The Shared and Public folders let you share files with others.

The Shared folder is located in the Users folder on your hard disk. You can use it to share files with other users on your computer. The Shared folder is set up with read/write permissions so that all users can open files in this folder and copy files to it.

Use the Public folder inside your home folder to share files with other people on the network. To share information in your Public folder, you must turn on File Sharing in the Sharing pane of System Preferences. Your Public folder is set up with read-only permissions that allow others to see and copy, but not change its content.

Your Public folder also contains a Drop Box folder, which is set up so other people can copy files to your Drop Box. However, they can’t see its contents.