How to Show Hidden File on a Mac

In the past, the only way I knew how to show hidden files on a mac was to run a terminal command which I had the commands show and hide aliased to.

# Show/hide hidden files in Finder
alias show="defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true && killall Finder"
alias hide="defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool false && killall Finder"

This works great but is not the easiest command to remember and you have to open a terminal to run them. With the release of macOS Sierra Apple added a Finder keyboard shortcut that makes it possible to quickly show all the hidden files and folders. You just need to do the following:

  1. Open the Finder
  2. Browse any folder with hidden files
  3. Hold down Cmd + Shift + .  to toggle showing and hiding of files

This tip came from another great episode from Syntax.fm podcast. Be sure to check it out!


Thanks for reading. Make sure you follow me on Twitter to stay up to date on the progress of my side projects T.LYWeather Extension, and Link Shortener Extension. If you are interested in the tech I use daily, check out my uses page.  

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