Access Hidden Library Menu Option On Mac. Left-click your mouse anywhere on the screen of your Mac. This will reveal the Go Option in the top menu bar of your Mac. Next, click on the Go option in the top menu-bar of your Mac. While you are still on the Go option, press and hold the Option. 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: CMD + SHIFT +. Press once to show hidden files and again to hide them. Oct 28, 2013 Show the Users Library Folder Permanently in OS X Mavericks From the OS X Finder, open a new window and go to the users Home folder (hit Command+Shift+H to jump to Home instantly) Pull down the “View” menu and select “Show View Options” (or hit Command+J if you like keyboard shortcuts).
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There are many reasons why you might want to look at hidden files or folders on your Mac. You might not know it, but there are thousands of hidden files and folders on your computer that you shouldn’t disturb or modify. However, there may be occasions where you need to locate certain hidden files. Sometimes just out of curiosity or perhaps to locate some hidden folder for troubleshooting purposes. In this case, you should learn how to show hidden files and folders.
Some experienced or advanced users know that when you have a problem with an app, you might need to remove a preference file or find logs to help you fix the problem. Some hidden files also take up a lot of space on your hard disk. However, if you don’t know how to do show hidden files and folders, you won’t be able to deal with these issues.
First, let me tell you what files are hidden and why are they hidden on your Mac.
Where do hidden files come from?
Both macOS and linux are based on the UNIX operating system. You can call the macOS a special UNIX. MacOS has almost the same contents as UNIX but the macOS has a “desktop environment” which helped it become the world’s second most popular operating system. In Unix, there is always a “.” in front of hidden file names and they won’t be displayed until you manually change the system to view hidden files. All kinds of files could be hidden files, such as a .bash profile or a .git directory. System folders like /private, /bin, /etc, /usr are also hidden by default.
Why are they hidden on your Mac?
The real reason that Apple set some files and folders hidden by default is that there is a risk to the system if you delete or modify these folders and files. I believe that most people are not advanced users. Apple regards these files or folder as significant files so be careful if you don’t know what you are doing, otherwise your Mac will lose data or could even be damaged.
How to show hidden items?
There are three methods to show hidden files/folders:
Method 1: Using Finder
• Keyboard shortcut
I highly recommend this way to show hidden files and folder since it is not only the easiest way, but also the quickest way.
If you are using the macOS Sierra or a higher version, you can open your Finder, then hit “command + shift + .(dot)” on your keyboard to show hidden files/folders.
If you hit the keyboard combination again, they will change back to original hidden status.
However, if you are running an older version than macOS Sierra, please choose Method 2: Using Terminal to show your hidden files.
• Keep certain folders visible
After performing method 1, you can see the hidden files or folder on your Mac. But sometimes you want to keep them always visible to make it easy to access. For example, you might want to make the hidden folder “~/Library” always visible since it stores your personal application support files and other important files. Here is how to do it.
Drag the hidden Library folder icon from Finder to the sidebar. This is the fastest way and it will keep the folder accessible even if you relaunch your Finder.
You can also hold down “command + alt” and drag the Library folder to your desktop to make a shortcut icon on your desktop.
• Go to certain folder (including hidden folders)
In some situations, you may already know the exact folder that you wish to view. You can follow the steps below to reach certain folders directly on your Mac:
1. Open a Finder window.
2. Open “Go to Folder…” by pressing the following keys; “shift + command + G” on your keyboard.
3. In the Go to the folder: dialog box, type the name of the directory you want to view.
Method 2: Using Terminal
Do you think the first method is too simple? Let’s try the hands-on method. Terminal, which is regarded as one of the most powerful app on Mac, can do anything you want to do since it owns the highest permission. Terminal can be found in spotlight very easily.
Then type the following command in terminal:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true
This command helps you set your Finder to show all files on your Mac.
If you want to switch them back to hidden status, you need to repeat the operation but remember to change the last word to false.
killall Finder
This command helps you restart your Finder to make your change effective.
You can also start the Terminal application from Launchpad. Now I should mention that all terminal commands listed in this article can be cut and pasted right into Terminal so you don’t have to re-type them.
Method 3: Using AppleScript
Do you prefer another option? Don’t worry! You can make a simple app with AppleScript.
1. Open “AppleScript” or “Script Editor” from your Launchpad. (The name of it depends on the system version, you can just type “script” in Spotlight)
2. Copy and paste this code into the edit window:
display dialog “Hide/Show Hidden Files and Folder” buttons {“Show”, “Hide”}
set switch to button returned of result
if switch is “Hide” then
do shell script “defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool false;
KillAll Finder”
else
do shell script “defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true;
KillAll Finder”
endif
3. Click the Play button to compile the code.
4. Choose a folder then save and set the file format to “Application.”
Now the new app, named “Show/Hide Hidden Files and Folders”, has been generated by you. Do you feel a sense of achievement now? You can show or hide your hidden files with just one-click. It’s really easy to control.
Conclusion
After all these instructions, no matter which method you choose, I believe you know how to show all the files on your Mac.
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How to keep your Mac always safe?
At the beginning of this article, I mentioned that sometimes we need to show hidden files and folders for troubleshooting purposes. You might be curious about why we should do this. I will tell you the reason. Although macOS is not open like Windows, it may still have malicious code like chill-tab. It’s really annoying if your browser has popups or always jumps to advertisement websites when you open a new tab. Almost all viruses or malware are usually hidden in your Mac, that’s why we need to show hidden items.
To make your Mac safe, we recommend Antivirus One. This popular and effective tool was developed by Trend Micro, an industry leader in computer security. Thousands of users have provided positive comments in the App Store. Antivirus One detects viruses on your Mac for free. You can also use it to clean adware, clean privacy in your browser, and even protect your web experience. After Antivirus One finds a virus or malware on your Mac, you can use it to remove them easily no matter whether they are hidden or not.
Try it for free to keep your Mac always safe.
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Your Mac has a secret. Thousands of them in fact, in the form of hidden files and folders lurking on its hard drive or SSD. Don’t worry, though. These files and folders are all supposed to be there. In fact, many of them are essential.
Mac Show Hidden Users Library Folder In Windows 10
Many of these files are in your Mac’s main Library folder or in the ~/Library folder, which is in your User folder. Both these Library folders are hidden, but inside them are folders and files that hold things like preferences for apps.
In this article, we’ll tell you how you can view hidden files on your Mac and make your Library folder visible.
What are the hidden files on Mac?
The hidden files are a throwback to macOS’ Unix roots. In fact, the convention of naming them starting with a “.” comes from Unix. For that reason, you can’t use a “.” at the start of a regular file name, otherwise OS X will hide it.
The files themselves contain data like access rights and privileges for files and folders, application support files, and preferences.
There are a number of reasons files and folders are hidden. Mostly, though, it’s because they contain data critical to the smooth running of your Mac and that you shouldn’t interfere with. In addition, there’s no real reason for most users to see or access them. Also, if they were all visible, your Mac would look horribly cluttered.
How to view hidden files on Mac
Before you make your Mac show hidden files, it’s important to remember they’ve been hidden for a reason. The data they contain could cause havoc if you delete or alter it and don’t know what you’re doing.
If your goal in viewing, for example ~/Library is so you can manually delete application support files for a program you’ve uninstalled, consider using a dedicated uninstaller like CleanMyMac X. That will make it easy to remove all the files associated with an application with one click. You can download CleanMyMac X for free here.
CleanMyMac X will also allow you to get rid of all the hidden files you no longer need. Many of these files are created and used then not needed anymore. They just sit there clogging up your hard drive. CleanMyMac X scans your Mac, identifies this system junk and allows you to quickly and easily get rid of it, potentially several gigabytes of disk space.
If you still want to view hidden files on your Mac, you need to go to the Finder and do the following:
- Open a new Finder window and click on the name of your Mac under ‘Devices’ in the sidebar.
- Click on Macintosh HD, or whatever you’ve called your startup drive if you’ve renamed it.
- Press Command-Shift-. (period). You should now see lots of files and folders who’s name starts with “.” become visible.
- To re-hide the files and folders, hold down Command-Shift-. again.
How to view your Mac’s ~/Library folder
There are a couple of methods for making your ~/Library folder visible. Here’s the simplest:
- Click on the Finder in the Dock.
- Open a new Finder window and navigate to your user folder (Tip: if it’s not in the sidebar, go to the Finder menu, choose Preferences, click Sidebar and check the box next to your Home folder)
- Click on the Go menu.
- Hold down the Option (Alt) key.
- You should see that in the dropdown menu, Library appears below Home. Click on it.
Alternatively, do this to view your Library folder:
- Click on the Finder in the Dock.
- Click on the Go menu and choose Go to Folder.
- In the window that opens, type “~/Library”
With both these methods, your Library folder will disappear again when you close the Finder window. It’s easy enough to run through the steps above again to make it visible again when you need to, but if you want it permanently accessible, there are a couple of ways to do it.
The quickest is to drag the Library folder to the Finder’s sidebar. That will create a shortcut to it that will persist. If you want to keep ~/Library visible but don’t want it clogging up the sidebar in Finder windows, do this:
- Click on the Finder in the Dock.
- Click on the View menu and choose Show View Options.
- Check the box labelled Show Library Folder at the bottom of the window.
How to make macOS show hidden files using Terminal
If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you can use the Terminal command line interface to view hidden files and folders. Here’s how to do it:
- Open Terminal from the Utilities folder in Applications, or by searching for it using Spotlight. You can also use the Go menu in the Finder to go directly to the Utilities folder.
- Type, or copy and paste, this command: defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles true
- Press Return
- Type: killall Finder
To hide the files again, repeat the above steps, but replace ‘true’ with ‘false’ at the end of step 2.
How to hide any file or folder using Terminal
Now that you know how to view hidden files and folders on your Mac, you may be wondering how you can hide other files or folders, to keep them away from prying eyes. There are a number of third-party applications and utilities that offer to do this for you, but you can do it yourself in Terminal, like this:
- Launch Terminal.
- Type: chflags hidden
- Press the spacebar.
- Drag the file or folder you want to hide from the Finder onto the Terminal window.
- You’ll see the path to the file or folder displayed in Terminal after the command you typed.
- Hit Return to execute the command.
The file or folder you dragged onto the Terminal window will now be hidden. To see it again, use one of the methods described above to see hidden files.
To make the file visible permanently again, use the steps above, but in step 2 type: chflags nohidden
As you can see, viewing hidden files and folders on your Mac is very straightforward. There are a number of ways to do it, and you can make them visible temporarily or permanently.
However, just because you can view hidden files, doesn’t mean you should — the files are usually hidden because accidentally deleting them or altering them could cause chaos on your Mac. So, while it’s fine to have a peek, don’t do anything with the hidden files unless you know what you’re doing.
If you want to declutter your Mac or uninstall applications, use a dedicated application like CleanMyMac X. It will safely remove all useless files, add-ons, broken login items, caches, large and old files you didn't know about. Most likely, you won't even need to look for hidden files — CleanMyMac will do all the job for you.
We also showed that many of those files are stored in Library folders, including the one in your User folder, ~/Library. That folder is hidden by default, but you can view it or make it permanently visible using the techniques described above.