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Nov 14, 2014 Unable to HIDE folders in OS X Yosemite. Thread starter dmiller10; Start date Nov 12, 2014; Sort (Likes) Forums. I needed some of the plist files in the library folder on my backup (specifically for iPhoto and iTunes) so I had to 'show all hidden files' to get that folder showing since Apple has had that folder hidden for a while now. But rest assured, regardless of your version of OS X, your personal Library folder is right where it’s always been, at the root level of your Home folder. It’s just that, starting in Lion, and continuing in Mountain Lion, Mavericks, and Yosemite, Apple has made the folder invisible.
![Mac Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/2/126263970/265439631.jpg)
January 26th 2018: Added shortcut method available on macOS Sierra keyboard.
September 22nd 2016: Method of showing/hiding hidden files tested and working on macOS Sierra.
Library Folder Hidden On Mac Yosemite Download
December 22nd 2015: Method of showing/hiding hidden files tested and working on Mac OS X El Capitan.
Find user folder on mac. With the release of way back in 2011, Apple removed easy access to the user’s Library folder. There were still several to access or unhide the Library folder, but they weren’t immediately obvious or simple.Thankfully, recent versions of the Mac operating system make things easier. Although arguably well-intentioned, this change was frustrating for longtime Mac power users.
It seems like every day I search Google for the command to show hidden files on Mac OS X, not to mention Googling for the command to then hide those hidden files a few minutes later.
Today I decided to make a short and easy to remember alias to speed up the process. All I need do now is type
showFiles
and hideFiles
whenever I need to show/hide OS X’s hidden files. Here’s how you can do it too.The Quickest Way to Show/Hide Hidden Files
Since the release of macOS Sierra, when in Finder, it is now possible to use the shortcut:
Press once to show hidden files and again to hide them. If you’re using a version earlier than macOS Sierra, see Show/Hide Hidden Files using Terminal Aliases to setup a toggle command via terminal.
Thanks to Guido Schlabitz for making me aware of this new shortcut.
Show/Hide Hidden Files the Long Way
The long way to show hidden Mac OS X files is as follows:
![Library Folder Hidden On Mac Yosemite Library Folder Hidden On Mac Yosemite](/uploads/1/2/6/2/126263970/136861295.png)
- Open Terminal found in Finder > Applications > Utilities
- In Terminal, paste the following:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
- Press return
- Hold the ‘Option/alt’ key, then right click on the Finder icon in the dock and click Relaunch.
Library Folder Hidden On Mac Yosemite Mac
Apple mac library folder. Relaunch Finder by right clicking the Finder Icon whilst holding the ‘Option/alt’ key
This will show all hidden files. To hide them again, follow the same steps but replace the Terminal command with:
It’s not the longest set of instructions or the biggest command to commit to memory but if you’re doing this a lot, it’s worth spending a few minutes now to save yourself a lot more time in the future.
Show/Hide Hidden Files using Terminal Aliases
A Terminal alias is a name or shortcut for one or multiple commands. Using an easy to remember alias, we can turn the above four step process into just one.
An alias can be made temporarily (just for the use of one terminal session) or permanently. As we want this to be a shortcut used now and in the future, let’s make it permanent:
- Open Terminal found in Finder > Applications > Utilities
- In Terminal, paste the following:
sudo nano ~/.bash_profile
- Enter your Mac’s administration password if required, then hit return
- At the bottom of the open .bash_profile file, paste the following:
alias showFiles='defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES; killall Finder /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app'
- Below that, paste the following:
alias hideFiles='defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO; killall Finder /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app'
- Press ctrl + O and hit return to save the file
- Press ctrl + X to exit the file and return to the command line
- In Terminal, paste the following:
source ~/.bash_profile
to refresh your profile and make the aliases available
Now when you want to show hidden files, all you need type in Terminal is
showFiles
, then hideFiles
when you want to hide them.If you want to modify the behaviour or alias names, let’s take a closer look at the commands you just added:
alias
tells Terminal we’re adding a new alias.showFiles
is the name of the alias. Change this to what you wish.Drag it to the Trash if you don’t.Next, open Photos, which will spur the following prompt. Maybe it’s become corrupted and Photos won’t open, or maybe you just want to start fresh and archive your old one.Regardless, to create a new System Photo Library, first open the location where your current system library is and drag it to a backup spot if you want to keep it (recommended). Creating a New System Photo LibraryThere are any number of reasons you might want to create a new system library in Photos. Photo library mac won't open windows 7. Click “Open Other” to either find an existing library or create a new one.
We then give the alias two commands. The first being:
This is the command to show hidden files and is ended with a semi-colon
;
so we can then use the second command:This will relaunch the Finder (to replicate the step of holding the ‘Option/alt’ key then right clicking the Finder icon in the dock).
Conclusion
With the aliases set up, all you need do in the future is type
showFiles
and hideFiles
to show and hide Mac OS X’s hidden files respectively.Aliases can be used to speed up your interaction with the Terminal. Set up an alias for navigating to your most used directories, to commit to a GitHub repo and so on.