Q&A for How to Show Hidden Files and Folders on a Mac

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Is it good to show hidden folders on your Mac?

Chiara Corsaro
Phone & Computer Repair Technician
Chiara Corsaro is the General Manager and Apple Certified Mac & iOS Technician for macVolks, Inc., an Apple Authorized Service Provider located in the San Francisco Bay Area. macVolks, Inc. was founded in 1990, is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) with an A+ rating, and is part of the Apple Consultants Network (ACN).

Chiara Corsaro

Phone & Computer Repair Technician

Expert Answer

Revealing hidden files involves messing around in the Terminal, which is where the main system of the computer is located. If you accidentally move, open, or delete the wrong thing, you could render your system inoperable. There's really no good reason to do this.

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Question

How do I see the number of folders in a tree on a Mac?

Dishant Gusain

Community Answer

Enable the Finder "Status" bar, which can be enabled in the View menu or by pressing Command-forward slash on the keyboard.

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Question

I have a virus called .dir but i dont know how to access the folder since its hidden. How do I access it if it's a hidden file?

Floris_Fireball

Community Answer

Some apps use .dir for good purposes. Make sure before you remove it! Follow the steps to show the hidden file, then right-click it and simply click "Move to Trash".

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Question

I want to rehide all my files. How do I do that ?

Floris_Fireball

Community Answer

Redo the key combination (Command+Shift+ . ), and it should toggle the setting, and hide the hidden again.

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Do I need to be in Superuser mode. I press the keys "Command+Shift+>", but nothing happens. I need to edit a hidden smb.server file.

harrison fischl

Community Answer

No you do not need to be. You are pressing the wrong combination. It's "Command+Shift+.". You are pressing "Command+Shift+,"

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