Minecraft worlds not in the saves folder?

If I type% appdata% in the quick search on the laptop and then go to the .minecraft folder, the folder is empty. Just empty. Actually there should be a saves folder and such, but there's nothing in the .minecraft folder… That means the worlds are not save… Do you understand my problem? I have to mention that I only recently installed Minecraft. For a time there wasn't even the .minecraft folder. After I tried to install optifine the .Minecraft folder was there. But it is still empty. Maybe it's because Minecraft doesn't have access to my files? Can you please help me to fix the whole thing so that my worlds are not lost in the event of an uninstall? You're welcome…

Did you also try to show hidden things? You can do this by clicking View at the top of the Explorer and then clicking Show Hidden Items. If the saves folder doesn't appear then I don't know what to do.