Whenever you look at your computer or desktop or inside any folder, you will find several files and folder icons on your Mac. However, there is a huge range of system files that are entirely hidden, and you cannot see them for sure.
Are you looking for some genuine ways to help you see hidden files on Mac? If yes is your answer, then here you would come to know about the best ways to show hidden files on your Mac device easily without any hassle.
Best three ways to see Hidden Files on Mac
If you are looking to access hidden files on your Mac, you would be glad to know that you can access all those hidden files. You can take the help of several replacement apps and finder augmentation, which can make the full process as simple as clicking a single button. The user interface of all these apps is simple and easy to understand for users worldwide.
Before proceeding further, it would be vital for you to understand that you should be more careful when going through hidden files on your computer or laptop. If you do not know what you are doing, you will later damage your operating system. So make sure you are aware of every vital aspect before checking out your hidden files on your Mac device.
See hidden files on Mac via Finder
You should note that it does not take much to make all the hidden files on your Mac visible. You would be able to check all your hidden files on your Mac. Follow the below three important steps on mac to show hidden files.
- First, you should open up your Macintosh HD folder in Finder
- Now you need to press Command+Shift+Dot
- After this, all your files will become visible, and you can repeat Step 2 to hide them again if you want.
The process mentioned above will work everywhere, including your Application folders or documents. If you are fully aware of what you are looking for in your folder, then you can take the help of following steps instead
- The first step is to hold down Alt and click Go at the screen top in Finder
- Now you should click on the library to open all the hidden folders and files
See hidden files on Mac with Terminal commands
The terminal commands are included in macOS by default, and you can take the help of command prompts to control your Mac rather than going for the complex series of instructions. However, the complex series of instructions will take more time, and you would waste your precious time later on for sure.
If you are aware of using Terminal, then you need to follow the given steps to reveal your hidden files
- First, you need to open Terminal
- You have to enter the following – defaults write com. apple. Finder AppleShowAllFiles true [Press Return] killall Finder
- If you are willing to hide all those files again, you can change the true to false.
See hidden files on Mac with file managers
To find the right path of a file in Mac, you can take the help of apps like Forklift and DCommander. These apps work smoothly like native macOS apps and function as Finder extensions. These apps also help you make hidden folders and files visible using clicking or shortcuts buttons. It makes the entire process very simple for the users. For example, if you are using Forklift, then you would be able to show hidden files by:
- First, you need to click view
- Choose view options towards the bottom of the dropdown menu
- Now you need to check the box next to show hidden files
You can even use a button in the toolbar to show and hide hidden files. DCommander works similarly with a Show System Files command, but you should manually add it to the toolbar.
Best ways to hide files on Mac
Hide files with System Commands
macOS provides different ways that allow every experienced user to employ system functionality to hide files completely. Various apps will execute these commands behind a simple interface if you are uncomfortable with the command line.
Set the hidden flag in Terminal
- First, you should open Terminal
- Now you need to type the commands chflags hidden, but you should not press the enter
- You should drag the folder or files you would like to hide into the Terminal window
- If you can see the path appears in the Terminal window, you should press Enter to set the hidden flag
- You can even remove the hidden flag with the same process, but you need to change the command to chflags nohidden later.
Hide with a Period
It would be better to note that all the folder or file names that start with a period (“.”) are hidden automatically in Finder, and there is no need to perform any actions from your side. It is possible to use Terminal to add a period to the starting of any folder of the file name, hiding the file from casual view
- The first step is to open the Terminal
- Now you need to navigate to the folder containing the files you would like to hide in Terminal using the cd command
- To move the file, you can take the help of the mv command and hide from its current name to one starting with a period.
At last, you are aware of the vital steps you need to follow for showing or hiding files on your Mac device for sure. So make sure you are following all the steps mentioned above carefully before proceeding further with the next steps. Just try it from your end and share your valuable experiences with us right now!
