Mac OS X: Hide files and folders

Unfortunately, files or folders on Mac OS X cannot simply be hidden using the Finder. Instead, the best way to proceed via the terminal is to rename the desired files or folders: In Finder and Terminal, all file names and directories that begin with a dot in front of the name are automatically hidden. You can find out how to rename the files here.

Open Terminal on Mac OS X to hide folders

Open the terminal via "Programs" - "Utilities" - "Terminal"; or enter the term "Terminal" in the Spotlight search. In order to hide a file or folder, it should first be clear where, ie under which file path it is located. Suppose you want to hide the "Pictures" folder on the "Desktop", do the following:

• The current file path is "~ / Desktop / Images". To hide the entire directory, you have to rename the folder to ".Bilder".
• You can do this with the following command: "mv ~ / Desktop / Bilder ~ / Desktop / .Bilder"
• "mv" stands for move - you can move the old "Pictures" folder on the desktop by renaming the directory to ".Bilder"

Hide individual files with the Move command

• If you want to move further files into the hidden folder, you can also do this with the Move command: "mv ~ / Desktop / Test.webp ~ / Desktop / .Bilder" moves the image file "Test.webp" from the desktop to the hidden directory ".Pictures".
• If you would like to move all JPEG files from the desktop to the hidden folder at once, you would have to adapt the command as follows: mv ~ / Desktop / *. Jpg ~ / Desktop / .Bilder
• Similarly, you can rename and move individual files. Assuming you want to hide the image "Test.webp" in the "Images" folder on the "Desktop", type the following command: mv ~ / Desktop / Bilder / Test.webp ~ / Desktop / Bilder / .Test.webp

To display hidden files / directories on the terminal, the list command "ls" must be extended by the option "-a". Find out how you can quickly and easily compare directory contents under Mac OS X here.