Where apps hide your files

Civilization VI and VII: saves and mods on a Mac

Updated 2026-10-28 · 5 min read

Both Civilization games keep saves in a Library folder, but the path depends on the game and on where you bought it. Here are the Steam, App Store and Apple Arcade locations, the nested folder some Civ VI players hit, and how to find your own.

Civilization VI

For the Steam version, Aspyr (who make the Mac version) give this folder for Saves, the Hall of Fame and World Builder maps:

~/Library/Application Support/Sid Meier's Civilization VI/Sid Meier's Civilization VI/Saves

Note the doubled name. Aspyr's support article says an August 2023 Mac Steam update moved the data into this second, nested folder. If your games vanished after that update, it tells you to drag the Saves folder and the HallofFame.sqlite file from the outer folder into the inner one (choosing Replace if asked). Older guides, and Aspyr's own FAQ, still show the outer folder, ~/Library/Application Support/Sid Meier's Civilization VI/Saves, so look at both.

For the Mac App Store version, which is sandboxed, the data sits inside the game's container:

~/Library/Containers/com.aspyr.civ6.appstore/Data/Library/Application Support/Sid Meier's Civilization VI/Saves

Aspyr's FAQ writes the container as Civilization VI, which is how Finder labels it; in Terminal the folder is named after the app's bundle ID, com.aspyr.civ6.appstore. If Go to Folder cannot find the full path, open the container's Data/Library/Application Support folder and browse from there.

Civilization VII

The Steam version keeps its data in a shorter folder name:

~/Library/Application Support/Civilization VII/Saves

PCGamingWiki and Mac players on CivFanatics give this path. Civilization VII also arrived on Apple Arcade in February 2026, and that edition is sandboxed. A save editor's documentation gives its folder as:

~/Library/Containers/com.2k.civ7aa/Data/Library/Application Support/Civilization VII/Saves

Civ VII saves end in .Civ7Save. For hand-installed mods, CivFanatics posters use a Mods folder in ~/Library/Application Support/Civilization VII, created by hand if it is missing; that comes from players, not Firaxis.

Opening and finding the folders

~/Library is hidden. In Finder choose Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G), paste the path and press Return. To see which Civilization folders exist on your Mac, list names only:

ls ~/Library/Application\ Support | grep -i civilization
ls ~/Library/Containers | grep -i civ

The second command matters for App Store and Apple Arcade copies, because their data is not in Application Support at all.

What is inside (Civ VI)

Item	What it is
Saves/Single	Single-player saves, with the game's own autosaves in Saves/Single/auto
Saves/Hotseat and other subfolders	Saves for the other game modes
Saves/WorldBuilder	Maps made in the World Builder
HallofFame.sqlite	The Hall of Fame database. Keep it with Saves when you move things
Mods	Mods you installed by hand; on current Steam builds, mod authors point to the nested folder
Logs	Log files for support requests, which CivFanatics posts place beside Saves

Save files end in .Civ6Save, and autosaves are named like AutoSave_0150.Civ6Save. Leave HallofFame.sqlite alone apart from copying it with the game closed: it is a database, and editing it can break the Hall of Fame screen.

Where Steam Workshop mods are

Both games support the Steam Workshop, and subscriptions are not in the folders above. Steam stores them in its own folder, one numbered folder per item:

~/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/workshop/content/289070

That is Civ VI's app ID; Civ VII's is 1295660. Manage Workshop items from Steam or the game's own content screen, not by deleting folders.

Reading the Saves folder

Sort a Saves folder by Date Modified in Finder to find the newest game. Autosaves live in their own auto folder, so the game you last saved by hand may not be the newest file overall. Before you send a save to a friend or a support agent, copy it rather than moving it, and leave the original where it is.

No Steam Cloud: back up yourself

Neither Civilization VI nor VII uses Steam Cloud: the Steam store lists no Steam Cloud support for either. PCGamingWiki says Civ VI can sync saves through a 2K account instead. Either way, the files on your Mac are the copy to protect.

To move to a new Mac:

1. Quit the game.
2. Copy the folder you found (for Steam Civ VI, the inner Sid Meier's Civilization VI folder; for the App Store edition, the container's Sid Meier's Civilization VI folder).
3. Install the game from the same store on the new Mac and start it once.
4. Quit it, then put Saves and HallofFame.sqlite back.

Steam and App Store copies keep separate folders, and Aspyr documents no way to move saves between them.

One more check for Civ VII players who rely on Time Machine: a MacRumors forum user reported that launching Civ VII through Steam marked the whole ~/Library/Application Support folder as excluded from backups. It is a single report, but this read-only command shows whether it happened on your Mac:

tmutil isexcluded ~/Library/Application\ Support

It prints [Included] or [Excluded] and changes nothing.

Why searching misses these

Spotlight and Finder searches skip ~/Library, and App Store and Arcade saves sit inside containers. Autosaves are numbered rather than named after your game, so they are easy to miss even when you are looking at them.

Finding saves from either store

Typing HallofFame into Everywhere shows where each Civ VI copy keeps its data, and .Civ6Save or .Civ7Save lists every save file with its folder. Steam copies in Application Support are covered straight away; saves inside ~/Library/Containers appear once Everywhere has Full Disk Access, because macOS protects that folder. It searches names only, so it will not read what is inside a save.

Common questions

Where are Civilization VI saves on a Mac?

For Steam, in ~/Library/Application Support/Sid Meier's Civilization VI/Sid Meier's Civilization VI/Saves since an August 2023 update, or the outer folder on older installs. The App Store version keeps them inside ~/Library/Containers/com.aspyr.civ6.appstore.

Where are Civilization VII saves on a Mac?

For Steam, in ~/Library/Application Support/Civilization VII/Saves/. The Apple Arcade edition is sandboxed, with saves under ~/Library/Containers/com.2k.civ7aa.

Why did my Civ VI saves disappear after an update?

Aspyr says a Mac Steam update moved the data into a nested folder with the same name. Move Saves and HallofFame.sqlite from the outer Sid Meier's Civilization VI folder into the inner one.

Does Civilization VI use Steam Cloud on Mac?

No. Steam lists no Steam Cloud support for Civ VI or Civ VII, so back up the save folder yourself. PCGamingWiki says Civ VI can sync saves through a 2K account.