Hiding program related files

[3clipse]

Is there a way that I can hide the "Microsoft User Data" and "RDC Connections" folders that Microsoft 2011 creates. I've tried adding a "." in front of the folder, but it returns an error message that says that folders and files starting with a dot/period are reserved for system files. I then tried using a program called Ghost Sphere which did the job for hiding the folder, but then Microsoft couldn't access the file and just created another...putting me back where I started.

So I searched the web for solutions but I couldn't find anything reliable. So my question is, are there any programs or methods that will let me hide a file in the finder but still let it be accessible to the program that created it?

 

[LPZ]

Open Terminal (in Utilities) and enter the following, leaving a space or two after the word "hidden" (and don't press return yet)

chflags -R hidden

Then drag the folders you want to hide into the Terminal window and release them. The folders will not be moved, but their locations in the filesystem will be appended to the chflags command.

Now click on the Terminal window to make it active and press return.

You can make the folders visible again by repeating the process above using the word "nohidden" instead of "hidden".

 

[3clipse]

Thank you greatly. I saw that somewhere else but couldn't get it to work. It's nice to be rid of that folder.

 

[LPZ]

Thank you greatly. I saw that somewhere else but couldn't get it to work. It's nice to be rid of that folder.

You're welcome. One small issue---you can't undo the process in the manner I posted earlier (since the folders are hidden you can't drag them into a Terminal window!). You'd need to enter the folder paths manually into the chflags command.

 

[3clipse]

Yeah I hadn't thought of that but that makes sense. I realized that the reason it didn't work for me before was that I typed the file location but when typing out the folder name I used just a space instead of a "\ " forwardslash space.

 

[ThierryHenry]

:/

I hid the maps "Microsoft User Data" and "RDC Connections" last month, but would like to undo that.

"Microsoft User Data" worked, I used:
chflags -R nohidden /Users/.../Documents/Microsoft\ User\ Data

But I can't seem to find "RDC Connections" anymore. I typed:
chflags -R nohidden /Users/.../Documents/RDC\ Connections

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?