MacOS – How to show hidden files and folders in Finder

findermacos

I have a folder that starts with a dot . but am unable to display it in Finder.
How can I say that for folder x, Finder should also display hidden files/folders?

Best Answer

I don't think you can set this for individual folders. To set it globally, so that Finder always shows hidden files, run Terminal and enter the following two commands:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles true
killall Finder

To switch back, do the same but substitute false for true.

This works all the way through macOS Catalina (and betas for Big Sur).

Related Solutions

MacOS – How to copy file/folder beginning with dot from Mac to PC without hidden attribute

Let's assume for this example that your ".htaccess" file is located in the root directory of your mounted Windows share. Let's also say the Windows volume is called "WindowsShare". Finally, let's say you want to copy this file to your Desktop.

Open Terminal. Type in cd /Volumes/WindowsShare. Then type in cp .htaccess ~/Desktop. You can modify this as needed based on your file locations and file names.

MacOS – How to Finder permanently show a specific file starting with a dot/period

One way to get around this would be to create a symbolic link to .htaccess and call it something without a dot. For example:

$ cd site_root
$ ln -s .htaccess htaccess

Then you can open htaccess from Finder and you'll actually be editing the .htaccess file.

(You could even make the second command ln -s .htaccess " .htaccess", which would visually look like .htaccess but be visible because of the leading space.)

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MacOS – How to copy file/folder beginning with dot from Mac to PC without hidden attribute

MacOS – How to Finder permanently show a specific file starting with a dot/period

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