If you have a Mac that is shared by multiple users, you may want to hide certain files, like those incomplete TPS reports, scans of your signed first-print Batman comics, and those photos from last week's ugly sweater party. On the Mac, it's easy to do by simply launching Terminal and typing in a command.
Click through our gallery below to learn how to hide files on your Mac.
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The first step to hiding files is to create a new folder in a directory you'll remember. We created ours on the Desktop. Next, place your "secret files" and any additional sub folders in the directory you just created.
To hide your newly minted folder, open Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities) and type in "mv" followed by a space.
Next, drag the folder to be hidden into the Terminal window twice. This will type the directory path twice. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate on the second entry to the folder name, placing a period (.) in front of the name. When you're done, press enter on the keyboard.
Just like waving a magic wand, the folder on your Desktop will no longer be visible to the eye. However, it is still there, and you can still access your folder in the Finder.
Open a new Finder window and press Command + Shift + G. Type in ~/Desktop/.YourFolderName and click "Go." Finder will then take you to the hidden folder that contains your files.
To reveal the hidden folder, right-click on it when it's displayed in the Finder and select "Get Info." From this window, delete the period in front of the folder name in the "Name and Extension" section, then press enter. Your folder will now be visible.
kwaxuyeoma
August 18, 2011 at 10:53am
Thats a cool trick, now suppose I need to delete that file. How would I accomplish this?
kwaxuyeoma
August 18, 2011 at 11:47am
I finally got it after a while of fooling around. When I followed the instructions to hide a folder, that left me clueless to un-hide a folder. While the drag and drop feature for copying a file path into terminal is snazzy, it's completely unnecessary and confusing if you attempt to, "reverse assembly" as we say in auto repair.
Consider the command, "mv" and then the dragged and dropped path, "Users/name/Desktop/Hiddenfolder". My research concluded that all I really need to do to unhide this folder was to add to the command, "mv" and make it, "mv -i" then change the name of the folder from its hidden name .Hiddenfolder to Hiddenfolder. However, I was still using the path from the first command. So, Terminal was weirded out and not un-hiding my folder. Thus, I realized that the method of reverse assembly was not going to work based on the instructions in this article. Then I figured that Terminal starts out in my home directory, the problem was my redunency in directing Terminal. Therefore, this method is better for hiding and unhiding folders:
To Hide: mv Desktop/Hiddenfolder Desktop/.Hiddenfolder
To Un-Hide: mv -i Desktop/.Hiddenfoder Desktop/Hiddenfolder
Scooter Rocks
May 22, 2011 at 5:30pm
I have an issue with finding my hidden folder. When I go into a Finder and type in said command (command, shift, G), nothing happens. Can you help?
artbytar
May 19, 2011 at 4:42pm
I hid a folder on my second internal HD according to the instructions and it worked brilliantly. Only now, since I did not have this folder on my desktop, I can not get Finder to reveal the folder. I get the error "The folder can't be found". Obviously the path is different from the instructions, but nothing I type is making it work. I just hid a bunch of files I would really like to access again. HELP!
Eryn
May 19, 2011 at 11:59pm
I tried it and found that I could not access my file because I do not have permission through Finder, but I can open the file if I type "open " and the file address.
To reverse the renaming to see my file on Desktop again, I retype the "mv ~/Desktop/.xxxx ~/Desktop/xxxx" so the file name is changed to normal without the period in front.
Handy, but I would have to remember the file address to open it.
corybohon
May 19, 2011 at 6:56pm
Hi artbytar,
Glad you liked the tutorial, and sorry that you cannot find your hidden folder on your external drive. Here's how to navigate to folders on your external drive.
1. Open a new Finder window
2. Press Command + Shift + G
3. Type the following: /Volumes/YourExternalDriveName/.YourHiddenFolderName
Replace "YourExternalDriveName" with the name of your external hard drive (you can find this under the "Name and Extension" section after right-clicking on the drive and selecting "Get Info" ). Next, where it says ".YourHiddenFolderName", type the name of the hidden folder that you created (obviously, if you don't have it hidden at the root of the drive, you'll need to specify the additional directories in the path).
So, if you have a ".Secret" folder hidden in a regular, non-hidden folder called "Music" on your drive called "Drobo," you would type the following into the Terminal window:
/Volumes/Drobo/Music/.Secret
I hope this helps! Let me know if it doesn't and I can help you further.
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