level folders in your home folder (eg the 'Desktop' or 'Documents' folder) into corresponding cernbox folders this might create problems with certain applications, so we recommend not to this.

For a quick access via the finder you can add folders from cernbox onto the sidebar of your Finder windows.

The following folders should in no case be linked or aliased into cernbox folders:

  • Your complete homefolder
  • Homefolder/Pictures
  • Homefolder/Library

Please be aware that cernbox does not synchronise files or folders that have special characters in their name, see Why do hidden files not get synchronised with CERNBox.