Showing/Hiding Hidden Files

Hey I was trying to fix a problem with my Macbook and turned on hidden files by typing a command in Terminal. Now I want to switch off showing hidden files. How do I do it?

Hey Reverie,
There is a much better alternative, instead of opening terminal back and forth for showing and hiding files, why not create a keyboard shortcut for it? Yes, it's possible. and the good thing is that every time you do it, it updates the Finder window automatically unlike the Terminal procedure you need to open or update the current Finder window.
Use Automator to add the shell script and manually add a new keyboard shortcut hot keys in System Preferences...
I have a blog tutorial for a more detailed instruction
Ernesto

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Scout file explorer - shows ALL hidden files, how do I stop this?

Hi People,
I know this probably isn't the correct space for this question, but I'll give it a shot anyway. I bought Scout file explorer via the app store. The app doesn't have a 'Preferences' area - and it's showing up ALL files... even ones that would otherwise be hidden, very cluttered. I would usually look for a setting in the app's preferences... but since it doesn't have one? anybody got any suggestions regarding this?
Kind regards
Doug

Hi Carolyn,
That was the first thing I tried, as yet they not responded. I tried sending another e-mail (only form of communication they offer via their site).
No other way of getting a solution?
Kind regards
Doug

My iBook doesn't show the hidden files on my pen drive

Hi there,
I have a 1 Gb Kingston pen drive to transfer files from/to my work PC (which is a Windows PC).
The pen drive works seamlessly on the Windows PC. But when using it on Mac iBook G4 it always leaves some "markers" of the files used like "._trash". These are not very big, but I wonder:
1) Why does Mac create those apparently useless files?
2) Why can I only see those apparently useless files on Windows PCs but not on Mac? (i.e. if I didn't have to regularly use a Windows PC my pen drive would get filled up with useless information without me even knowing)
3) Why can I add or alter files from Mac to pen drive, but I cannot simply delete files on the pen drive using my Mac (again, I need to retort to my olde Windows PC to do such a "basic" operation).
I always press the eject button before unplugging my pen drive.
I always find annoying that external devices that work just fine and as expected on Windows PCs create endless problems and issues when connected to Mac (have similar issues with my Sony digital camera).
Thank you for your help and time
Marco

Hello Soave
Hope to answer some Qs.
1) The files aren't useless to OS X. Please follow this link to read more.
2) Mac OS X is based around Unix. In Unix, the convention to hide files is to prefix a full-stop. Windows does not recognise this as a hidden file and hence will simply show them with the preceding full-stop.
3) I can't answer this one as I can see no reason why you should be allowed to alter them but not delete them. It's obvious you have write access to them. I use a thumb drive on my Mac and I have no such problems.
I haven't personally used it, but this program might be of use to you.
James

Show/Hide Hidden Files

When I am on my home network and logged into my other machines (one oc and one other mac) I get to see all the hidden files and it becomes quite confusing. I know its a simple toggle in Windows to show or hide hidden files. Is there a way to do this easily in Mac

Hello:
It's very easy.
1. Open Automator.app
2. It will open with a drop down menu.
In the drop down menu select >custom > choose
3. In the variables list choose "Run Shell Script", double click it,
a command box will open.
4. type in (the first line) defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
5. press return
6. type in (the 2nd line) killall Finder
should see this in the box:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
killall Finder
7. At the top left of your screen select > file > save as plugin
8. A box will open > Save Plug-in as:
9. Give it a name like "Show Hidden Files" (without the quotes).
10. Make sure "Plug-in for: finder" (second line) is selected also. Click Save.
You are almost done.
Repeat the process substituting:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder
In step 6 and
"Hide Hidden Files"
in step 9.
Now both commands are placed on the finder context menu.
You can Access them using Control + Click or setting up a secondary mouse button.
Kj

Hiding Hidden Files again

Hi: Sorry if asked before. In every folder I open in finder, I see all the hidden files, either for a drive or for an individual folder. In individual data folders, there is always a .DS_Store for example.
Somehow I must have triggered something to display all the hidden files and I would love to figure out how to hide them again, but haven't been able to.
No option in preferences or in Get info on folders, so please help.
THx in advance.

I found the answer, its in this forum about page 6 or so by someone who wanted to see hidden files.
The answer for me, was to install Tinkertools and run that and uncheck the view hidden files. Dont know how that got set, but happy that I can't see them again.
Thx

Show hidden files breaks "All My Files"

I'm trying to get my AMP stack back up on a new Mountain Lion Mac, which has become a larger pain since they removed Web Sharing. First step to getting the AMP stack up was to show hidden files:
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
Then a restart of finder (option + right click Finder in dock > Restart), but this has completely killed "All My Files" showing anything. It's not like I really care about this feature of Finder, but still, just wondering if there is a different terminal command now for showing hidden files that doesn't break this. Hiding hidden files back to default does not fix "All My Files" either.
In addition, you can't double click any hidden folders, you have to right click and select "Open" or "Open Original" if it was an alias (ie etc).

I can't reproduce the problem.
If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the page that opens.
Step 1
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left.
Enter "mdworker" (without the quotes) in the Filter text field. Post the messages that appear in the Console window — the text, please, not a screenshot.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Do not post many repetitions of the same message.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — edit that out, too, but don’t remove the context.
Step 2
Do the same with the search string "mds".

Mac Yosemite Dreamweaver CC ftp show hidden files

I can not locate the hidden file setting in latest Dreamweaver running on Yosemite.
Someone please tell me where it's hiding.

Do it from the terminal: Quickly Show/Hide Hidden Files on Mac OS X Mavericks & Yosemite | Ian Lunn - Front End Developer

Trashed files on a Toshiba stick , found by turning on show hidden files.

I rescued a bunch of files from a memory stick by the above method. I dropped these into a new folder on the laptop.
When I went into the folder , all were available. But After turning off "show all hidden files," I lost some , but not all , files. They are retrievable by using the switch again of course.
I was wondering if there is some code that might be modified in these files to make them all be "not hidden."
Thanks.
8 gig TOSHIBA STICK. SNOW LEOPARD ON MBP.

If you are not comfortable with the command line...
once you have turned on "show hidden files," note the names of the now unhidden files.
Each one should start with "."
remove the "." and the files will be visible when you turn off the show hidden files flag

Showing hidden files temporarily

Is there a way to show all hidden files in the Finder for just one window?
I've found this tip on always displaying all files:
http://www.osxfaq.com/DailyTips/02-2005/02-01.ws
But I would like to do this only temporarily, rather than changing system-wide behavior and having to remember to change it back.
Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Try OnyX.
-mj
[email protected]

Show hidden files in Finder

I've been ripping my music CDs into mp3 files using iTunes.
I recently bought an HDTV. It shows the hidden files on the flash drive as well as the visible files. When I try to play one of the hidden mp3 files, the TV tells me that the file isn't supported. Yet if I scroll to the right, the TV shows the visible mp3 files. I had to use Windows XP to show the hidden mp3 files on the flash drive so that I could delete them. After I did that, the TV displayed the visible mp3 files & played them. Today, I tried to search for hidden mp3 files on the flash drive using Finder. When I use the Terminal to show the hidden files, hidden folders are shown, but none of the hidden mp3 files are shown. Yet the hidden mp3 files are shown in Windows XP. The hidden mp3 file starts with ".01_" followed by the file name & ending with the mp3 extension. Each track starts with a different number. In other words, .01_, .02_, .03_, etc. I don't understand why I can see the hidden mp3 files in Windows XP, but not in Finder. The command "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES" apparently doesn't show ALL of the files. Is it possible to change the Finder so that ALL hidden files are displayed just as I can do in Windows XP? I shouldn't have to go to my PC so that I can see the hidden files & delete them & then go back to my Mac. (Windows XP is the only PC OS that I have. I don't have Vista or 7 or 8.) Or maybe there's a Terminal command that will just rip visible mp3 files in iTunes & not both visible & hidden files. Or maybe there's software that I can install that will do that. If there's no solution, then I will have to use Windows XP to show all of the hidden mp3 files so that I can delete them all at once. I sure would rather use my Mac for everything instead of going back & forth from Mac to PC.

Perhaps I should have noted that DesktopUtility is free. I wouldn't spend money for that functionality, either.
Me either. Didn't notice that one was free. Everything seemed to have a cost on the various apps.
I suppose that it doesn't make any difference whether I enter TRUE or YES, does it? And likewise, FALSE or NO?
Correct. True, Yes, and 1 all do the same thing.
For the opposite, False, No and 0 are the same.
I've also been told to hold down the "option" key & right-click on the Finder icon & click "relaunch". I suppose that it doesn't make any difference whether I relaunch or kill the finder, does it? If I kill the Finder, I reopen it to view the hidden files, right?
Also correct. Doesn't matter which way you do it. The Finder automatically relaunches itself whether you kill it in Terminal, or relaunch it from the Dock (which is really the same as kill then relaunch).
I did see ".DS_Store" on the Desktop, but I didn't see any of the hidden mp3 files on the flash drive.
Now that is weird. You should see all hidden files and folders on all drives. Unless the Flash drive is formatted for Windows (exFAT, FAT16 or FAT32) and OS X doesn't treat it the same way.
TinkerTool and Secrets are two more free utilities that offer easy ways to toggle hidden file viewing.
Yup, there's lots of free utilities to do the same thing. OnyX will also toggle hidden items on and off.

How to toggle hidden files

With the new Mountain Lion, my previous keyboard short cut to toggle "show hidden files" doesn't work anymore. There was also a widget that you could download to do the same thing, but stored on mobileme, which is shut down.
What can I do so I have a key stroke combo, or widget/app that toggles between showing or hiding hidden files?

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.
(68271)

[Mac 4.0.2] Show/Hide Hidden Characters

Hello,
Is it possible for my plugin to get notified when the end-user is switching Show/Hide Hidden Characters from InDesign's Type menu? And if the answer was YES then how could we do that would be the next question . . .
Any pointer or direction to have this event watcher implemented smoothly would be very much appreciated indeed.
Best regards
Patrick Perroud

Hi John,
I modified my script and now I am getting error when I run it first time and when I run it again then it run fine.
set the date_stamp to ((the current date) as string)
tell application "Finder" to quit
set OnOff to do shell script "defaults read com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles"
if OnOff = "NO" or OnOff = "OFF" then
set OnOff to "ON"
tell application "Finder"
display dialog "Show all hidden files in this Mac ?" & return & return & date_stamp buttons {"Show Hidden Files", "Cancel"} default button 2 with title "/MSN/" with icon 1
end tell
else
set OnOff to "OFF"
tell application "Finder"
display dialog "Hide all hidden files in this Mac ?" & return & return & date_stamp buttons {"Hide Hidden Files", "Cancel"} default button 2 with title "/MSN/" with icon 1
end tell
end if
do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles " & OnOff
delay 1
tell application "Finder" to launch

App ot responding - Can't find hidden files - If any

Toast 7.1.2. is failing to respond, and the finder can't not force quit app.
I was in the process of making a backup CD, when it crashed, but it would not quit, the finder kept saying application not responding, I had to force shut-down my Mac to clear it.
Next I thought OK I'll trash the pref.'s and try again, but this didn't work either, I had to once again force restart my Mac.
3rd time a charm, not on your life, I next removed and deleted anything with Toast, or Roxio on it and re-installed the app to try again, but, that's right, "application not responding", I had to force shut-down my Mac once again. I removed once again Toast and ran Spring Cleaning looking for any leftover files, but can't find any. Somewhere there must a be a file(s) that is causing it to hang that I can't find to help clear this problem. Both Spotlight and Apple search feature were unable to find or show any hidden files. Has anyone who has had this problem gotten it fixed?
I was able to backup those files I attempting to backup with Toast using Apple's Burn app after Toast became TOAST, so my CD-R is working fine.
Mac-Mini
OS: 10.4.8
CPU: G4 1.5GHz
RAM: 512
Drive: Internal Combo Drive CD-R/RW - DVD Player

Roxio replied and advised that I needed to disconnect all external devices (except keyboard and mouse) and then re-install, this fixed the problem. and it works fine now with everything plugged back in.

Copy without those unwanted hidden files ._

When I copy music files to a USB stick for use in my car system, the car system shows those hidden files, starting with a ._
How can I copy files to the USB stick without having those files, other than using a Win computer?

There is a built-in command to clean those files, dot_clean.
In a Terminal window, typedot_clean -m Make sure you leave a space, but don't hit return, yet. Drag a directory that has those files to the terminal window and hit return. It will merge any metadata with the main file and get rid of the ._ files.
To read about the options for dot_clean, type man dot_clean in the terminal and you can read the manual page for it.
The basics are:
-f to just work on that directory, not any subdirectories.
-m tells it to delete the ._ files even if it cannot merge the metadata
I don't know anything about BlueHarvest, so I can't compare except to note that if you don't like playing in the terminal, BlueHarvest will put a GUI face on the process.

Hidden files goof up? need help

need a fix
I used terminal to show my hidden files and (stupidly) I typed a ? instead of a / at the beginning of the command line. What did I do?
I looked in the console log and saw the command
sudo mv ?.hidden /.not-any-more
Now, when I tried to reverse the command by typing
sudo mv /.not-any-more /.hidden
it said no such file or directory
when I typed in sudo pico /.hidden the terminal had no folders listed
I repaired permissions wondering if that would help. Then I restarted the computers to make sure it still worked and it does. Did I do something really bad? Can I fix it? Do I need to reinstall everything? Any help would be great. Usually I don't make such a mistake, but I bumped the darn shift key.
Thanks in advance.
Matt
MacG5 2.7Dual Mac OS X (10.4.6) FCP Studio, SHake, Maya, DVC Pro, AJA KonaLH, Z1U, GY 100U, ATTO, FibreJet,

Hi Matt,
The .hidden file does not exist on a default installation of Tiger. Tiger will respect the .hidden file if you create one though it is not necessary to create one. You could set a Finder preferences to see all the hidden files with these two commands:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles ON
osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to quit' -e 'delay 1' -e 'tell application "Finder" to launch'
Replace ON with OFF in the first command and run the second command to turn off seeing the hidden files. If you want to explore a hidden directory it is as easy as issueing the command open:
open /etc
will open a Finder window showing all the files in the etc directory.

Showing/Hiding Hidden Files

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