Making hidden folders in Mac OS X isn’t an easily accessible command for the average user. Unlike most parts of Mac OS X, it’s not just one or two clicks away. In this video, I’ll show you how can make hidden folders to keep unwanted visitors out of your files.
Michael Steeber is a student who is obsessed with everything Apple. He enjoys making videos and runs the MSComputerVideos YouTube channel in his free time. You can follow him on Twitter as well.
18 responses to “Making Hidden Folders In OS X [Video How-To]”
Easier way.
1. Want a folder or file to be hidden? Put a . at the start of the folder/file’s name. You can do this while creating the folder.
2. Download http://secrets.blacktree.com/ as the vid says. I was using Tinkertool, but this prefs is much more useful.
ls -la | grep ^d
To find all hidden directories on a volume…
find / -type d -regex ‘\..*’ 2>/dev/null
We redirect errors to the bit bucket to avoid any “Permission denied” messages polluting the output. Of course, you’ll find only directories for which permissions are set such that you have read access.
How to delete the hidden folder?
@ Cem
Delete the folder with (assuming you’re in the directory above and the folder is named .hidden)
rmdir .hidden
The above won’t work if the folder is not empty, so either remove all contents from the folder first, or do the following if you want to delete the folder and its contents (be careful with this):
rm -rf .hidden
-open terminal and type: defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
-then restart finder by typing: killall Finder
-to turn off hidden files just replace TRUE with FALSE and restart finder.
Does the “All Files” feature of Finder pick up on files within the hidden folder?
Open the hidden folder.
Drag the .hidden folder’s icon on the top of the window to trash can.
Great tip!
Where is the ‘Secrets’ system preferences application available?
Nice enough for casual hiding of non-sensitive files I guess. But a disk image with 256-bit encryption is the way to go. PLUS you can carry it with you on a pen drive or laptop and not care if it’s lost or stolen.
Good tip, thanks. MacHider is an application from MacPaw and it does somewhat the same thing (which is hides folders, files…etc.) but provides the user a GUI interface. Pretty simple and neat application and it’s $19.95 for a “LIFETIME” single license.
http://secrets.blacktree.com/
You can remove All My Files from the sidebar in Finder’s preferences (although it does still appear under the “Go” menu).
URL’s can’t be posted apparently..
It’s developed by Blacktree.
or use “chflags” to hide folder instead of using “.” in filenames/foldernames.
chflags hidden foldername
chflags nohidden foldername to unhide it.
Can I make a hidden folder Somewhere else than in /users ?
With Lion Mac OS X 10.7 the Library folder is hidden by default now. To save time I place a folder named _Hidden in this folder. The underslash “_” puts the folder at the top of the list. Now to access the Library folder QUICKLY just have the Finder selected and go to the “Go” menu and you’ll see that the Library folder does not show up. Toggle the Option key on and off, while the Go menu is open and you’ll see the Library show and not show in sequence to the Option key. Sounds like a lot but once you try it you’ll see how fast it really is.
Hope that made sense. :)