Some people like to know everything that is on their computer. Admittedly, I was one of these people many moons ago, when I was a Windows user. I would always make sure that Windows Explorer would show all hidden files and folders. I’m not sure why, but I liked it this way.
These days, I’m quite the opposite, as I like to see as little files and folders as possible on my Mac. But I understand some people out there have the desire to see all those files and folders, for whatever reason that may be.
In this post I will show you how to show hidden files and folders in Finder on your Mac…
How to show hidden files in Finder on OS X
If you use OS X 10.9 Mavericks or OS X 10.10 Yosemite, follow these steps to show hidden files in Finder:
1) Launch Terminal.
2) Copy/paste or type in the following command
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -boolean true ; killall Finder
3) You should now see hidden files and folders in Finder.
How to hide hidden files in Finder on OS X
Follow these steps if you want to hide the files and folders you previously revealed. Note this works with OS X Mavericks and Yosemite.
1) Launch Terminal.
2) Copy/paste or type in the following command
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -boolean false ; killall Finder
3) All hidden files that you have revealed should now be hidden again.
How to show hidden files in Finder on OS X 10.8 and prior
If you use OS X 10.8 and prior, use these command line instead:
1) Launch Terminal.
2) Copy/paste or type in the following command
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE ; killall Finder
How to hide hidden files in Finder on OS X 10.8 and prior
If you want to hide the files and folders again on a machine running OS X 10.8 and prior, follow these steps:
If you use OS X 10.8 and prior, use these command line instead:
1) Launch Terminal.
2) Copy/paste or type in the following command
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE ; killall Finder
As always, feel free to ask any question in the comments section below.