Finder Invisible Files

Hi,
I've noticed that sometimes after I expand a zip or rar archive that I can't see the extracted files in the Finder. The fies are visible under the command line but finder doesn't seem to register them. Can anyone suggest what is causing this? The files appear correctly in the Finder if I restart the system.
Best Regards, Simon.

The problem is an old one, you generally don't need to restart, usually simply dragging something into the expanded folder from elsewhere will cause Finder to "populate" the folder. Don't remember if just creating a new folder inside the affected one will also work, it might.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Similar Messages

Spotlight doesn't find invisible files in Yosemite

Spotlight, under Yosemite 10.10.2, does not find invisible files, even when specifically requested to do it. The results window is empty.
Besides that, the insible property has disappeared from the Finder information windows:

Open System Preferences > Spotlight. Under the 'privacy' tab, drag your HD into the list from a Finder window. As soon as it's in the list, remove it.
Spotlight will now begin to reindex your entire HD. You'll see a dot in the middle of the spotlight icon and clicking the icon will tell you that it's re-indexing.
Regards,

Cannot find invisible files or folders any more

Find or Spotlight used to be able to find invisible or hidden files, folders, etc. This is key for some purposes.
Now it doesn't work. I can list hidden files or folders in terminal, but cannot find them at all using Spotlight, even when I know they are there. For example, searching for Name Contains private AND Visibility is Visible or Invisible returns nothing, even though ls -a returns private/ as one of the folders at root level.
Does anyone have an explanation for this change in behavior, or a fix? Using a utility like TinkerTool is not a satisfactory workaround, because searching still fails even when hidden files are shown in the finder.

Hi, j.e.s.
First, we need to define hidden and invisible files, as they are distinct:
• A hidden file is one whose file name begins with a period (.) . Example: a file named ".hidden" would not show up in Finder. This is a UNIX® standard.
• An invisible file has its invisible file-system attribute enabled.
A file can be both hidden and invisible, e.g. its name begins with a period and its invisible file-system attribute enabled.
Now, as to searching for these with Spotlight:
• By default, Spotlight neither indexes nor searches either hidden or invisible files.
• The Find criterion for Visibility does not work. Find under Tiger is implemented in Spotlight. That the Visibility criterion does not work extends beyond the facts that Spotlight does not index hidden or invisible files nor will it search (with the exception of Raw Queries using criteria based solely on file system metadata) outside of its index. The function simply does not work. Even using a raw query to search for invisible files, when compared to using the Spotlight mdfind Terminal command, produces inconsistent results.
I have an entire appendix in the Tiger Edition of my book — from the info above is provided — that demonstrates all of these anomalies with Spotlight concerning searching for hidden and invisible files.
Your best bet for searching for hidden or invisible files under Tiger is to use EasyFind.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

Finding invisible files

I had Imagemagick working perfectly fine but I got my Mac unusable so I reinstalled Leopard and did all updates and put back my user folder from time machine. When I try:
$ montage *.jpg -tile 8x4 -mode Concatenate a.gif
I get:
-bash: montage: command not found
I think I remember I put something in a .bashrsc
Can I find an invisible file in Time Machine?
If not, what should I do for my old magick to purr again?

I have absolutely no idea about your imagemagick problem but it sounds like either you didn't install it properly or didn't modify your PATH variable.
searching for invisible files via time machine interface does not work (it's a known bug) but if you know exactly which file it is you can make invisible files visible in Finder using the following terminal command
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE; killall Finder
then open the TM drive in Finder (not using Time machine) and restore your .bashrc file. also keep in mind that ~/.bashrc is only executed when you start bash as a nonlogin shell. so if you simply open a terminal window then ~/.bashrc is NOT executed. you might also want to modify ~/.bash_profile. Consult man bash for which files bash loads in which situations.
P.S. to hide invisible files from Finder run
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE; killall Finder

How to delete invisible file created by iPhoto

I use MacBook and keep my iPhoto library on external hard drive. External disk got disconnected accidentally and I was requested to import the library again.
I imported library from my external drive but the file created by iPhoto is not visible and I cannot find it either in folder Pictures or using Spotlight. However, I can see that available space on my MacBook hard drive is reduced for 10GB, which is actually the size of my iPhoto library.
Any suggestion how to find invisible file created by iPhoto and delete it from the hard disk on my computer? Many thanks for your help.
Haris
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Do a Spotlight search for "Library6.iPhoto" on your boot drive and that will tell you where the iPhoto LIbrary is hiding.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've written an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Invisible file search

How do I get Find File to find invisible files? Sherlock did it just fine for files without a name. Find File is so windows restrictive like that it can't find invisible files without a file name. If I knew the name I wouldn't need to search.
A lot of Tiger makes me think of windows like all the "Are you sure" type dialogs that show up.

If you just want to browse with invisible files shown, you can also use an AppleScript. I use one like the following all the time:
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px; height: 335px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #FFDDFF;
overflow: auto;"
title="this text can be pasted into the Script Editor">
-- show invisible items of the current FInder window or selection
property SingleFile : true
tell application "Finder"
set CurrentSelection to the selection
try
set TheItem to the the first item of CurrentSelection
if (count of CurrentSelection) is greater than 1 then
set TheLocation to the container of TheItem
else
if the last character of (TheItem as text) is not ":" then
set TheLocation to the container of TheItem
else
set TheLocation to TheItem
end if
end if
on error
set TheLocation to startup disk
end try
if SingleFile then
set MyChoice to choose file default location TheLocation as alias with showing package contents and invisibles
else
set MyChoice to choose folder default location TheLocation as alias with showing package contents and invisibles
end if
end tell
-- do something with the choice
activate me
get paragraphs of (do shell script "mdls " & quoted form of POSIX path of MyChoice)
choose from list result with prompt "MetaData list:" with empty selection allowed and multiple selections allowed
</pre>

Find and sort all files in folder without invisible files

Hi all,
I am trying to check whether the newest file added to a folder is an HTML file. In theory the folder should be empty when a new file is added because the script will delete all files in the folder just before it finishes running.
However, I am having a problem with .DS_Store files being created automatically in the folder. When Finder accesses the folder it creates a new .DS_Store file and thus the newest file added to the folder is never an HTML file.
I believe that the command "without invisibles" could help me with this problem. However, I have not been able to implement this successfully. I would appreciate if someone could please point me in the right direction. Here is what I have so far.
tell application "Finder"
          set sortedFiles to reverse of (sort (files of thisFolder) by modification date) as alias list
          set newestFile to item 1 of sortedFiles
-- check if newestFile is an HTML file
-- read file and send contents to another application
end tell
Thanks for your help!
Message was edited by: dsbird

Errr... A quick reality check is called for. If you make files visible to the finder then they are no longer invisible files, so ignoring invisible files won't help you one bit. your best bet is to do a manual check for a file that starts with a "." (which would normally be invisible):
tell application "Finder"
          set thisFolder to folder "Pictures" of home
          set sortedFiles to (sort (files of thisFolder) by modification date) as alias list
          set newestFile to last item of sortedFiles
          if name of newestFile starts with "." then
                    set newestFile to item -2 of sortedFiles
          end if
end tell

Hi, I migrated from PC to Mac, but I can't find some files I had in the PC, this files were invisible but just before migrating I switched off the "hidden" option, ¿Does this files migrated as hidden files or they didn't migrated?

Hi, I migrated from PC to Mac, but I can't find some files I had in the PC, this files were invisible because I had them as hidden but just before migrating I switched off the "hidden" option, ¿Does this files migrated as hidden files or they didn't migrated?

If the filename starts with a dot (.thisfile), then it will be hidden on the Mac.
You can use a 3rd party App, such as EasyFind to search for the file on your Mac, and then re-name (remove the dot)

How do I find and delete invisible files?

Mac Hard Drive info window says 157.58 GB used and 159.56 GB capacity, leaving 1.99 available.
Total for all folders in Mac HD is 133.344 GB.
14.13 GB Library
04.81 GB System
114.4 GB Users
16.58 GB Applications
.004 GB User Guides and Info
I appear to missing about 20 GB storage that I desperately need.
What is going on?
How do I clear out "invisible file" if that's what's taking up the 20 gigs?
How do I prevent this from happening again?
Please advise.
Thank you.
I have a MBPRO 2.26 running OSX 10.6.8

Thanks so much for your response.
Do you have any idea why there are 20 GB unaccounted for?
My hard drive seems to fill itself up continouously...I'd like to figure that one out.
Yes...Getting a larger HD is a great idea.
Does having a large HD impair performance?
I am thinking about getting a 1.5 TB Seagate Barracuda.
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST1500DM003/dp/B005T3G RPU/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=AVCN3MVCVULPH

How do I find hidden files/folder in the Users folder?

Hi,
Is there any way to make certain files visible in the Users folder? I purchased a plug-in and in order for the update to correctly work, I need to find the old file (which is hidden.) I tried Spotlight but it didn't find anything.
Any tips/help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. Enter or paste the following command line then press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles Yes
To hide hidden files substitute No for Yes in the above command line.
To use Spotlight you need to enable the search for hidden files. You need to click on the "+" button next the the Save button in the search bar of the Finder. Then select Other from the Kind drop down menu. Locate the "File Invisible" attribute from the list and check it to enable it. You can now select the option to display or not display invisible files.
Download Easy Find - VersionTracker or MacUpdate - and use it instead of Spotlight. Easy Find will find everything Spotlight doesn't find.

How can I remove a doubly-invisible file?

My external drive has a 28GB invisible file on it called "Volume Catalog Info". The finder says the disk is full, but won't reveal the file, even with all files made visible.
The way I found the monster file was using DiskSurveyor 2.5 under Classic. I'd think it was imagining things, except that the Finder agrees that the disk is full. My 2 folders on the drive (no system files) add up to the same 28GB short of the size of the disk. I made all files visible using Terminal ("defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles 1") but besides the 2 folders mentined, there's nothing new shown of any size, only the following: Desktop DB 16KB, .DS_Store 8KB .TemporaryItems folder 8KB, Desktop DF 4KB, and .Spotlight-V100, .Trashes, Desktop, and Desktop Folder, all at Zero KB.
Since Terminal doesn't reveal the file either, how can I remove it?
Thanks!

I appreciate the help and think this may have been a case of operator error. In searching the web I found someone with the same problem, but I now think I had the wrong idea of my actual disk size! So DiskSurveyor showed this mega-file, but just as a side-effect of its being an OS9 program. No mega-file, nothing to delete, red face.

External Drive with invisible files

I have a MAC OS Extended format hard drive that I am attempting to clean up to make room for transfering some data. I have removed all the visible folder and files, but both finder and Disk Utility show that there are over 173 GB of data (over 2 million files) still on the volume. The drive is a 500 GB LaCie that I partitioned into two equal parts of 250GB. The other Partition was used exclusively for TM Backups. I want to reformat the drive ( the old back up partition I dont care about). but I am afraid of erasing files that I can't see.
Is there such a thing as an invisible file?
How can I find out what they are and why they are taking up so much of the drive?
I did run DU to Verify the volume and it checks out with no errors.
It is possible that they could be windows files that we used with Parallels at one time. But we no longer use Parallels. I would think that I would be able to see them even if I can't open the files.
I am running Lion on an iMac. The external drive is connected with firewire.

If you want a cleared (erased) unpartitioned 500 GB drive, then do this:
Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select the hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
Yes, there are invisible files. The OS has thousands of them that are kept invisible to the user.

Can't find admin files on former startup disk - now 2nd drive on MacPro

Help, My G5 tower died and I bought a MacPro tower. I put the drive from the G5 in the MacPro as a second drive and it runs fine but I can't find any files I created under the root user. I used Root for about six months while my system was dying a slow death due to some motherboard failure. I kept losing access to the user accounts but not root so I just worked in that. I know the root password and all but I have no idea how to even find the files. I can ironically now access all of the user files but everything done under "root/admin" is invisible.
Is there a way to simply access files like iWeb sites, etc on the old G5 drive? Is there a way to install OSX on the backup and re-access the G5 files?
Thanks!

Do you mean you are looking for the root user's home folder?
You can find that under /var/root on your old G5 disk. From Finder, select Go menu > Go to Folder..., and enter /Volumes/G5diskname/var/root.
You need root permission to get into that directory though, so if you want to use Finder you will have to be logged in as root. Or, a safer way, is to just remain logged in to your regular user account, right-click the G5 disk, Get Info, and select "Ignore ownership on this volume" under the ownershop & permissions section. Then you should have full access to everything on the drive without having to log in as root.

How can I search for invisible files?

When I was using OS 10.3.x I could search for .DS_Store and .localized files (or any other invisible file) in the finder, using Search. But since I've been using OS 10.4.x I can't seem to find those particular files in the Search window anymore.
In both OS 10.3.x and 10.4.x I will set the search options to 'Visibility' -> 'Visible or Invisible'. But only 10.3.x will find invisible .DS_Store and .localized files, 10.4.x will not bring them up.
I know the files are there, I can make them visible with utilities like Invisibility Toggler. But that involves me manually going through each folder and deleting the invisible files one at a time. Is there any way to make those invisible files show up in the Search window?

Spotlight doesn't find invisibles very well and it won't find anything in the System folder. Instead download the freeware search program Easy Find - VersionTracker or MacUpdate.

Is there a way to get Automator to select invisible files?

I need a way to get Automator to be able to select invisible files. Does anybody know a workaround?
Shift-Command-Period doesn't do anything (except make a beep).

The regular Automator actions typically use the current Finder settings, so (depending on your workflow) you can temporarily set the Finder to show all files (including invisibles) and reset it when you are done, or you can use a *Run AppleScript* action to put up a file choice dialog that includes invisible items.

Finder Invisible Files

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