Comments on: How to show hidden files on a Mac with the help of Automator

By: Sunflower

Sunflower — Mon, 02 May 2011 13:27:36 +0000

Worked like a charm. Thanks.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 05:50:14 +0000

for osx 10.6 just change a little bit :)

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder

By: anna

anna — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:49:14 +0000

Hey, where is the users thing?? i can’t delete the invisible file and it’s annoying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! please help me

By: YAL

YAL — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 22:30:50 +0000

Thank you so very much for this posting, it helped me in a jam!!!

By: colmiak

colmiak — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 06:29:03 +0000

Scocasso!’s method works great in snow

protip: remember to type in the commands yourself, otherwise the the apostrophes will get messed up if you copy and paste.

it wouldnt work for me til i typed in the commands manually

thanks!

By: Scocasso!

Scocasso! — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 06:27:41 +0000

on 10.6.3 it works
You just have to drag an new Run Shell Script box over for each line rather than putting them all in one box. This is what I did in 10.6.3

Choose to create a Service.

Services receives selected [files and folders] in [Finder.app]

Drag and drop three Run Shell Script instances (boxes) over to the workflow space.

First box:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true

Second box:

osascript -e ‘tell application “Finder” to quit’;

Third box:

osascript -e ‘tell application “Finder” to activate’;

File save as “Show Hidden Files”

Change “true” to “false” in the first box, and save it again with the name Hide Hidden Files.

Now, when you right click on any file or folder you will see those two options in the dropdowlist.

Both files saves in User > Library > Services

By: Kavon Walker

Kavon Walker — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:31:06 +0000

I found this tip for users of 10.6.1. works great.
http://artofgeek.com/2009/09/16/toggle-display-of-hidden-files-in-finder-with-keyboard-shortcut/

By: Kavon Walker

Kavon Walker — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:12:57 +0000

How do i save a plug-in in 10.6.1?

By: Jon Colpitts

Jon Colpitts — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 03:33:13 +0000

Fantastic! Thanks for the great tip. I used it to delete files that was no longer needed (Openfire).

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 08:00:44 +0000

This helped sooooo much! Did exactly what I needed and you made it sooo simple!!!! Thank you!

By: Kris

Kris — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:47:15 +0000

Works great in 10.5! This is a real time saver so thanks a lot!

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:02:35 +0000

These instructions are incomplete. Which template do you choose when Automator opens?

By: Oris

Oris — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:24:19 +0000

Good freeware application for http://code.google.com/p/hide-unhide

By: Mac

Mac — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:27:13 +0000

I prefer using a shell script, partly because I’m usually already in Terminal

http://macmartine.com/blog/2009/11/shell-script-to-showhide-hidden-files-on-os-x.html

By: Soxofaan

Soxofaan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:06:09 +0000

The same with only one plugin that just toggles the hidden/unhidden state instead of two separate plugins:
http://artofgeek.com/2009/09/16/toggle-display-of-hidden-files-in-finder-with-keyboard-shortcut

By: howard

howard — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:49:09 +0000

cant save it as a plug-in only as worklfow format on my 10.6.1 lapy
but on my brothers i can save it as a plug in and it works his version of oxs is 10.5.8.
how do i save it as a plugin on 10.6.1?

By: D Ross

D Ross — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:23:42 +0000

Strange, I don’t have the “More” field anymore when I right click. I seem to remember it before but haven’t noticed it not being there.

By: Lalaroo

Lalaroo — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 06:13:43 +0000

Sweet! Thanks so much!

By: minnima

minnima — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 02:54:35 +0000

works perfect on 10.4.11, but it’s also true, do not copy and paste, just type regular apostrophes. Thank you!

By: Shafer

Shafer — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:55:36 +0000

I tried this, but hidden files don’t show up. The double quotes around finder in lines 2 and 3 are different on the leading and trailing end, as are the single quotes. I assumed the first single quote was the symbol on the upper left of the keyboard, and the trailing single quote was the standard single quote, the left of Return, and that both double quotes were double quotes (shift-quote button to left of Return). Tried it with and without the semicolons, as per suggestion of Shawn.
Thanks in advance for further hints..

By: Shawn

Shawn — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:44:22 +0000

I had to do two things to get it to work for me on 10.5.7

First, don’t ignore the warning about copying and pasting. DO NOT DO IT. You need to type it in.

Second, I had to remove the semicolons from the end of the 2nd and 3rd lines.

Thanks for the tip!

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:28:55 +0000

Perfect! Just what I was looking for. Thanks!

By: Timothy

Timothy — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 14:44:05 +0000

AppDelete is an uninstaller program. You can use it to delete software and all of its related files. http://reggie.ashworth.googlepages.com/appdelete

By: choise

choise — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:31:09 +0000

what is “appdelete” ? :)