How to add a folder to Favorites on a MacBook

How to add a folder to Favorites on a MacBook

How to add a folder to Favorites on a MacBook? One of the most exciting things about getting a new computer is personalizing it. Nobody wants that boring default desktop image, so you add your own.

Then you want to organize your MacBook Dock so that you have everything you need.

That leads you to many questions. It’s normal if you are unsure about this, especially if you are coming from a different operating system.

Not to worry, we promise. As soon as you get into the Apple swing of things, personalizing your Favorites will take you no time. But first, let’s clear up what your Favorites actually are.

Table of Contents

  1. What are Favorites on a MacBook?
  2. How to add a folder to Favorites on a MacBook
    1. Method 1
    2. Method 2
    3. Method 3
  3. What if you can’t find the folder you want to add to Favorites?
  4. Wrap Up

What are Favorites on a MacBook?

There are two answers here. When you start using Mac you will hear people talking about favorites in Safari. In Safari, there is an option to create Bookmarks. As the name suggests, these are your favorite websites that you want to save to quickly open. The bookmarks you create are saved in “Favorites”.

How to add a folder to Favorites on a MacBook

Sometimes, our favorites are also the folders that we need to access regularly. This is actually called the Sidebar. But it’s understandable to confuse both. This is what your Sidebar looks like.

How to add a folder to Favorites on a MacBook

When learning how to add a folder to favorites, we are referring to the Sidebar. Normally, when you start up your sparkly new MacBook, you will have AirDrop, Applications, Desktop, Documents, and Downloads. You will also have your iCloud Drive.

How to add a folder to Favorites on a MacBook

Method 1

  • Click anywhere on your desktop so the Finder appears in the top left-hand corner of your desktop. Choose “Preferences”;
How to add a folder to Favorites on a MacBook

  • This will open a new window for four tabs at the top, select “Sidebar”;
How to add a folder to Favorites on a MacBook

  • By selecting and deselecting the different folders, you can easily choose which ones you want to see in your sidebar.

Method 2

It might be that you have created some new folders and they do not appear in the options to select in Method 1. In that case, we can drag and drop them.

Click on your desktop so that Finder appears in the top left-hand corner. Select “File” and the first option, “New Finder Window”;

How to add a folder to Favorites on a MacBook

This will open a new window. Choose the location where you have saved the folder you want to add. For example, I want to add Briefs 1/10 to my sidebar.

Click on the folder and drag it into the sidebar. Release the folder when you have it in the position you prefer. The blue line will indicate where the folder will appear;

How to add a folder to Favorites on a MacBook

If you want to remove the file from your sidebar, select the folder and choose “Remove from Sidebar”. Don’t worry, because this won’t make any changes to the actual folder.

Method 3

There are plenty of shortcuts on Mac, one of them is to add a folder to the sidebar. Select the folder you want to add to the sidebar and go to “File”.

Towards the bottom of your options, you will see “Add to Sidebar”. Alternatively, you can use the shortcut buttons Option + Command +T, just don’t forget to select the folder first.

How to add a folder to Favorites on a MacBook

What if you can’t find the folder you want to add to Favorites?

From your New Finder Window, you have the option to use the “Search” button. Just type in the name of the folder you want to add to Favorites, and it will pop up ready to drag and drop into your sidebar.

You can also use the search button in the top right-hand corner of your desktop, whichever is more convenient for you.

Wrap Up

You might not think that taking the time to organize your folders is really necessary, especially when your MacBook is new and you don’t have anything yet to organize.

It’s worth learning how to create folders and how to add them to favorites beforehand.

Doing it this way round allows you to change your default settings so that images and documents can be saved straight to the folder you choose.

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