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5

I want to see all hidden files on my Mac except .DS_Store. Is there a way to do that?

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9  
+1 for the good question, but I'm guessing you are going to be stuck with Neo's choice: Choose the red pill or the blue pill. – Chris W. Rea Aug 28 '09 at 20:04
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@cwrea: xkcd.com/566 – jtbandes Aug 28 '09 at 22:55
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@jtbandes: LOL! The purple snort was your point? :-) – Chris W. Rea Aug 29 '09 at 1:29
Yes... I want the "purple snort" solution. Excellent way to put it. – Alan Aug 30 '09 at 3:18
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Ok, 3 years and no one wrote a utility for that? Sounds like a good option for my first OSX weekend project, I'll let you know if I manage to solve it... :) – Eran Medan Nov 30 '12 at 4:17
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4 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

You can show hidden files in Finder with a simple Terminal command:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool YES

Then relaunch Finder by holding down the option key and right-clicking its dock icon.

However, you can't hide the .DS_Store files without hiding the rest of the hidden files. You probably just have to live one way or the other.

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up vote 6 down vote

This is what Adobe suggests:

To avoid creating .DS_Store files, do not to use the OS X Finder to view folders. An alternative way to view folders is to use UNIX command line.

Brilliant! ;)

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6  
Those Adobe folks are always so helpful. – Alan Jul 12 '10 at 15:34
up vote 6 down vote

You can't hide it, but you can make it transparent, then drag it to the bottom-left or bottom right corner. So only you will see a string ".DS_Store", and there will be no icon.

Expert method: Copy a transparent image from your favorite img editor, select the icon of the file in the file info window, and paste the transparent image when the original icon is selected on the top.

Step-By-Step method:

  • Find a pure-white area in a folder, then press Shift-Command-Control-4, and drag out a square. Release the mouse when done, and the white area is now on your clipboard.
  • Open Preview and press Command-V.
  • Click and hold on the Select button in Preview's toolbar, and Instant Alpha from the drop-down menu.
  • Click and drag across the white area until you see the displayed value reach 100%, then press Return.
  • Copy the selected area (Command-C).
  • On the desktop, select your new folder and press Command-I (File ยป Get Info).
  • (Press Tab once in the Get Info window to) highlight the default icon.
  • Paste the transparent icon from your clipboard into the default icon (Command-V).
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Not useful in list view, column view, or when keeping items sorted. Also requires changes to every directory's layout. – Daniel Beck♦ Jan 14 '12 at 23:49
Works perfect if desktop is all you care about (like me). Also, if you use the pattern of the desktop instead of transparency then you can push the text out of sight - making the entire icon disappear without a trace. – bendytree Jul 19 '12 at 14:05
up vote 2 down vote

After many on/off years of searching for a solution, there are only a few alternatives, none of which quite match your original question; i.e. no solution exists to your specific question....yet

  1. One can specifically disable the .DS_store files from being created at all
  2. Leave Finder configured to not display hidden files
  3. Follow Adobe's nonsense and only browse folders with a command line shell
  4. Toggle hidden folders on-demand. Check out this old wigit:

http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Dashboard-Widgets/Webcams/Miscellaneous/Hiddenfiles-Widget.shtml

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