Automator Tip of the Week #4: Show & Hide Hidden Files in Finder

By Dan Hinckley

6 responses. »

Automator_512.jpgIn my recent efforts to get apache2 and mysql up and running on my iMac I often needed to view the hidden files in Finder. I was lucky enough to stumble across a hint that showed me exactly the commands I needed to run in terminal to view all the hidden files in Finder.

After viewing and hiding these files over and over again I realized that this would be a perfect plugin for Finder. I launched automator and found the 1 action item I needed to show and hide files in finder.

I selected “Run Shell Script” from the Utilities library and dragged it over to my workflow. I added the following text to the workflow:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder

HideHidden-1.jpg

Once the code was included in the step, I saved the workflow as a Finder plugin: ShowHidden. Now to view the hidden files in finder, I simply right click (command + click) in Finder, select More, Automator, and then ShowHidden. Finder closes and then re-opens with all the hidden files and folders viewable.

To hide the files again, I created another workflow with the same “Run Shell Script” action and entered in this text:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
killall Finder

HideHidden.jpg

I saved it as a Finder plugin, HideHidden. To hide the files and folders again, righ click (command + click) in Finder, select More, Automator, and then HideHidden. Finder will close and re-open with the files and folders hidden again.

Now there is no need to open Terminal to view OS X hidden files in Finder.

About Dan Hinckley
Dan Hinckley is an experienced Mac user who converted to Apple products when they introduced them on Intel Processors. He loves helping others get more out of their devices! Subscribe to Maciverse.com to get the latest from Dan and the Maciverse Team!! Find out more about Dan:

6 Responses so far.

  1. Bazil

    April 7, 2011 at 5:15 pm

    Hi Dan!
    It's a very nice article about hidden files. I would like to create such a plugin for myself too, but I never used Automator before. Hence, I have no idea how to save that Finder plugin. I stuck on the step «save it as a Finder plugin». Any detailed help steps would be very useful for me. Thanks beforehand.

    • Dan

      April 7, 2011 at 5:43 pm

      Bazil,

      They've updated Automator so you now need to set this up as a Service in automator >> Set Service Receives to No Input and then run shell script. Add the script and save it. It will show up under Finder >> Services >> ShowHidden

  2. view hidden files

    May 30, 2012 at 9:51 pm

    About Your title Its really an awesome article to get to know about it. You have done such a fantastic work by creating it.

  3. meermaedchen

    October 6, 2012 at 4:19 am

    Hi Dan, Thank you for the tip!

    I always did it directly in the shell, but automator is much nicer.

    Additionally I added the code line "open Desktop -a Finder" in the shell script, so my Finder opens the Desktop section, after I used Show or Hide hidden files service.

    For all German speaking guys who want to do this: "Service" is called "Dienst" in the Automator, and "Run Shell Script" is called "Shell-Skript ausführen".

  4. Vladimir

    January 4, 2013 at 10:15 am

    Dan great tip. However l have a problem. If i run the unhide script..all goes okay. But when l run my Hide script if fails. So l have to open Automator, Opn the service plugin and run it from inside the script. I have checked and all spelling etc is correct. Any ideas?

    Thx Vladimir

    • dhinckley

      January 4, 2013 at 10:22 am

      Hey Vladimir,

      Not sure what the problem would be. I just tried it again in OS X 10.8 on my system and it worked fine.

      Which version of OS X are you running?

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