What looks like a simple system from outside can be the most complicated one from inside. This has happened with Apple’s Mac; for any user, it can be a simple computer to operate externally. But internally, there can be a coil of files and folders that can bewilder even a seasoned Mac user.
Unhide files on Mac with Terminal commands Terminal, a Mac command-line interface, is included in macOS by default and allows you to use command prompts to control your Mac instead of following a potentially complex series of instructions to do the same thing in Finder. Will unhide all hidden folders when viewing in Finder. However, I want them visible without having to use this, as well as without the other unnecessary hidden folders. Automator, Script Editor, the Desktop alias (a hidden), the Documents alias (a hidden) and the.Trash. Note that deleting the hidden alias folders does not work.
If you think that Apple should simplify everything (like this coil), I would say that let there be confusion or complexity. Because Apple wants you to stay away from this so that you can smoothly operate the Mac.
Apple keeps some files as hidden in its Mac OS X so that nobody can tamper with those important data stored in the hidden files. As a matter of fact, this “secret treasure” should not be located by any intruder (read new user.)
As a Mac owner, if you want to show those hidden files in Mac OS X, here is a method.
Mac Terminal is one of the most popular apps used and eulogized by experts. This app allows you to control Mac OS X by using the command line to enter Unix commands. In a way, Terminal works as car bonnet, which you can open and check entire engine. The app helps you open Mac OS X and take a look what is happening there. Here is how to use Mac Terminal.
How to Show Hidden Files in Mac OS X Finder
Step #1. Launch finder → Click on Go.
Step #2. Now click on Utilities.
Step #3. Click on the Terminal app.
Or
You can search for terminal from spotlight search.
Step #4. Copy and paste below mentioned command lines into Terminal one after another; press Return after pasting each line.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
You can see your Terminal window as shown below:
Post this, a Finder window on desktop may be vanished and then reappear. When the Finder reappears, you can see hidden folders.
Your Home folder would look like this (see below) in the Finder window.
With first line, setting inside AppleShowAllFiles preferences will be changed; set it to YES. Killall, though it sounds terrifying, will quit and relaunch Finder.
To restart Finder, you can select Option + Control and click the Finder icon in Dock; now select Relaunch.
How to Hide Files in Mac Using Terminal
Now, if you want to send these Hidden files back to their native place, here is a simple solution. All you need to do is to repeat the above command by adding just one word: NO at the end. Remember, you must match the case.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO
Hidden files of Mac OS X Finder should be disappeared post this command.
If you require accessing hidden files frequently, you can use a few shareware apps that will program the entire procedure.
The founder of iGeeksBlog, Dhvanesh, is an Apple aficionado, who cannot stand even a slight innuendo about Apple products. He dons the cap of editor-in-chief to make sure that articles match the quality standard before they are published.
Your Mac has a secret. Thousands of them in fact, in the form of hidden files and folders lurking on its hard drive or SSD. Don’t worry, though. These files and folders are all supposed to be there. In fact, many of them are essential.
Many of these files are in your Mac’s main Library folder or in the ~/Library folder, which is in your User folder. Both these Library folders are hidden, but inside them are folders and files that hold things like preferences for apps.
In this article, we’ll tell you how you can view hidden files on your Mac and make your Library folder visible.
What are the hidden files on Mac?
The hidden files are a throwback to macOS’ Unix roots. In fact, the convention of naming them starting with a “.” comes from Unix. For that reason, you can’t use a “.” at the start of a regular file name, otherwise OS X will hide it.
The files themselves contain data like access rights and privileges for files and folders, application support files, and preferences.
There are a number of reasons files and folders are hidden. Mostly, though, it’s because they contain data critical to the smooth running of your Mac and that you shouldn’t interfere with. In addition, there’s no real reason for most users to see or access them. Also, if they were all visible, your Mac would look horribly cluttered.
How to view hidden files on Mac
Before you make your Mac show hidden files, it’s important to remember they’ve been hidden for a reason. The data they contain could cause havoc if you delete or alter it and don’t know what you’re doing.
If your goal in viewing, for example ~/Library is so you can manually delete application support files for a program you’ve uninstalled, consider using a dedicated uninstaller like CleanMyMac X. That will make it easy to remove all the files associated with an application with one click. You can download CleanMyMac X for free here.
CleanMyMac X will also allow you to get rid of all the hidden files you no longer need. How to put apps on high priority on mac. Many of these files are created and used then not needed anymore. They just sit there clogging up your hard drive. CleanMyMac X scans your Mac, identifies this system junk and allows you to quickly and easily get rid of it, potentially several gigabytes of disk space.
If you still want to view hidden files on your Mac, you need to go to the Finder and do the following:
Top Mac App
How to view your Mac’s ~/Library folder
There are a couple of methods for making your ~/Library folder visible. Here’s the simplest:
Alternatively, do this to view your Library folder:
With both these methods, your Library folder will disappear again when you close the Finder window. It’s easy enough to run through the steps above again to make it visible again when you need to, but if you want it permanently accessible, there are a couple of ways to do it.
The quickest is to drag the Library folder to the Finder’s sidebar. That will create a shortcut to it that will persist. If you want to keep ~/Library visible but don’t want it clogging up the sidebar in Finder windows, do this:
How to make macOS show hidden files using Terminal
If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you can use the Terminal command line interface to view hidden files and folders. Here’s how to do it:
To hide the files again, repeat the above steps, but replace ‘true’ with ‘false’ at the end of step 2.
How to hide any file or folder using Terminal
Now that you know how to view hidden files and folders on your Mac, you may be wondering how you can hide other files or folders, to keep them away from prying eyes. There are a number of third-party applications and utilities that offer to do this for you, but you can do it yourself in Terminal, like this:
The file or folder you dragged onto the Terminal window will now be hidden. Visual studio mac cannot select android for forms app. To see it again, use one of the methods described above to see hidden files.
To make the file visible permanently again, use the steps above, but in step 2 type: chflags nohidden
As you can see, viewing hidden files and folders on your Mac is very straightforward. There are a number of ways to do it, and you can make them visible temporarily or permanently.
However, just because you can view hidden files, doesn’t mean you should — the files are usually hidden because accidentally deleting them or altering them could cause chaos on your Mac. So, while it’s fine to have a peek, don’t do anything with the hidden files unless you know what you’re doing.
Unhide Folder Mac Os
If you want to declutter your Mac or uninstall applications, use a dedicated application like CleanMyMac X. It will safely remove all useless files, add-ons, broken login items, caches, large and old files you didn't know about. Most likely, you won't even need to look for hidden files — CleanMyMac will do all the job for you.
We also showed that many of those files are stored in Library folders, including the one in your User folder, ~/Library. That folder is hidden by default, but you can view it or make it permanently visible using the techniques described above.
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