How to reveal hidden files in macOS (and hide visible ones)

Secrets lurk on your Mac drives—most of them are files and folders that are hidden in normal Finder views because they’re related to low-level system purposes you don’t need to deal, with unless you’re troubleshooting a problem or are a system administrator.

How to reveal hidden files

You can reveal these hidden system files with a lesser-known keyboard shortcut. In the Finder, press Command-Shift-period (that’s the “.” or period key). This toggles the hidden-files state, and in any Finder window, you will see any files marked to be invisible as appearing in a grayed-out state. (If you didn’t know this shortcut, you’re not alone: I learned of it just days ago, and in a poll I did on Twitter, most people who responded were unaware of it, too.)

How to hide a file

If you want to hide a file or folder (listen, you know your reasons better than I do), you can manage this within the Terminal. The easiest way is dragging and dropping the item into the Terminal window in the steps below, as that automatically fills in the Unix-style path to the file or folder. Here’s how to hide an item:

1. Launch Applications > Utilities > Terminal.
2. Enter chflags hidden and type a space after that.
3. Drag the item in question into the Terminal window after that space. Alternatively, you can type in the full path, like '/Users/glenn/Documents/Secret Hidden Thing Shhh Shhh/'
4. Press Return_.

To reveal that item, just change hidden in step 2 to nohidden.

In both hiding and revealing files and folders, the change doesn’t appear immediately in a Finder window that’s display the item you’ve changed. Instead, you need to switch away from the view and return to it, such as going up a layer in the folder hierarchy and back down.

This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Lucy.

1. Launch Applications > Utilities > Terminal.
2. Enter chflags hidden and type a space after that.
3. Drag the item in question into the Terminal window after that space. Alternatively, you can type in the full path, like '/Users/glenn/Documents/Secret Hidden Thing Shhh Shhh/'
4. Press Return_.

To reveal that item, just change hidden in step 2 to nohidden.

In both hiding and revealing files and folders, the change doesn’t appear immediately in a Finder window that’s display the item you’ve changed. Instead, you need to switch away from the view and return to it, such as going up a layer in the folder hierarchy and back down.

This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Lucy.

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