Does Apple have a hidden folder?īy default, Hidden is turned on and can be seen on an iPhone or iPad. Near the bottom of the Finder window, you can see where your file or folder is and what other folders are inside it. To briefly show the path bar, choose View > Show Path Bar or press the Option key. To open a Finder window on your Mac, click the Finder icon in the Dock. Select Show hidden files, folders, and drives under “Advanced settings,” and then click “OK.” How do I see all the folders on my Mac? FAQ Why can’t I see hidden files?Ĭlick “Start,” then “Control Panel,” and then “Appearance and Personalization.” Click on Folder Options, and then click on the View tab. Lastly, since one of the main reasons people delete files is to get more space, it might be helpful to remind you that there are other ways to get more space without touching your Mac’s hidden files.

Only delete files that you know you can get rid of safely. Unhiding files is not dangerous, but many people do it to change or delete something. Make sure you know the risks before you do anything. But Apple hides files so that the operating system does not get hurt by accident. You might have a good reason to show hidden files. If you have trouble with any part of this process, you can also go to the official Apple support site and ask for help. Here’s how to use ForkLift to show hidden files on a Mac: You can also use third-party file managers to find hidden files. Viewing hidden files on a Mac using file managers You can hide files by dragging them into the Terminal window.

Follow these steps to hide something from view on your Mac: You can also use Terminal to hide certain files from people who do not need to see them.

Type “defaults write AppleShowAllFiles false” and hit “Enter.”.

Follow these steps to put the files back where they belong when you are done: When you run the script, Finder should show the hidden files.

Type “killall Finder” and hit “Enter” once more.

Type “defaults write AppleShowAllFiles true” and hit “Enter.”.

You can also find it by clicking “Go” in the menu bar, choosing “Applications,” scrolling down to “Utilities,” expanding the folder, and clicking “Terminal.”

Type “Terminal” into the search bar on a Mac to open Terminal.

The Mac Terminal is another way to show hidden files:

If you want to hide the files again, press the same combination of “Command,” “Shift,” and “.”.

The folder will show the hidden files as transparent.

Press the “Command” key, the “Shift” key, and the “.” key at the same time.

Open the folder in which you want to look for files that are hidden.

The first and easiest way to find hidden files is to use Mac Finder:

Mac explorer show hidden files