Where apps hide your files

Sublime Text's data folder and Packages/User

Updated 2026-10-28 · 6 min read

Sublime Text's packages and settings sit in a data folder inside your Library, with your own files in Packages/User. Here is the path, what each subfolder is, and how to back it up.

The location

Sublime Text keeps its data folder in your Library. For Sublime Text 4, the official side-by-side page gives:

~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text

Sublime Text 3 used the same place with a 3 on the end of the folder name, Sublime Text 3. Sublime's page says Text 4 reuses the Text 3 data folder if it finds no Text 4 folder, so a Mac that upgraded from 3 may still have the old name. List what you have before assuming:

ls ~/Library/Application\ Support | grep -i sublime

The page adds that ~/Library is hidden by default and says to reach it with Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G) in Finder.

The fastest way in

Sublime can open the right folder for you. Its package documentation calls the menu item Preferences > Browse Packages. On a Mac that submenu sits under the Sublime Text menu, and recent builds label it Settings rather than Preferences, so look for Browse Packages there. The Command Palette (⇧⌘P) has the same command as Preferences: Browse Packages. It opens a Finder window on the Packages folder inside your data folder, which is the one most people want.

What is inside

Folder	What it holds
Packages/	Loose, unzipped packages. Sublime's docs say a loose file here overrides the same file inside a zipped package
Packages/User/	Your own settings, key bindings, snippets and anything you wrote. Sublime orders it last, so it wins
Installed Packages/	Zipped .sublime-package files, usually put there by a package manager

Sublime's docs also say the program's own packages ship inside the app, under its own Packages folder. Your data folder's Packages is separate and is the place for your changes. Do not edit anything inside /Applications/Sublime Text.app.

Your settings files

Sublime's settings page names the general settings file Packages/User/Preferences.sublime-settings, and says choosing Preferences > Settings (on a Mac, the Settings item in that same submenu under the Sublime Text menu) opens it in the right-hand pane next to the default settings. On a Mac that is the full path:

~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text/Packages/User/Preferences.sublime-settings

The default settings shown on the left are read-only and come from the app. Put only your overrides on the right, and leave the left pane alone.

Other files in Packages/User follow the same pattern: per-syntax settings are named after the syntax (Sublime's example is Python.sublime-settings), and your Mac key bindings file is Default (OSX).sublime-keymap. Open the folder and list it to see which of them you have.

Packages from Package Control

Package Control is the standard package manager. Its documentation says to open the Command Palette with ⇧⌘P and type Package; every command starts with Package Control:, and Install Package lists what is available. It records what you installed in:

Packages/User/Package Control.sublime-settings

under installed_packages. Package Control's syncing guide adds a useful property: sync or copy only Packages/User, not the whole Packages or Installed Packages folders, and the next time Sublime Text starts, Package Control installs any missing packages from that list. Removing a package through it also removes the entry.

Back it up, then move to a new Mac

The part to keep is Packages/User. Copy it somewhere safe, and with Sublime quit, you can restore it the same way.

1. Quit Sublime Text.
2. Copy ~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text/Packages/User to a folder outside the data folder.
3. On the new Mac, install Sublime Text and Package Control, and open the app once so the data folder is created.
4. Quit, then put your User folder into Packages on the new Mac. Reopen the app.

Package Control reinstalls the packages in its list when it starts. Packages you wrote yourself as loose folders in Packages need to be copied too; ones installed by Package Control are fetched again.

Sessions, caches and other state

Sublime also keeps session state, so your open files return after a restart, plus index and cache data. Sublime's own docs do not name these folders on a Mac, so list the data folder rather than relying on a guide:

ls -la ~/Library/Application\ Support/Sublime\ Text
ls ~/Library/Caches | grep -i sublime

Both commands print names only. A folder of session data can hold file paths and unsaved text from open tabs, so do not copy it into anything shared. The Sublime docs describe a project's .sublime-workspace file as holding user-specific data such as the open files and modifications, and say the .sublime-project file is the one to put in version control.

Space and what not to delete

Do not remove the data folder as a way to fix a problem unless you have a copy of Packages/User; it holds your own work. If a package misbehaves, uninstall it with Package Control's Remove Package rather than deleting files by hand, so the record in installed_packages stays correct.

Why searching misses these

The data folder is inside ~/Library, which Finder and Spotlight searches leave out of normal results. Loose package files also have names such as Default (OSX).sublime-keymap, which nobody types from memory.

Finding them next time

Typing sublime-settings into Everywhere lists every settings file in the data folder, with each one's path, so you can see Package Control's file and each package's overrides together. Typing .sublime-package lists the zipped packages in Installed Packages, next to the ones bundled inside the app. ~/Library/Application Support is part of the normal scan, and the search matches file names only, not the settings inside. Press ⌘↵ to reveal a result in Finder.

Common questions

Where is the Sublime Text Packages folder on a Mac?

In ~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text/Packages for Sublime Text 4. In the app, choose Browse Packages from the Sublime Text menu's Settings (older builds: Preferences) submenu, or run Preferences: Browse Packages from the Command Palette.

Where are Sublime Text user settings on macOS?

In Packages/User/Preferences.sublime-settings inside the data folder. The Settings item (Preferences > Settings in Sublime's docs) opens it next to the read-only default settings.

Where does Package Control install packages?

Zipped packages go to Installed Packages and loose ones to Packages. The list of what you installed is Packages/User/Package Control.sublime-settings.

Why is my Sublime Text folder called Sublime Text 3?

Sublime Text 3 used Sublime Text 3. Per Sublime's docs, version 4 reuses the old folder if it finds no Text 4 folder of its own.