Hide Folders Software For Mac
If you want to hide your documents and folders, Hide Folders for Mac is just what you are searching for. Hide Folders prevents occasional users of your Mac to view, open or change documents and folders while browsing the contents of your hard drive.
Hide Folders Software For Mac
Windows users can find these files in File Explorer, where it's easy to make changes and mistakes. In order to prevent Mac users from doing the same, Apple hides many of these files by default in macOS. That means you don't have to worry about ruining your computer, but it makes things a bit harder when you do need access.
In Finder, you can click your hard drive under Locations, then open your Macintosh HD folder. Press Command + Shift + . (period) to make the hidden files appear. You can also do the same from inside the Documents, Applications, and Desktop folders.
Anything your computer doesn't want you messing with will be grayed out, but you can still take a peek inside. When you're done, hit Command + Shift + . (period) to make the folders invisible again. This will ensure you don't accidentally change something in the future.
You can also quickly access the /Library folder from Finder's top menu. Click Go to see all the shortcuts for accessing the different folders inside your hard drive. However, if you hold down the Option key, there will be a new Library option with no shortcut visible. Click Library to view the content of the /Library folder.
Once both lines of code run, you should see your hidden files in Finder and any temporary files saved on the desktop. When you want to hide these files again, replace the value true with false, which would look like:
This method might seem less helpful than going through Finder, but Terminal can also help you hide individual files and folders on your computer. This would be most helpful if you have password-protected files or just want to prevent anyone who uses your Mac from messing around with something that's not already hidden. Open Terminal and write the following:
In this guide, we explain how to hide a folder on Mac using both Apple's native tools and some superb third-party software. This will help you avoid a major catastrophe and never let any stranger peek into your private files.
Let's start with the easiest way to hide a file or folder using a keyboard shortcut. The beauty of this method is that you'll use the same shortcut to hide and unhide your files, and the shortcut is Command + Shift + period (.) So whenever you want to hide or reveal a hidden folder, go to Finder and press these three keys. The hidden files and folders will be grayed out.
Command + Shift + period are the keyboard keys anyone can press to unhide your private files, without providing any kind of password to authenticate their identity. And believe us, even a newbie hacker knows this shortcut. So it's not a good way to protect your files. What's more, you'll have to manually go through each file and folder to hide them.
Another reason to hide a file on desktop is to be able to take "clean screenshots." You don't need any desktop icons to be in the background of your screen captures, so it's better to disable them. CleanShot X is a great screen capturing utility with the built-in feature of hiding desktop clutter:
There's another Terminal hack that helps hide and unhide files on Mac. One caveat, though. You need to have Xcode installed on your computer. So you may call it a developer hack. Xcode is a heavy application that eats up lots of space, so we don't recommend installing it just to be able to hide files. If you do use it, however, feel free to make use of this hack:
That's how to hide a folder on Mac. You can use tons of different methods, depending on your Mac proficiency and the types of tools you use. One Switch and CleanShot X (tools for hiding desktop files), along with Commander One and ForkLift (tools for showing invisible files) are available for 7 days free with Setapp, so you can try them all out to build the most efficient file-hiding workflow.
There are good reasons for hiding files and folders in operating systems. Computer manufacturers and administrators hide files to prevent users from accidentally deleting or damaging system-related files and folders. Other times, your employer may hide files and folders that are essential for the smooth exchange of data with customers and business partners. In most cases, you won't notice these files at all, even though they perform important tasks.
Keyboard shortcuts are probably the easiest way to display hidden files and folders in the Finder on a Mac. You can show hidden files by pressing the Command, Shift, and Period keys at the same time.
Instead of using keyboard shortcuts and the Finder, you can also use Terminal in conjunction with commands on your Mac to show hidden files and folders. Terminal is a built-in command-line interface included in the Mac operating system. You can use commands in Terminal to replace sequences of multiple steps in the Finder and perform an action. To view hidden files and folders using Terminal, proceed as follows:
Now the hidden files and folders on your Mac are displayed in the Finder. As mentioned above, the files appear transparent. The folders look slightly paler than folders that are not hidden.
You can use Terminal not only to show or hide the hidden folders on your Mac. You can also use it to hide specific files from nosy users who may have access to your computer. To do this, proceed as follows:
Third-party file managers like Forklift offer an easy way of working with hidden files and folders on a Mac. They allow you to show hidden files directly in the interface of the app, without having to use keyboard shortcuts or commands that can be somewhat daunting for less tech-savvy users.
Protect sensitive or private data from prying eyes by finding out how to lock folders on your Mac. Simply put, you just have to collect all your important files into a single folder, create an image file, and protect the folder with a password. To learn exactly how to password protect a folder on your Mac, however, see the step-by-step instructions below.
There are plenty of good reasons you might want to hide some of your files or folders. Maybe you carry around a laptop and you just want to be extra safe. Maybe you share an account with others and need to keep some things private. Whatever the reason, here are eight ways to do it in OS X.
In Terminal, type chflags hidden and then drag a folder or file you want to hide into the Terminal window; you can still access those hidden folders and files by summoning the Go To Folder dialog (Command-Shift-G) and typing in their full paths. To unhide them, go back to Terminal and type chflags nohidden followed by the file or folder path.
Again in Terminal, type mv filename .filename. This moves the original folder to one with a period at the beginning of its name; by default, folders with periods at the beginning of their names are hidden in OS X. You can also type mkdir .hiddenfolder to create a new hidden folder. In either case, you can again access the hidden folder using the Go To Folder option.
If you are interested in protecting your documents and folders, Hide Folders is just what you are searching for. With a click, you will conceal files and folders with all their contents. The program is simple and natural to use because it works just as you are used to do things every day with your Mac. With this program, you will protect your files avoiding them to be being modified, seen or erased by other users.
This program uses the standard functionality of the operating system to make folders and files invisible. For the majority of users, any folder or file made invisible becomes inaccessible with standard Finder's windows browsing but please be warned that there are some applications that let you open also invisible files and that experienced users could, with particular expertise, gain access to a folder or file made invisible. Whether you need more advanced levels for protecting your data, there are other free of charge ways, as protecting information on removable media or using Mac OS X FileVault.
Hide Folders is, as its name implies, a program that lets you conceal folders within your Mac. This application proves to be of good use when you wish to prevent other users from accessing or modifying private files and folders without your permission.
Its interface is intuitive and you can customize its appearance by changing the background image and text font size. It's also very easy to use: all you need to do in order to hide the files and folders from prying eyes is to simply drag and drop them over the program's interface and click the Hide button.
Briefly, my belief is that it's important for you to be the only person having access to this application as some users might find the hidden files and folders if you don't set a master password. If you don't mind spending money on upgrading the program to Pro version and have access to this feature, Hide Folders might prove to be a decent file protection solution.
Finding people snooping on your Mac is a common occurrence, especially when working from a shared office. Such occurrences can be annoying or embarrassing, particularly when you have sensitive or personal information on your Mac. However, with a few tips on how to hide files on Mac, you can keep your private files on your Mac away from intruders. In this guide, we will share easy steps to hide files on your Mac.
Third-party applications like Parallels Toolbox will reliably help you hide critical files from other users of your Mac. Third-party apps have different procedures that you can use to hide files on Mac.
Parallels Toolbox has a variety of tools for you and other Mac users. For instance, you can hide your files and folders from your desktop by clicking on the Hide Desktop icon in the Parallels Toolbox. Using this tool offers the easiest way of hiding files on your Mac.