Comments on: Quick Tip: Show/Hide Hidden Files

By: Slavik Kaushan

Slavik Kaushan — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:28:57 +0000

Jason - you are my Angel!!!
Thank you for this solution - I had same shit with .htaccess few weeks ago and found only how to show file and get a lot of “new” item around - with your solution my desk is clean again

to KIM - I’ve just got same screen as you - just open Automator in default view then go to Utilities>Run Shell Script
and then same as Jason wrote

Jason: thank you gain
KIM: good luck with Mac OS X

By: ChrisP

ChrisP — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:38:17 +0000

I tried #21 Mellow

and it worked very well for me
It paused a long time the first time it worked with no DESKTOP icons!
I laughed … and suddenly everything came to in about 45 seconds - FEW

All I did to swap between show and hide is make one TRUE and one FALSE and put it all into one single AUTOMATOR workflow apple SHELL script and SAVE AS PLUG IN

Show hidden files
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
osascript -e ‘tell application “Finder” to quit’;
osascript -e ‘tell application “Finder” to activate’;

Hide hidden files
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
osascript -e ‘tell application “Finder” to quit’;
osascript -e ‘tell application “Finder” to activate’;

now if some one wrote it like this to start with I would not have had to waste 2 minutes of my life!

By: KIM

KIM — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:06:57 +0000

I am a new Mac-user [Mac OS X, version 10.5.4] and have tried to follow the instructions regarding Show/Hide Hidden Files by Jason Guthrie on April 30, 2007. However, when I open Automator [through Spotlight] the “picture” I get differs from the one in the tutorial: first I have to select a “starting point to open a new workflow” [Custom, Files & Folders, Music & Audio, etc.]. Secondly I have a different listing under “Library” and Automator is not listed there. I also do not have the column “Action”. In short, it all looks different. Can anyone advise me how to follow this tutorial with these differences in mind?
Thanks in advance,
KIM

By: sopheak

sopheak — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:32:17 +0000

this tip is exactly the solution that i was looking for. i’ve found a lot of terminal command answers to showing hidden files, which is great, but adding show and hidefiles to a menu is perfect. thanks

By: Adam Pieniazek

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:27:15 +0000

Great tip, though like Si, I’d love to see a way to enable/disable showing hidden files per folder or per hierarchy.

If anyone knows how to do so, please send me an e-mail (mylastname.myfirstname@gmail.com). I’ll hook you up with a shout-out on my blog or whatever for the favor!

By: Mac OS x86 10.5.2 on AMD SSE2 the challenge » Pictures and Code

Mac OS x86 10.5.2 on AMD SSE2 the challenge » Pictures and Code — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:00:56 +0000

[...] task was to make a little Automater script for hiding and showing hidden files and folders in the [...]

By: Regi

Regi — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:48:11 +0000

Greate tutorial. ALso, the opportunity of interactive with your mac worths for the work

By: Melanie

Melanie — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:44:08 +0000

I just did this and it worked great. Thanks! But I thought when I did this, it would change it for my computer across the board, but it didn’t. What I mean is, even when I can see hidden files and folders in the Finder, when I am in Safari and need to browse for something via a “Choose File” link on a webpage, none of the hidden stuff shows up. So apparently this doesn’t work in Safari just because it’s set up in Finder. How do I see hidden files and folders when browsing for them in Safari? I don’t suppose it’s as simple as changing the .finder part of the code to .safari … ??? I would try it, but I don’t want to mess anything up. This is the webpage I’m trying to do it at: http://www.bluechippy.co.uk/runadjusterweb/.

By: Jimbows XP

Jimbows XP — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:23:23 +0000

Works like a charm. Thank you.

I was tired of looking up the command everytime I needed to make visible hidden files.

By: Promitheas13

Promitheas13 — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:55:01 +0000

Don’t be angry and simply do the following:
1) Open your terminal
2) Enter the following command and then enter
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO
3) That will hide your files… now enter the last command to reset your finder and press enter again:
killall Finder
4) You are ready now

p.s. I don’t think the above from “mellow” works on terminal so, it’s something i don’t suggest. You can try if you want though!

osascript -e ‘tell application “Finder” to quit’;
osascript -e ‘tell application “Finder” to activate’;

By: CrabApple Forest » Blog Archive » How to show or hide “hidden” files (and avoid leaving .DS_Store files)

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:05:02 +0000

[...] Quick Tip: Show/Hide Hidden Files [...]

By: angry

angry — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:38:31 +0000

i am VERY angry at this
i can not make the hidden files disappear again
can someone please help me?

By: mellow

mellow — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:53:20 +0000

I used the osascript to ensure that the folders I currently have open will reappear correctly.

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to quit'; osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to activate';

By: brb

brb — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 13:39:29 +0000

“defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE && killall Finder” … that stops the newline also.

By: tomg

tomg — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 06:45:06 +0000

By: vytas

vytas — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:36:28 +0000

i love apple and people who share skills! thanks for tip. very usefull

By: Mr. Buyer

Mr. Buyer — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 03:10:44 +0000

Dude

I have had my iBook for two years and haven’t really used terminal or Automator. That easily worked for me. Now, can we delete the plugins?

By: Daryl

Daryl — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 21:11:45 +0000

This is an awesome tip. Thanks!

By: Mattebo

Mattebo — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 03:24:19 +0000

“You shouldn’t use killal. Use osascript to ‘tell application “Finder” to quit’. killall forces the Finder to quit and it’ll forget all its window positions, while the AppleScript solution makes Finder exit gracefully.”

I tried this but I forgot to add another ‘Run Applescript’ to the workflow stating ‘tell application “Finder” to run.’ I eventually figured it out. I didn’t like having to relaunch the Finder from the dock.

By: Macintoast.org » theappleblog: Show/Hide Hidden Files

Macintoast.org » theappleblog: Show/Hide Hidden Files — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 21:33:08 +0000

[...] Löysin tuossa TheAppleBlogia lukiessani kiintoisan vinkin. Kyseessä on pari Automator-scriptiä, joilla Finderin saa näyttämään ja piilottamaan piilotiedostot. Ei mikään niin kauhean hyvä tapa, mutta toimiva. Linkki: Show/Hide Hidden Files [...]

By: dandam

dandam — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:27:23 +0000

If you have workflow problems, maybe because you copied the code from this page. The code contains a line break. Remove it in the Automator (add it again, if you like) and things work fine.

Leastways, that solved it for me.

By: Ankur

Ankur — Tue, 08 May 2007 09:12:25 +0000

Quicksilver has a “Run command in Shell” command, so you can also set up a trigger for that extra speed boost.

By: show hidden files in OS X | Misguided Thoughts

show hidden files in OS X | Misguided Thoughts — Sun, 06 May 2007 18:31:22 +0000

[...] post is mostly for me to remember where I can find that article on showing hidden files in OS X, since it’s a pain in the ass to do. Technorati Tags: [...]

By: Uli Kusterer

Uli Kusterer — Sat, 05 May 2007 13:37:21 +0000

You shouldn’t use killal. Use osascript to ‘tell application “Finder” to quit’. killall forces the Finder to quit and it’ll forget all its window positions, while the AppleScript solution makes Finder exit gracefully.

By: heracek

heracek — Thu, 03 May 2007 07:10:45 +0000

Replacing newline with ‘;’ works:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE; killall Finder

By: matthijs

matthijs — Tue, 01 May 2007 08:01:06 +0000

Strange, because if I run the commands from the Terminal, they work fine. I’m on OS X 10.4.9 by the way.

By: matthijs

matthijs — Tue, 01 May 2007 07:24:21 +0000

I get a workflow failed as well. “An error 2007-05-01 09:20:18.830 defaults[251] Unexpected argument Finder; leaving defaults unchanged. 91) occured in Run Shell”

By: Jason Guthrie

Jason Guthrie — Tue, 01 May 2007 03:40:11 +0000

Adam and James…

Always check the log when troubleshooting a “Workflow Execution Failed” message. To view the log, select ‘Show Log’ in the ‘View’ menu. If the fix isn’t obvious, post another comment with the log results… maybe we can help.

By: James

James — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 22:43:40 +0000

I get workflow failed on both as well…

By: Si

Si — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 19:22:44 +0000

What would be great is if you could apply it to just a single folder, or hierarchy of folders. Specifically, I have Apache installed so I’d like to see all the hidden files in the htdocs folder, but nowhere else. That would be cool.

By: Dan Diemer

Dan Diemer — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 18:33:15 +0000

or, install MainMenu and have this one click away, along with the handy Repair Disk Permissions

By: vanni

vanni — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 16:30:46 +0000

@grness. you are right. i just finished your tutorial and it was indeed fun and informative. thanks!

By: Grkness

Grkness — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 16:00:16 +0000

It works perfectly fine. Vanni: you could use third party software however it takes the fun out of learning the intricacies of your Mac.

By: vanni

vanni — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:35:52 +0000

I use an AppleScript called “Show Hide Invisible Files 1.5″ …dead simple.
J. T. AppleScripts - http://216.127.146.15/~j_gar@trysb.net/

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 13:43:44 +0000

You sure this works?
I keep getting “Workflow Failed”, so have I missed anything?