10.7: Move Computer to top of the Finder Sidebar

Sep 19, '11 07:30:00AM

Contributed by: edified

While it's possible to move a folder or drive to Favorites in the Finder Sidebar there's no obvious way to put your Computer in the Favorites section.

I like to have my Computer at the top of the Sidebar. Here's how using Terminal and TextEdit.

Convert ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist to XML and open it:

plutil -convert xml1 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
open -a TextEdit ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist

Find Computer. It should look something like this:

<string>Computer</string>
<key>SpecialID</string>
<integer>8399481092</integer>
<key>Visibility</string>
<string>NeverVisible</string>
Change

<string>NeverVisible</string> to:

<string>AlwaysVisible</string>.

Then quit TextEdit (it auto-saves the file now) and relaunch the Finder:

killall Finder

You should notice your Computer's name in the Favorites section of the sidebar.

Finally hold command and drag your Computer name to the top of the Favorites list.

[crarko adds: As usual, be sure you have a backup before making these changes. TextEdit will let you save the old version prior to editing.]

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