How to show hidden folders on Mac. How to show hidden files and folders on Mac. Three ways. To see hidden Mac OS files through “Terminal”

By creating MAC OS, Apple tried to protect the average user from unnecessary settings and settings. And everything would be fine, but in the pursuit of minimalism, Apple hid from more experienced users and quite popular control “levers”.

As it turns out, MAC OS is not always simpler and more intuitive than Windows, and in some matters even the opposite.

In this article I will show you how to show/hide hidden files in MAC OS. Well, as you like, I give you two different ways to solve the problem for your choice.

As you probably already guessed, you won’t be able to simply go into the Finder settings and activate the mode for showing hidden files in MAC OS, since there is no such switch in principle. But don’t despair, there are plenty of solution options.

Show/Hide hidden files in MAC OS via Terminal

IN this method we will introduce UNIX commands in the application window Terminal. At first glance, it may seem that you have delved into a place where the average user should not go at all, but I assure you that all the commands given below have been tested by me personally.

To display hidden files in MAC OS, do this:

STEP 1 - Open the application Terminal from Finder - Applications - Utilities

STEP 2 - Copy and paste into Terminal the following line:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES

STEP 3 - Press Enter Button

STEP 4 - While holding down the Option/Alt button, right-click on Finder icon in the dock, then click " Restart».

As a result of the executed command, all hidden files and folders will be displayed in MAC OS.

In order to “hide” hidden files in MAC OS, you need to follow the same steps as above, but in the second paragraph you should enter another command:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO

This method, although not complicated and quick to execute, requires that you keep at hand (or remember by heart) UNIX commands to enter into the Terminal.

This is a little inconvenient if you often need to show/hide hidden files. To automate this process, use the second method.

Show/hide hidden files in two clicks

If you need to show/hide hidden files in MAC OS often and in large quantities, then miniature will become your indispensable assistant FREE app Funter, from the Nektony development team.

After installation, this application settles in the top menu bar, after which working with hidden files is reduced to two clicks.

In my opinion, Funter is a great solution for showing hidden files. At the same time, the application practically does not consume the resources of your computer and does not force you to remember long command lines by heart.

With Funter, you can also install or uninstall directly in the Finder window. attribute "hidden" for files and folders.

I am confident that the methods I have described will solve the problem of showing hidden files in MAC OS for most users. Remember that hidden files were hidden from your eyes by default for a reason.

You've probably noticed more than once that you can't 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.

If in the same Windows it is enough to check the box in the settings to show them, then enable showing hidden files in Mac OS a little more complicated. But after reading our instructions, viewing hidden files and folders on Mac will not be any problem for you. So, how do you enable hidden files on Mac OS? Very simple!

UPDATE: If you have Mac OS Sierra or later, just use the keyboard shortcut "shift+cmd+.".

If this doesn't work, then you are using Mac OS El Capitan or higher old version OS X, then the instructions below will help you.

Usually hidden folders and files are system ones and are needed for normal functioning operating system of the computer, 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, for example.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 operation of the OS, and some are created by the operating system to speed up the processing and delivery of information to the user - they store information about how to display a particular folder and sort the 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 on Mac OS.

1. Open the Terminal program

First you need to open the program "Terminal", which is installed by default on every computer running Mac OS. To do this, in the Dock panel (the 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).

By the way, open any installed program can be done in a much simpler way - click the buttons Ctrl + space and start typing the program name in the pop-up window. Doing this is much faster than searching the right application in the programs folder.

2. Turn on showing 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 everything 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! Be careful when changing or deleting hidden files - they are hidden from the average user for a reason. Most of them affect performance Mac systems OS, so you should only change them if you are sure of what you are doing and why.

Like MS Windows, the OS X operating system by default does not display a number of files designed to store application launch settings, service information, etc. However, many of these hidden files may be required for specific purposes, requiring them to be displayed in a standard view.

So, there are several ways to solve this problem; below we will look at the two simplest and, at the same time, most effective methods.

How to show hidden files in OS X using Terminal

In the first case, you will need an application to display hidden files Terminal, whose icon is in the directory Programs -> Utilities. In the application window you need to enter the command "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true"(without quotes), where " defaults write" is responsible for changing user settings, and the parameter "true" activates the display of all files, including hidden ones.

After this, you should restart the Finder process using the command "killall finder".

To hide service and other files again after working with them, you must enter the same command, but the parameter "true" change to "false". And enter the command again "killall finder".

How to Show Hidden Files in OS X by Creating an App

If the need to display hidden files arises permanently, then it makes sense to create an application with which you can easily switch between two modes. You will need an app for this. Script editor(AppleScript)

in the window in which you should enter:

Next, you should compile (check) this script by clicking on the “play” button and save it with .app resolution, after which the application can be placed in a convenient place on the desktop or in the dock. If this option is not provided in the saving options, then you need to go to the menu File —> Export.

Apple macOS hides important files and folders to protect and, if a file is accidentally deleted, your MacBook is slow and sometimes breaks.

Non-standard tasks require turning on the display of hidden folders To more precisely configure macOS or third-party applications and see what is happening on the disk and the exact folder structure.

Preparing to change files

The user solves simple everyday tasks that do not require high qualifications and begins to worry only when the disk runs out free space or your MacBook is slowing down. Such users do not care about the information, and eventually the files will be lost forever.

Seriously - if you don't have a backup copy, you need to stop reading this article, connect external drive and launch Time Machine: this will make working on your MacBook safe.

Check the amount of information stored on the internal drive. Owners of small files and folders can use cloud services iCloud or Dropbox.

Enabling showing hidden files and folders

Now that backup copy will be ready, you can safely enable hidden files and folders. Below are instructions on how to do this. This guide is intended for owners of OS X Yosemite (10.10), OS X El Capitan (10.11), macOS Sierra (10.12):

1. Launch Terminal: Finder – Applications – Utilities – Terminal
2. Copy and paste the following command into the terminal:

defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES && killAll Finder

and press Enter.

PS: To hide files and folders in macOS, use the following command:

Defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles NO && killAll Finder

Video tutorial on how to show hidden folders in macOS

After working with MacOS X for some time, you may at some point discover that the system is hiding something from you. You can notice this either by specifically executing the `ls -la` command in the terminal, or by connecting some removable storage medium (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 many more files and folders than you expected to see.

If you've been working with computers for a long time, you know that OS They often hide from the user's eyes service information that they need for their work, but is useless for the one who works with the system. In the case of MacOS X, this applies to directory and application configuration files, files deleted to the Recycle Bin, 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 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 offer 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 in both Finder and dialog boxes opening files 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 statements 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 this, save the file as a Program (first come up with a name) in some directory (you must leave all program parameters unselected). Now search in Finder for your new program and run it: it will automatically change the file display mode to the opposite one. 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 utility reVisible.app

Save this file anywhere convenient for you and run it whenever necessary.

In the future, I will try to post all such utilities immediately in compiled form.