How to show hidden files in macOS. How to show and hide hidden files in macOS Show hidden files in mac os
After working with MacOS X for a while, you may at some point find that the system is hiding something from you. You can notice this either by running a special `ls -la` command in the terminal, or by connecting any removable media (flash, hdd) that you worked with from MacOS X to another system (for example, MS Windows) - you probably you will be surprised that there are much more files and folders than you expected to see.
If you have been working with computers for a long time, then you know that operating systems often hide from the user's eyes service information that they need to work, but useless for someone who works with the system. In the case of MacOS X, this applies to directory and application configuration files, files deleted in the trash, Spotlight indexing data, and a number of other files. The rule also applies that any file whose name has a dot (.) as the first character is hidden.
But what if you still need to see hidden files? For example, in a text editor, do you need to change the instructions in the .htaccess file (this file may contain some behavioral settings for the Apache web server)? I can suggest 3 ways to solve this issue.
Option 1 - Terminal.app
, then copy the command there
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles 1 && killall Finder
You will now be able to see hidden files both in the Finder and in file open dialogs in various applications.
To hide the files again, paste the line into the terminal
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles 0 && killall Finder
Option 2 - write a small utility
Open the Script Editor (Script Editor.app) and place the following AppleScript instructions in its window
set vis to do shell script "defaults read com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles"
if vis = "0" then
do shell script "defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles 1"
else
do shell script "defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles 0"
end if
tell application "Finder" to quit
delay 1
tell application "Finder" to activate
After that, save the file as a Program (having thought of a name first) in some directory (while leaving all program options unselected). Now find your new program in the Finder and run it: it will automatically change the file display mode to the opposite. Those. if you have disabled the display of hidden files, the program will enable it; and vice versa.
Option 3 - download a ready-made solution
I have already completed the steps from the second method I proposed, and here you can download the resulting reVisible.app utility
Save this file wherever you like and run it when needed.
In the future, I will try to upload all such utilities immediately in a compiled form.
Not like a Windows computer hiding files and folders on your Mac not as easy as it seems. What can you do?
Never worry, because if you're wondering how can you hide your folders and files on your Mac I'll show you the steps for this trick here.
This way, you will be sure that all those important files and folders that you have on your Mac will definitely be safe.
All the files you have on your Mac may contain important files for business purposes such as business data, personal information, and other important things.
Because of this, choosing to hide certain files and folders on your Mac computer is a great way to keep those files safe and private at all times.
Part 1. Steps to Hide Files on Mac
To let you know how you can hide your files and folders on your Ma c, we have several safe and secure solutions you can make.
While some of the solutions here are a little tricky, just make sure you carefully check every detail of every instruction.
Now let's move on to the easiest way first. use to hide your files on Mac.
Step 1. Open the software and select Toolkit. Then select Hide.
Tips: you need Set and confirm your password the first time you use this feature.
Step 2: Drag the file and hide it
Drag the file to the screen and hide it. click Hide button to complete this step.
Note: Below is the toggle button. Turn off the button and the file you dragged at this point may reappear on your Mac.
So easy, right? iMyMac - PowerMyMac also allows you to encrypt your files. The steps are as simple as the Hide process.
Part 2: Using Terminal to Hide Files on Mac
Solution 1: Use Your Terminal to Hide Files and Folders on Mac
Terminal is one of the default apps on your Mac that will definitely help you hide your files and folders. If you want to know how you can do it, just follow the instructions below.
Step 1: Click "Finder" and search for terminal on this Mac.
Step 2: After that, go ahead and launch Terminal.
Step 3: Drag and drop all the files and folders you want to hide. Once you do this, your path path will be shown on your screen.
Just hit "Return" and notice that the file is gone on your Mac.
Solution 2: Using Disk Utility to Encrypt Your Folders
By encrypting your files and folders, you can also keep them safe and private because only you can access them.
This is how you can try to encrypt your files and folders with Disk Utility.
#1: Launch Disk Utility. Just type Disk Utility in the Spotlight search and press Enter.
#2: Go to the menu bar and select "File" then "New" and then "Disk image from folder".
#3: After that, select the file or folder you want to encrypt and click "Picture". Once done, name it and make sure you select "AES 256-bit Encryption" from the dropdown next to "Encryption".
Part 3: How to View Your Files and Foleder on Your Mac
Now that you know how to hide your files and folders on your Mac, it's time to learn how you can view hidden files and folders.
Here we have established a step by step method to show hidden files and folders on your Mac computer. Just go ahead and follow these steps.
Step 1: To view the hidden file on your Mac, launch Terminal on your Mac computer.
Step 2: After launching the Terminal, enter these commands and complete them by pressing the Return button.
default write.com .apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
Part 4: Display Files on Mac
As we said above, you still don't know how to hide hidden files and folders on your Mac computer.
The solution to this is actually very simple. Just go ahead and run the same command mentioned above. These are the commands you use when viewing hidden files.
Here is a step by step method for you.
Step 1: In order for you to be able to display the file or folder, you will still need to launch the terminal on your Mac
Step 2: After that, go ahead and type these commands: chflagsnohidden and then after that end the process by pressing the spacebar.
Step 3: Go ahead and show the files by going to your terminal on your Mac computer. And then once you're in the terminal, go ahead and type in the following keys and end it by hitting the spacebar.
Step 4: After completing these steps, drag all your hidden files and folders to the terminal and then press the Enter key.
THE NOTE: If you remember the exact path to your files and folders, you can simply enter it in the Terminal.
However, if you don't remember the path to the hidden files or folders, you can simply follow the steps above in the Finder and then drag and drop the hidden files into the terminal.
Part 5: Conclusion
As you can see, it is indeed possible that you can actually hide your files and folders on your Mac computer. By doing this with your files and folders, you will feel safe, especially if these files and folders contain important information.
As you can see, there are many ways you can do this with your files and folders using your Mac computer.
Surely you have noticed more than once that you do not see hidden files in the Finder on your Mac. It doesn't matter which operating system is installed on your computer - Mac OS, Windows or Linux, each of them has its own hidden folders and files, and creates new ones in the process of work.
If in the same Windows it is enough to check the box in the settings to show them, then enable show hidden files in Mac OS a little more difficult. But after reading our instructions, viewing hidden files and folders on Mac will not be any problem for you. So how do you turn on hidden files on Mac OS? Very simple!
UPDATE: if you have Mac OS Sierra or newer operating system - just use the keyboard shortcut shift+cmd+..
If this does not work, then you are using Mac OS El Capitan or an older version of OS X, then the instructions below will help you.
Typically, hidden folders and files are system files and are necessary for the normal functioning of the computer's operating system, that is, you should not change or delete them. However, there are exceptions everywhere, and sometimes you need to access a file that you don't even see in the Finder, such as .htaccess for webmasters. All files whose names begin with a dot are hidden by default in Mac OS.
Some hidden files and folders are needed for the OS to work, and some are created by the operating system to speed up the processing and delivery of information to the user - they store information on how to display a particular folder and sort files in it; reduced copies of photos (thumbs) for quick rendering, etc.
If for some reason you need to show hidden files in the Finder, here's an easy way to do it through the Terminal in Mac OS.
1. Open the Terminal program
First you need to open the program "Terminal", which is installed by default on every Mac OS computer. To do this, in the Dock panel (a panel with programs, which is usually located at the bottom of the screen), open Finder (always the leftmost icon) and select "Programs" from the menu on the left. In the list of installed programs that appears, find the program "Terminal.app" and run it (there are other ways too).
By the way, you can open any installed program in a much simpler way - click the buttons Ctrl+Space and start typing the name of the program in the pop-up window. To do this is much faster than looking for the desired application in the program folder.
2. Turn on the display of hidden files and folders
This item will be the last one if you only need to show hidden files and folders in Mac OS and leave it like that. To do this, copy the following code
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
and paste it into the previously opened Terminal window using the keyboard shortcut cmd + V and press Enter. We recently talked about how to copy and paste text on Mac OS.
If you want to make one specific file / folder hidden, or vice versa, open, it will help you.
Attention! Treat changing and deleting hidden files with caution - they are not just hidden from the average user. Most of them affect the performance of the Mac OS system, so you should only change them if you are sure of what and why you are doing.
Option 1
With the help of the program Terminal you can enable or disable the display of system and hidden files and folders in MAC OS X
Launch the Terminal program (located in Applications/Utilities/ or search for it with spotlight)
enter the command in the terminal window (the defaults write command makes changes to the configuration files):
Defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true
press enter. This command will change the Finder settings. For them to take effect, you must restart the Finder process with the command:
Killall Finder
press enter.
Hidden files will now show up in Finder.
If after work you need to hide them, this is done with the same command, but with the false parameter
Defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool false
And restart Finder again
Killall Finder
Option 2
If you have to deal with hidden files fairly regularly, you can use AppleScript to avoid launching the terminal. For this, it is necessary to open the AppleScript program and input in the editor window the code:
Set dialogResult to display dialog "Show hidden files..." buttons ("YES", "NO") copy the dialogResult as list to (buttonpressed) if buttonpressed = "YES" then do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true" else do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool false" end if do shell script "killall Finder"
Then click the "Compile" button. And then save as an app or as a script, the app can be pasted into the dock or onto the desktop.
If in the "save" mode there is no choice in what form to save this script for displaying hidden files, you can use the "export" command in the file menu.
Option 3
Change the visibility flag of an individual file. It is especially convenient for managing individual files, such as .htaccess (does not always work, I will write about this file separately).
In the terminal, go to the folder with the file and execute the command
Chflags nohidden FileName
Instead of a file name, a folder name can be used, for example, the command:
Chflags nohidden ~/Library
Will make the hidden folder of the library visible, respectively, the command
How to make a file or folder invisible (hidden) in OS X
This action is done by the same command chflags, but as a flag (feature) is used hidden , for example:
Chflags hidden ~/Library
Sets the sign of a hidden folder in Mac OS X. In this case, this is Library (Library), located in the user folder
By default, hidden folders and files are not displayed in Mac OS. They, in principle, are not needed most often by users, and not every mac driver may need them, and certainly not every day.
There are several options for displaying hidden folders and files on a MAC:
- Look once, after closing the folder, when you return to it, hidden files will again become invisible;
- Enable permanent display of hidden folders and files;
- Use a third party application to control the display of hidden objects on Mac OS.
Consider all three options:
1. You can quickly check a certain folder for hidden objects using a keyboard shortcut CMD + SHIFT + .(Command + Shift + dot), moreover, you can use both left and right CMD and SHIFT.
2. You can enable the permanent display of hidden folders and files using a command executed through the console (terminal).
- Open the Terminal program, paste from the clipboard or manually write the line:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
- Press the Enter key
- Press the key " Option" on the keyboard and right-click on the Finder icon and select the line " Restart"
In order to return the settings to the original ones, you need to run the following command in the terminal:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO
(similar to the previous one, only at the end instead of YES is NO)
Also restart the Finder (or restart your Mac) for the settings to take effect.
3. By installing the free app funter, can be with a flick of the wrist With a quick mouse click, turn on and off the display of hidden files and folders in your MAC. After installation, the Funter application will hang in the system tray (in the top menu bar) and allow you to quickly show and hide hidden files and folders again.
This method, on the one hand, is convenient and is the simplest, but, on the other hand, installing some additional application - wasting system resources on it and relying on the decency of the developer is not very attractive.
Output: the best option to see hidden files and folders on Mac OS - the first one is using keyboard shortcuts CMD + SHIFT + .(Command + Shift + period).
How to make a file or folder hidden on Mac OS?
Unfortunately, as in OS Windows, you cannot check the box to make the file hidden in Mac OS. Here you can’t do without a command line (without a terminal). So:
1. Download the Terminal application.
2. Write a command
chflags hidden
Next, after a space, you need to specify the path to the file that you want to make hidden. In order not to suffer with specifying the correct path manually, use the "DRAG-AND-DROP" technology - grab the file with the mouse, drag it to the Terminal program window and release it. The correct path will be added by itself, after which the command will look like this:
chflags hidden /Users/user/Desktop/777/1.txt
Execute the command by pressing the Enter key. As a result, the 1.txt file located in the folder named 777 on the Desktop will become hidden.
How to make a hidden file or folder on Mac OS not hidden?
Similarly to the previous example, using the Terminal program, write and execute the command:
chflags no hidden /Users/user/Desktop/777/1.txt
Difference: NOhidden instead of hidden.
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