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Re: Why does Apple FileProvider force files into the ~/Library folder which is hidden by default?

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Why does Apple FileProvider force files into the ~/Library folder which is hidden by default?

Ben S.31
Helpful | Level 6
July

Sorry if I’ve misunderstood this article but is it true that Apple’s upcoming FileProvider saves files into the ~/Library folder?


If so, could someone help me understand what the advantage is because it’s a mind-numbingly painful idea for many reasons, one being that ~/Library is hidden by default for most people, another is that all my work data is on a separate disk which there is no way I can change.

 

And is it really the future of Mac cloud storage moving forward?

 

Any help much appreciated. Cheers, Ben

 

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13 Replies 13

RHimadiiev
Explorer | Level 4
October

Maybe I misunderstood something but it is possible to use external drives with File Provider https://developer.apple.com/documentation/fileprovider

0 Likes

RickCurran
Helpful | Level 5
October

@RHimadiiev I don't see any reference to external storage in that article, it does refer to "remote storage" but that is referring to the cloud storage provider such as Dropbox etc. 

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RHimadiiev
Explorer | Level 4
October

Yes, my mistake.

 

Buy the way, I had a discussion on Apple forum about it and got an interesting reply:

"It was Apple that created this API and restricts it to the boot volume. But it was Google and Dropbox that decided to adopt Apple's new API. They didn't have to.

It's funny. When Apple publishes really useful APIs for things like font management, 3rd party developers categorically refuse to use it. But then Apple come out with an API that will substantially reduce the features that competitors can provide, effectively limiting them to Apple's own iCloud Drive behavior, they can't wait to adopt it. Doesn't make any sense."

And so for me. Why have Google and Dropbox decided to make such change? It only make things worse, no? What are the advantages?

 

 

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RickCurran
Helpful | Level 5
October

@RHimadiiev I think there were other reasons why Dropbox and other providers had to switch to File Provider, you'd probably need to ask Dropbox specifically though about it, although I think there are more details in some of the other forum threads here asking about this same or similar issues.

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