Where apps hide your files

Inside /Users/Shared

Updated 2026-10-28 · 6 min read

/Users/Shared is a folder at the top of the Users folder that every account on the Mac can read and write. Here is how to open it, how its permissions work, what ends up inside, and what to leave alone.

The location

/Users/Shared

It sits next to the home folders of every account on the Mac, at the top level of the startup disk:

/Users/Shared
/Users/yourname
/Users/anotheruser

In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G), type /Users/Shared and press Return. You can also click through Macintosh HD > Users > Shared (your disk may have another name), or from Terminal:

open /Users/Shared

The folder is not hidden and it is not inside anyone's account, which is the point of it.

What it is for

/Users/Shared is the one folder every user of the Mac can read and write to. It is meant for files that several accounts need to reach: a project you hand from one user to another, a shared music or video library, or data that an app installs once for everybody. If you are the only user, you will mostly meet it through the apps that put things there.

It is not the same as ~/Public (your own Public folder, which holds a Drop Box for others to leave you files) or /Library (system-wide settings, fonts and support files).

The permissions, and what they mean

On the Mac used for this guide:

drwxrwxrwt  root  wheel  /Users/Shared

Read that as: owned by root, writable by everyone, and the final t is the sticky bit. With the sticky bit, anyone can create files and folders inside, but you can only rename or delete the ones you own (an administrator or root can override that). So one user cannot clear out another user's work by accident. In Finder, File > Get Info (⌘I) on the folder lists everyone with Read & Write under Sharing & Permissions.

The items inside have their own permissions, set by whoever created them. A file you drop in is yours; others can open it only if its permissions let them. To let everyone edit it, use Get Info on that file or folder and set everyone to Read & Write (you may need to click the lock and enter an administrator password).

Check the permissions yourself with:

ls -ld /Users/Shared
ls -la /Users/Shared

What you will usually find inside

The contents vary by Mac. On the one used for this guide there were:

• folders left by Adobe apps and plug-ins (Adobe, AdobeGCData, AdobeGCInfo, NGL, Red Giant); going by the file names inside, such as AdobeGCLaunchEvent.db and ConsentRecord, they hold data for Adobe's licensing and app-check components
• a folder from a Mac cleaner app and one for its menu bar helper
• a folder named Relocated Items, plus older sets named Previously Relocated Items, Previously Relocated Items 1 and so on up to 10

Shared game data, audio and video plug-ins, sample libraries that install for all users and installer leftovers can also end up here. Which app made a folder is usually clear from its name. If it is not, search the name or look at the dates inside.

What Relocated Items is

Apple explains it in its article on the read-only system volume (macOS Catalina and later): when the upgrade created separate system and data volumes, files and data that couldn't be moved to their new location were placed in /Users/Shared/Relocated Items, with a shortcut on the Desktop, and the folder includes a PDF document with more details. Later upgrades and updates still produce these folders, going by the dated sets on the Mac used for this guide. On the Mac used for this guide, that document is the item named Quarantine.lpdf (a localised PDF bundle), so open it before deciding anything.

When a newer update sets files aside, the existing folder appears to be renamed Previously Relocated Items with a number; Apple's article does not describe the renaming. The recent sets held only a Configuration folder of files ending .system_default, such as private/etc/ssh.system_default, which look like Apple's default copies of configuration files that had been changed on this Mac. The oldest set was the largest, at about 337 MB.

Is it safe to delete what is in there?

The folder itself: never. It must exist, and macOS and many installers expect it.

The contents depend on what they are:

• An app's folder (Adobe, a cleaner, a game): the app may keep licensing, settings or shared data there. Deleting it can make the app ask you to sign in again or lose shared settings, and the vendor will not describe it as safe junk. Uninstall the app with its own uninstaller first, or check its support page.
• Relocated Items folders: these are files set aside by an upgrade, and Apple's article does not say whether they can be deleted. Read the PDF inside first and keep anything you recognise as yours, such as a configuration file you edited on purpose. They are owned by root, so moving one to the Trash in Finder asks for an administrator password; it stays reversible until you empty the Trash.
• Your own files and other users' files: these are yours to manage, but another user's items cannot be removed by you without an administrator password.

To see what is using space before you decide, ask for sizes without changing anything:

du -sh /Users/Shared/* 2>/dev/null

Putting things in it, and moving files out

To share a file with another account, drag it into /Users/Shared in Finder, then tell the other person where it is. They can copy it into their own folder. For a large project, check in Get Info that everyone has Read & Write on the project folder before you start, or the other account will hit "you don't have permission" messages.

If you are setting up a shared library for an app (a music or photo library, for instance), check the app's own documentation about sharing, because several apps lock a library to one user even when it sits in /Users/Shared.

Backups and a new Mac

/Users/Shared is outside your home folder, so a home-folder-only copy skips it. Check that it is not excluded in your Time Machine settings. Migration Assistant's resources list a category called Other Files & Folders and an item called Shared Files; that wording was read from its resource files rather than tested in a migration, so look for those and make sure they are ticked. Decide what is worth carrying over, because much of it is app data that the reinstalled app will recreate on the new Mac.

Why a normal search misses it

/Users/Shared is searchable, but installer-created folders have names that never say what they hold, and the files inside (a Quarantine.lpdf, a .db launch-event file) are not things you would think to search for. Scoped to your home folder, a Finder search never looks here at all.

Finding what lives there

Typing the name of an app, or part of a file you were handed by a colleague, into Everywhere finds it in /Users/Shared along with every other place that name appears, and each result shows the folder, so you can tell the shared copy from your own. Typing Relocated lists each upgrade leftover set side by side. Press ⌘↵ to reveal a result in Finder. It matches file names only, not what is inside a file.

Common questions

Where is the Shared folder on a Mac?

At /Users/Shared, beside the home folders of every user. In Finder use Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G) and type the path.

Can I delete files in /Users/Shared?

You can delete items you own, but never the folder itself. Items from apps such as Adobe may hold licensing or shared data, so check what an item belongs to and use the app's own uninstaller before removing it.

What are Relocated Items in /Users/Shared?

Apple says they are files and data an upgrade couldn't move to their new location when it set up the read-only system volume. Each set includes a PDF that explains its contents, so read that before deciding whether to keep it.

What are the permissions of /Users/Shared?

Read and write for everyone, owned by root, with the sticky bit set (drwxrwxrwt). You can create items but only rename or delete your own.