Searching hidden files

How can I search hidden files in Mac OS X Mavericks? For example, I transfered folder with a lot of subfolders with my photos (over 100Gb) from old PC. There are residual hidden files in each subfolder with names starting with a dot. I can show and hide them, but can't search them to delete in block!

How can I make Finder show hidden files in search?

Similar Messages

How do I stop Windows 7 from searching hidden files and folders

In XP it was simple with the intuitive Advanced Search Options.
Even if you enable "Don't show Hidden Files and Folders" in Windows 7, they still show up in the search menu. A similar post included a suggestion by a support dude to post a question here. I've searched for every possible solution and yet something so simple appears to be non existent. Has Microsoft just lost its mind with omitting this feature? Is this something that will never be solved? Indexed or not, hidden files and folders still appear in Search.
Thanks

what have you setup in Explorer->Organize->Folder & Search Options?
Don't show hidden and Hide: Empty, Protected, etc. all ticked
if you have at some stage indexed all those system folders, and subsquently removed those from the index scope, then you may need to rebuild the index so those results are not presented by searches?
i've assumed that you are getting things like \windows included, and this seems to be typical. perhaps because some common tools like notepad, wordpad etc reside in those folders.
have you checked out the Indexing Options?
from memory, "don't show hidden & system" really only obscures the stuff when you're browsing in explorer. the indexing engine doesn't respect that kind of setting. you'll need to get your indexing scope worked out to affect the search results presented.
I'm not concerned much with indexing, it's just amazing that there is no option to stop "Search" from searching hidden files and folders when "Don't show hidden" is checked - the way it was with XP, etc. As I understand it whether folder is indexed or not, will not stop "SEARCH" from searching them. It was quite simple in XP but in Windows 7 it seems it is impossible.

Lion: search finder hidden files not working

Hi,
when I search hidden files in finder with Snow Leopard, it worked fine (putting 'visibility' filter).
The same search in finder with Lion, it does not working.
Is it a bug of Lion?
Thanks.

Open finder
> Press Cmd-F
> Under where it says "search" and "this mac" select the drop down menu called "Kind"
> Under the "Kind" drop down menu, select "other..."
> Select "System Files" and then "OK."
> Choose system files from the "Kind" drop down menu. Make sure it says system files "are included"

Searching for hidden files

How do I include hidden files in a search result?

Also directed to OP:
You can get fancy by running the game to be sure the file is updated and then in a terminal, using the find command to locate all files changed within "n" minutes of starting find.
For example:
find . -mtime 0 # find files modified between now and 1 day ago
# (i.e., within the past 24 hours)
find . -mtime -1 # find files modified less than 1 day ago
# (i.e., within the past 24 hours, as before)
find . -mtime 1 # find files modified between 24 and 48 hours ago
find . -mtime +1 # find files modified more than 48 hours ago
find . -mmin +5 -mmin -10 # find files modifed between
# 6 and 9 minutes ago
If you start find from the root / and prefix it with sudo, it should find it.
Example
sudo find . whatever
then enter your admin password (it won't show at all) and then hit enter and just wait.
Message was edited by: nerowolfe

Search Remote Files... or ...How Do I Delete All of My LCK Files?

hey everyone.
i need to delete a bunch of .LCK files from my server so
Dreamweaver
will stop telling me someone else has stuff checked-out and
that i need
to enable blah blah blah. i can't just check everything in
because A.
that would take forever and B. the "person" who has them
checked out is
actually me, from a previous site definition that is now gone
because i
had to recreate it.
unless i'm missing something (and i've been spending some
time looking
for it), there doesn't seem to be a way in Dreamweaver (at
least in
version 8, which is what i have) to search for files on the
remote view.
and even if there was, it doesn't look like the remote view
displays
hidden files, i.e. .LCK files.
my server control panel does give me the option to search for
files
using the file manager, but it only searches the folder you
have
selected, and no sub-folders. there are hundreds, maybe
thousands of
folders on this thing, and it would really take a long time
to click on
each and every folder, search for the .lck files, and then
delete them.
so, my question is, what would be the best/easiest way to
find and
delete .lck files (or really, any file for that matter) on
the remote
server?
thanks!

i do NOT want check-in/check-out enabled. i'm trying to get
rid of it
altogether, but i tried selecting the checked out files to
check them
back in, and it said there were none.
there is no "unlock" option, so i guess i need to pick check
in. but
here's my question, since it's this other instance of "me"
that has them
checked out, will this work? it's not recognizing me or my
computer or
whatever as the person who has them checked out. i think it's
because i
had to recreate my site definition about a week ago or so,
and i deleted
the old one. so it's like a user that no longer exists has
them checked out.
Alan wrote:
> Do you want checkin/checkout to still be enabled when
this is done?
>
> try this or a variation of it-
>
> in the Files Panel, right-click on the root site folder
and pick checkin. Or
> unlock.
>
>

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 TO VIEW HIDDEN FILES?????

i have searched for days on my computer for some hint a program or option that allows me to view any hidden files in an application folder, but it has yet eluded me.
I am having trouble with a program of mine, and the tech service there told me to send them the programs log file, which they named. i looked in the applications folder, and the only files i saw was the program icon, and the uninstall folder, which contained the uninstall icon. i told them this, and they replied:
"i'am sure that these files are on your computer. Maybe they are invisible.
Please search (automatic) the folder ".********" ."
if anyone knows, eitehr what this means, or how to view hidden files, please let me know
Thanx

To see inside an application package select the application then CTRL- or RIGHT-click and select Show package contents from the contextual menu. You can navigate through the application package's content. It's unlikely you will find anything useful there.
To see invisible files open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder and at the command line prompt enter or paste the following command then press RETURN:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
To turn off the display of invisible files substitute FALSE for TRUE in the same command line.
Invisible files are invisible for a reason - to hide them from the prying eyes of novice users and ignorant tech support people. Perhaps it would be more helpful if you could detail the problem you are having.

Re: Qosmio G - Hidden files and folders not showing

Hi folks, I have some hidden files and folders, which I was able to access before, and I used to click on the 'organise tab', view, Advanced Settings, show hidden files and folders, in order to hide or show the files.
Unfortunately there seems to be a problem, I just can't access my hidden files and folders any more, even when I go through this method.
someone help me out please, ASAP....
THANKS

Hi aaz911,
First of all it would be nice from you if you post more informations about your notebook model and operating system. This should be done always to get a detailed answer.
Anyway, I never heard about such a problem but make sure that every files will be displayed:
Start Windows Explorer > Tools > Folder Options > View and enable the following options:
-Hidden files and folders: Show hidden files and folders
-Hide protected operating system files (this should be disabled > without mark).
Furthermore can you find these missing files using Windows search?
If not I assume the files are deleted from somebody or due a virus. :(

How to find hidden files?

Hi,
I don't know how I did it, but I managed to hide some folders on an external hard drive plugged into my iMac.
I can find one of them by searching for it by the name. But I cant find the other one because I have no idea what I named the folder (DOH!).
Is there a simple way to display all hidden folders?
I have no idea how I managed to hide the folders in the first place..... I did it a while ago and I must have had too much to drink. I have a vague recollection of downloading some 3rd party software (not 100 percent sure if I did though) and I cant find any such software in the Apps/Utilities folder etc.
Any help welcome.
As you can probably tell, I'm not very tech savvy. So the simpler the method the better!
I'm running the lastest OSX.
Thanks in advance!

Hi..
Simple, maybe not, but:
You could open a terminal (it's in utilities) and
enter: ls -al /Volumes/Mydrivename
where Mydrivename is the name of your drive
It will show all files and folders at the top level of your drive.
Lines starting with a 'd' is folders.
If the foldername starts with a '.'
it's a hidden folder.
i'm not sure if you can display hidden files and folders in a finder window.
Hope this helps
/Dennis

Hidden files taking up too much space

I've got a major disk-space problem. I only have 4GB of files, yet my 160GB hard drive is full. If I add up everything (shown) on the drive, it amount to only 65GB, which means that I have close to 95GB of hidden files!
When I try to go through the hidden files, I get errors like "you do not have permission to open this folder" and such. I cannot determine the size of a lot of the folders. If I right-click and choose Get Info, it says "calculating size" and hangs forever, never actually displaying the size.
Here's what the drive looks like:
Mac Mini, 2009, Mavericks

I have tried removing Time Machine Backups with sudo tmutil disablelocal. It didn't free up any space. I have tried to locate the Time Machine backup files with no success. (I looked for /.MobileBackups, I looked in the /Volumes directory, and I did a Finder search for ".MobileBackups")
I ran OmniDiskSweeper with these results:
I am currently in the process of re-indexing spotlight.

How to recover hidden files and folders from memor...

When you connect your memory card to a PC or connect your phone as a mass storage device to a PC which is infected by a virus, the virus may hide all your files and folders.
The virus also changes their attributes to "hidden" and "read only" and may move all memory card content to another hidden folder, though the size of the disk looks unchanged, files are still invisible.
Steps to recover hidden files and folders:
First, change the settings in "folder options" so that we can see all hidden files and folders,
Open any folder > select organise > folder and search options, select view tab and under hidden files and folders setting, select "show hidden files, folders and drives", and uncheck the option "Hide protected operating system files" and click ok, click yes if a prompt appears for confirmation, now you should be able to see all hidden files and folders.
Second, connect your memory card to PC using a card reader or you can connect your phone as a mass storage device and note down its drive letter. (L) is the drive in my case as shown
1. If you have autorun.info file, you can manually delete it or use tools like autorun eater(or any other you like).
If all the folders are moved inside a hidden folder, select all the items inside that folder, cut them and paste them to root directory of your memory card.
If you select properties of any folder on your memory card, the hidden attribute might be locked as shown:
To solve these issues, type cmd in the start menu, right click on it and click run as administrator.
2. In the command prompt window, type the following:
L: [Press Enter]
Here, I assume L as your drive letter.
3. Type the following code to reset the attributes of all the files and folders to their default:
Attrib *.* -r -h -s /s /d [Press Enter]
After few seconds, all the files and folders will be reset to their normal attributes settings.
Hope you enjoyed reading the post and was helpful.
-------------------If this post helped you, click on accept as solution.------------------
-----------------------------Appreciate by clicking on white star.----------------------------

Check the formatting of the external hard drive. To do that, right click on the drive icon and select Get Info. (Or click once on the drive and type command +i ) The pane includes information about the drive format.
The drive should be formatted as Mac OS Extended. If it is not, run Disk Utility (App;ications / Utilities) and format the drive.

Bridge CC: how to show hidden files?

My search returned hidden files.
Could you please show me how to reveal hidden files.
View | Show Hidden files IS checked.
Thanks.

Open the Script Editor or AppleScript Editor in one of the subfolders of Applications and run the following:
tell application "Finder" to quit
if (do shell script "defaults read com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles") is "1" then
do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 0"
else
do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1"
end if
delay 2
tell application "Finder" to run
If you change your mind later, run the script again.
(65149)

Viewing Hidden Files?

I'm having problems with updating my iPod and have been told to tell my computer to "view hidden files." This advice is coming from a Windows user, and apparently it's much easier to do this on a Windows machine.
Even with a help search, I'm not turning up anything that tells me how to view hidden files on my mac. Does anyone know how? (I really just want to view hidden files on my iPod).

Hello Lisa
Please tell us what specific problem you're having with the iPod. Windows troubleshooting advice won't necessarily help you and I suspect that 'viewing hidden files' isn't what you should be doing as a first step.
The more specific you are the better a chance you have that someone may be able to recognize and give you a fix for your problem. Also, remember that there are topic-specific threads in the discussion for some kinds of problems - such as one for iPods.
Let us know what's happening - maybe we can help.
Peace
Greg

How to open hidden files on iPad 2

I have iPad 2 and I want to access my hidden files. I have been searching in the internet and looked all over for 3 hours but yet nothing. So I thought I may ask here but, I want to open them WITHOUT jailbreaking. I have searched in the internet and I think I understood some stuff. I found out that I can put some commands in something called terminals or finder etc.. I looked around the internet but I did not understand what is that terminal at all. Then when I searched a bit the only thing I found about finder is that I must jailbreak my ipad first and then some program called.... cidney or something will be installed and when I open it I will be download finder app. However, I want to open the hidden files and be able to copy files from FileManager or (one of the two, it does not matter) without jailbreaking. So please tell me how to do it step by step since I am not any professional on iPad and I have it since 2 weeks only.

First, there are only two ways to get new, authorized apps onto an iPad.
One is to download the app from iTunes on a computer, connect the iPad and sync the app over to it.
Two is to use the App store on the iPad itself and download directly to it from there.
If he did anything else to put these apps on your iPad, then he already jailbroke it, as that is the only way he could have bypassed the two officially supported means I just mentioned.
Ordinarily, to delete an iPad app, you would tap and hold the app until it wiggles and a red/white "X" appears in the app icon - then tap the "X" and it is deleted.
If he did not install these apps via iTunes or the App store on the iPad, you have a hacked device, and you should try a restore to undo the jailbreak. Be aware that it is sometimes impossible to undo a jailbreak, and the result is a ruined device.

How can i see hidden files in macBook air?

how can i see the hidden files in macbook , i dont know how to unhide it and i dont know how to hide it also.

Hey Ajithchowdary,
I have two articles for you that may be able to help you resolve your question:
OS X: How to include system files in Finder search results
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4355
OS X Mountain Lion: Find invisible files
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4355
Thanks for being a part of the Apple Support Communities!
Regards,
Braden

Searching hidden files

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