Option #1: Use Mac OS X Finder Open “Finder” and navigate to your “ Macintosh HD” folder. There are two ways to find it. Method 1: Click “Go” then. Once inside the correct folder, press “command + shift + period” on your keyboard to make the hidden files visible. Run Terminal on Mac OS X. Open Finder Applications Utilities, and you could find Terminal there.
Refresh photos app mac. Summary: Can't see files on external hard drives or USB flash drives? Don't know how to show hidden files on Mac computers? Just read this page and find the hidden files on Mac computers quickly. Or if you can't locate certain disappeared files on your Mac computer, you can also use iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to find them easily.
It is reasonable and convenient that macOS and Windows OS keep some files hidden by default. However, what if you need to show these hidden files for some reasons? For example, you manually hide some files on your Mac with 'chflags hidden' command, keeping it from accidental deletion or stealthy look, but later you can't find these hidden files anymore. Or if you frequently work with WordPress, it is possible that you suddenly find your .htaccess files disappeared from the local version of the site on your Mac computer.
With the aliases set up, all you need do in the future is type showFiles and hideFiles to show and hide Mac OS X's hidden files respectively. Aliases can be used to speed up your interaction with the Terminal. Set up an alias for navigating to your most used directories, to commit to a GitHub repo and so on. 3 Ways to show or hide hidden files or folder on Mac OS X: 1. Shortcut keys 'CMD + Shift + G' 2. Terminal provided by Mac OS X 3. Third-party app. You can have mac show hiddenfiles so you can show hidden files mac Terminal utility on your computer. The following steps will help show hidden files on Mac OS X El Capitan and help hide files on Mac for Windows as well. The guide will also provide with a mac show hidden files keyboard shortcut as show hidden files mac terminal.
It would become a nuisance for users who encounter the same issue as the example below.
I just recently got my MacBook Pro with macOS Sierra and I noticed that I can't see certain files on my Mac. I'm really new to the macOS. I find that the Mac doesn't have a graphical user interface to show/hide hidden files like Windows (I was using PC before). So, I was wondering if there is any keyboard shortcut, script, or something like that to do this?
--from Stack Overflow
Then, is it possible to recover or show these hidden files in macOS?
Fortunately, the answer is quite delighting. And this page will comprehensively show you how to view and recover hidden/disappeared files on Mac computers.
Let's start with this tutorial cheat sheet!
Why your files are hidden by macOS?
macOS always makes some important files on the startup disk invisible since the release of macOS Sierra, and now it has developed into a separate read-only macOS volume in macOS 10.15 Catalina.
You must be wondering, why macOS doesn't let you see these hidden files?
Generally speaking, there are three reasons.
For security: The main reason is that the core system files need to be hidden so that your Mac can run correctly. It will protect these files from being damaged or deleted by users' improper operations. These hidden files include preferences, caches, logs and other service files of the installed apps and of the Mac operating system.
For tidiness: Another reason why some files are hidden is that if files on Mac are all visible to you, your computer and the desktop would appear like a mess. Therefore, files that are not used frequently are put out of sight.
For software bug: According to Wikipedia, files starting with a dot (someone may call it a period) and files with other 'invisible' attributes will be hidden by macOS naturally. For example, the .trashes file, which contains files sent to the Trash before these files are deleted from Trash over the Mac system, is hidden by macOS. Other files like .htaccess file, ~/.bash_profile., and folders like /usr, /bin, and /etc are also tucked away out of sight.
However, in some cases, you probably want to find the hidden files to troubleshoot apps' errors, to find some lost/disappeared files, or to clear the cache for more available spaces. Don't know how to spotlight these invisible files? Don't worry, the following part will go into details.
How to show hidden files/folders through a keyboard shortcut?
Actually, a keyboard shortcut is the easiest and the most efficient way to view hidden files on Mac computers, because all you need to do is to simply press some keys on your keyboard. Thus, if you are using macOS Sierra, macOS High Sierra, and above, you can find the invisible files and folders on your Mac with the following steps.
Step 1: Click the Finder icon at the dock of your Mac to open the Finder.
Step 2: In the left sidebar, click the folder or hard drive where you want to show the hidden files.
Step 3: Press Command + Shift + . key combinations.
Then, you will see a treasure trove of files and folders that appear as grayed out in the right column. That indicates the hidden files are showing up.
Besides macOS volume, this method can also be used to show hidden files on external hard drives, USB flash drives, and view hidden files on SD cards. Nevertheless, if your Documents folder is missing in the Finder, you need to manually enable it in System Preference as this article introduced. Or, if your external drive is not showing up in Mac Finder, you can check the setup in the Finder Preferences.
How to show invisible folders via the Finder?
The Finder is the default file manager and graphical user interface shell used on macOS. It is responsible for all applications, files, disks, and network volumes, etc. So, if you want to recover some autosaved Microsoft Word documents files or view invisible folders like the ~/Library folder, you can do it via the Finder.
Step 1: Open the Finder on your Mac.
Step 2: Click Go at the upper left of your desktop and press Option (It would be Alt in some keyboards), you will see the cloaked Library folder.
Step 3: With Option hold, you can click on the Library folder and check if you can find the desired files.
Alternatively, you can also do the following to see and access the contents of the ~/Library folder.
Step 1: Open the Finder on your Mac.
Step 2: Click Go at the upper left of your desktop.
Step 3: Choose Go to Folder (or press Shift + Command + G) in the context menu.
Step 4: Type ~/Library into the box and click Go.
Didn't locate the files that you want with the methods mentioned above? Well, let's move forward to the next method.
How to show the invisible files on Mac with Terminal?
Also, some Mac computer geeks and experienced users may be asking, 'Can I show hidden files with the command line?'
Of course, you can do it. There is a built-in utility called Terminal in macOS, which lets you control your computer system through command prompt. Thus, if you are familiar with the command line, let's get down to it.
Warning: If you are not a command line genius but you want to try this, make sure what you type in the command prompt is exactly the same with what is written below. Or else, you are likely to screw it up.
Step 1: Click the Launchpad on the dock of your computer and choose Other.
Step 2: Find Terminal and then open it.
Step 3: Type in defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE and hit Enter. You will see nothing different by now.
Step 4: Type in killall Finder to refresh the Finder and the desktop.
After a few seconds, the hidden files will show in the Finder.
What is the best software to recover and show hidden files on Mac?
It is possible that these operations are too complicated for you and you'd like show hidden files without Terminal, or you didn't find the files you are expected to see with the methods above. Under this circumstance, you can also recover and view the hidden files with an app called iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on your Mac.
iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is one of the best Mac data recovery software to recover hidden and deleted files on Mac. With this tool, you can recover disappeared files from external hard drives, SD cards, USB flash drives, and Mac internal hard drives, etc. Moreover, you can use this app to recover lost files from formatted, corrupted, unreadable, and unmountable drives on Mac. It is fully compatible with macOS 10.15 (Catalina), 10.14 (Mojave), macOS 10.13 (High Sierra), macOS 10.12 (Sierra) and Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan), 10.10 (Yosemite), 10.9 (Mavericks), 10.8 (Mountain Lion), 10.7 (Lion).
To find and recover hidden photos, documents, movies, and other files on your Mac, just follow the tutorial below.
Step 1: Download, install, and launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on your computer.
How To Show Hidden Applications On Mac
Step 2: Select the drives that contain the hidden files and click on 'Next'. This will scan for all lost and invisible files on this drive.
Step 3: Once the scanning process is finished, you can spotlight the files that you want according to their file types.
Step 4: Select files that you want to recover and then click 'Recover' to get them back.
How to hide hidden files on Mac?
After seeing and editing these files, you may want to hide these hidden files again. After all, they're related to the security of your macOS.
Wondering how to do this? Just check the solutions below.
Solution 1:Hide hidden files on Mac with a shortcut
If you have shown the hidden files in Finder with a keyboard shortcut, vice versa, you can also hide them again. To do this, just press Command + Shift + Period once more.
Solution 2:Hide hidden files with Terminal
Similarly, if you show them with a command line previously, you can also make these files invisible with Terminal still. Simply type in the command line below.
Step 1: Open Terminal.
Step 2: Type defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE in the command prompt and hit Enter.
Step 3: Type in killall Finder to refresh the Finder as you did before.
Bonus tip: how to make files/folders private and hide it?
Probably, you have some private files or folders that you don't want other people to access. For instance, you stay up to work on a document or design, definitely, you don't want others to plagiarize yours works.
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Then, is there any trick that you can hide these files on your Mac computer?
Shhh! The answer is Yes, and you should not tell anybody else.
Step 1: Open Terminal as you did before.
Step 2: Type in chflags hidden and press Space.
Step 3: Drag files or folders you want to hide into the Terminal window.
Tips: It will display the file path in Terminal windows, and you'd better record this path so that you can unhide this file when you need it.
Step 4: Press Enter to ensure this operation. You will see your files disappear from the Finder.
Step 5: After the dollar sign, you need to type in defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE this time and then press Enter.
Step 6: Type in killall Finder to restart the Finder.
That's it. As easy as turning your hand over, right?
Wrap-ups:
It doesn't matter if you want to show the hidden files just out of curiosity or to troubleshoot some issues on your Mac. The aforementioned solutions should be helpful to locate these files. But compared with the complicated command lines, iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac definitely is the easiest and risk-free method to find the missing files on Mac computers.
Let’s face it. Everyone has a secret, and so does your Mac. Thousands of them are in the form of hidden files and folders stored in the
~/Library folder in your User folder. These files hold information like app preferences, etc.
But how can we view hidden files on macOS X?
There’s hope, and in this article, we will talk about ways to see all hidden files on Mac and make the Library folder visible.
What are Hidden Files on Mac?
Hidden files on Mac are a throwback to macOS’ Unix roots. Generally, files starting with “.” are hidden. Due to this, Mac doesn’t allow placing a ‘.’ at the beginning of a file name.
These hidden files contain data like preferences, application support files, privileges folders, and more.
Why are the files hidden on Mac?
Due to several reasons, files and folders on Mac are hidden. They are listed as below:
How to View Hidden File on Mac?
Before you learn how to see hidden files on Mac, remember there are reasons for hiding files on Mac.
The information they contain is essential, and making any changes or deleting them can make Mac behave weirdly.
For example, if you want to view the
~/Library folder & delete application support files for uninstalled applications, consider using Disk Clean Pro. This nifty Mac optimizer and cleaner will remove all unwanted application support files. Just click via One Click Care.
To download Disk Clean Pro, click here.
This cleanup tool for Mac is available at Mac App Store and is thoroughly tested and trusted. Using it, you can clean junk files, system log files, cache files, partial download, organize files on Mac, and do a lot more.
To know more about this tool, read the complete review.
In addition to this, you can recover gigabytes of disk space and can get rid of not enough storage space.
However, if you are not satisfied with it and would like to view the hidden files Mac app. Here’s how you can see all files hidden on Mac.
Way 1: Mac Finder Showing Hidden Files
Follow the steps below to view hidden files in Finder on Mac:
How To Show A Hidden App On Mac Os High Sierra
Note: To unhide and see hidden files in the Documents or Applications folder, you can use the same key combination i.e., Command+Shift+.
However, if you know what file type you are looking for in the
~/Library folder, follow the steps below:
1. Open Finder, press the Alt key, and click Go.
2. Click Library to open, normally hidden, folder
You’ll now see the most cluttered Mac desktop. Most of the unhidden files are system files and autosaved Microsoft Word documents. This finder showing hidden files sometimes helps users find those files that they thought were lost forever.
Read Also: “Other” On Mac Storage And How To Remove It
Way 2: Unhide Files On Mac With Terminal Commands
Like the command prompt in Windows, we have a Terminal, command-line interface in Mac. Using it and a set of commands, you can easily show hidden files on Mojave and hide files. Unlike Finder, where you need to follow a series of complex instructions, using the Terminal command is easy.
If you know about Terminal and are conformable using it, here is the list of commands to show hidden files Mac app:
Note: The parameter True shows hidden files, whereas when you change it to false, it will again hide the files.
The method you chose doesn’t matter because both will help view all hidden files. If you select a finder to show hidden files, you will have to follow complex steps. While using the Terminal command is simple, and it quickly helps with OS X show hidden files.
Moreover, using Terminal, you can show all hidden files or folders on your Mac. This is a great way to view password protected .rar on your desktop!
Read Also: Uninstaller for Mac to Remove Apps Completely
Way 3: View Hidden files using chflags hidden command on Mojave
However, if you want to see all hidden files on Mac follow the steps below:
1. Launch Terminal
2. Copy-paste the following command:
chflags hidden
Note: Make sure there’s a space between the command and the parameter
3. Drag files or folders into the Terminal that you want to hide from Finder. You will now see the file and folder paths in Terminal.
4. To hide, press Return.
By using these simple sets of instructions, you can hide files. To view hidden files, change the parameter from nohidden. You will now see all the hidden files on Mac.
While using this method, always remember anyone who knows this trick can also use the same command to unhide files.
This is all using these simple methods; you can show hidden files on Mac. Furthermore, if your motive to see hidden files is to remove junk files, we have an easy way.
Cleaning Hidden Junk Files Automatically
Generally, Mac users look for ways to view hidden files because they want to recover some additional gigabytes. But if they can clean up these useless hidden files without much ado then?
You read it right using an excellent tool like Disk Clean Pro; you can quickly recover hard disk space and clean up your Mac.
To use this fantastic tool, follow the steps below:
1. Download & install Disk Clean Pro
2. Launch the app and click Start System Scan
3. Let the scan finish. You’ll now see all the junk files.
4. Hit Clean Now to get rid of this unwanted data.
Tada! This is it. Using these simple steps and Terminal commands, you can view hidden files on Mac. Moreover, you can show hidden files on Mac to your friend and be popular.
Read Also:Delete Downloaded Files And Folders
Frequently Asked Question
Q1. How Do I Manage Files On A Mac?
Files on Mac can be managed both manually and automatically. To manage files manually, select items by pressing and holding the Command key. Next, press the Control key > choose New Folder with Selection. That’s it. You can now place the files in the selected folder.
Alternatively, you can use Disk Clean Pro to organize and manage files. In addition to this, to arrange files on the desktop. Click desktop, choose view > Sort By, then choose from the list of options. You can now arrange the files.
Q2. How Do You Make Hidden Files Unhidden On A Mac?
The easiest way to unhide a file on Mac is to use the Terminal command. To do so, launch Terminal and run the following command:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE killall Finder.
This way, you can see hidden files in Finder.
Additionally, you can also type
chflags nohidden with a space between command and nohidden. You can now unhide a file or a folder.
Q3. Where Are Hidden Files On Mac?
In the Finder, open your Macintosh HD folder. Mac ucagent app virus. Press
Command+Shift+Dot . You will now be able to see hidden files.
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