

This reason being that most of the hidden files play a role in keeping macOS running properly. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, that Apple have decided to keep these files hidden for a reason.
#SEARCH FOR HIDDEN FILES MAC? MAC#
And while you may feel tempted to make your Mac cleaner, you have to be vary cautious of your actions.

With hidden files revealed, you will immediately notice, that there are hundreds upon hundreds of normally invisible files scattered all over your system. Hold command(⌘)+option and drag Library folder to desktop to create a quick access alias. Hold Option/Alt key for Library to appear on the listĪlternatively, after running the Terminal command or using Shift+command(⌘)+.(dot) to reveal hidden files, locate the Library folder within your User folder.To quickly access the user Library folder: After all, this is the folder where your application support files and other user data are stored. Let’s face it, out of all the hidden files and folders on your Mac, the ~/Library folder is the one you’re likely to need access to the most. Maintain Quick Access to ~/Library folder Press Shift+command(⌘)+G to bring up Go to Folder window.Instead, to view any of them (lets take /var/folders/ folder for example), you can follow these steps:

Once you figure out which of the hidden folders you plan on using regularly, there is no need to constantly hide and reveal them all in Finder. Take note of files and folders locations which you plan on using in the future. Use the following command instead: defaults write AppleShowAllFiles TRUE killall Finder (Change TRUE to FALSE and paste the command again to hide the files) Note: If the files don’t appear then you must be running OS X 10.8 and earlier.
Go to your Main Drive (Macintosh HD by default).Mac hides access to hundreds of folders, and unless you already know the directory to a specific folder, you will have to display them all.įortunately for those of you running macOS Sierra or later, Apple has added a Finder keyboard shortcut that makes viewing hidden files a fair bit easier:
#SEARCH FOR HIDDEN FILES MAC? HOW TO#
How to Display Hidden Files Without Third-Party Apps Kidding aside, here are a couple of useful techniques that will help you get a hold of hidden files when you need them. Plus, the forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest. Nonetheless, from time to time you will find accessing some of this data useful. These files and folders contain user and system data that Apple doesn’t make easily available to prevent you from accidentally making changes or altogether removing them from your computer. Thousands of files on your Mac are not made visible by default.
