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New to Macs... how to view hidden folders/files?

B

BenLeong

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 31, 2010
146
224
Seattle
So, I have a few external hard drives that have some hidden folders and files on them. When trying to move them all to my new Mac, I realized that I can't actually SEE any of them. I looked all over for a menu option to "view hidden files/folders" like Windows has, but nothing. I did a search, and all I could find was manual Terminal commands to do it and third-party apps that allow for it.

Seriously? Am I missing something? It seems like such a simple feature...?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
BenLeong said:
So, I have a few external hard drives that have some hidden folders and files on them. When trying to move them all to my new Mac, I realized that I can't actually SEE any of them. I looked all over for a menu option to "view hidden files/folders" like Windows has, but nothing. I did a search, and all I could find was manual Terminal commands to do it and third-party apps that allow for it.

Seriously? Am I missing something? It seems like such a simple feature...?
Click to expand...

It may seem like a simple feature, but it's actually dummy proof. Some users just don't know the risk they are taking by throwing a way some folders that they think it's useless. And why are you comparing it to Windows? In fact, it's the odd one out. Linux doesn't have the option too. Plus, I have no idea why you would need access to hidden folders. The only one that I can think of is the Library folder, which I think it's stupid of Apple to make it a hidden folder.

Just use the terminal command, and you'll be good to go.

defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
killall Finder
 
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