Onyx to make .ds_Store invisible

.DS_Store files aren't important system files, they're files made by Finder that keep track of window and icon positions for the folder the .DS_Store file is in. Feel free to delete them, the worst thing that could happen is your desktop icons reset their positions. They reappear anyway, with default icon/window settings (I'm STILL trying to make some kind of script that deletes all .DS_Store files because of all my messed up window sizes and positions 😟 )

Anyway, open up OnyX (click Cancel for the Verifying Startup Volume popup), type in your password, click Parameters, then Finder, and uncheck "Show hidden files and folders".

You can also do this from the Terminal. Just copy/paste the following two lines into the Terminal application window and press return after each one.

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE

killall Finder

Whether you use the Terminal command or Onyx (or TinkerTool or any other utility) to change the Finder option to show or hide hidden folders, note that this should be global -- IOW, if you are seeing one hidden .DS_Store file because the option is set to show hidden stuff, you should see lots of other hidden files in Finder views of folders as well. (For instance, open a Finder window to your home folder. You should see quite a few other normally hidden files in it, all beginning with a period in their names.)

If you do not see this -- if this one .DS_Store file is the only normally hidden one -- then just delete it.

I want to see hidden files. The only one I don't want to see is the ds_store file on the desktop.
Anyway to hide just that one file?

None that I know of. Either hidden files as a whole are visible on the desktop or they aren't.

Judging by your number of posts you are quite fresh to the Mac, welcome.
Hidden files in OS X are NOT like the hidden files in Windows.
You don't need to see them to be a proficient user of the OS.
If on an odd occasion you absolutely MUST see and access hidden files, just use the find function and tell it to show system and hidden files.

Actually I've been using Macs for years.
When I started playing with Python a couple of years ago, I found it easier to show all hidden files to be able to see the files in the Unix directory structure.

The .DS_Store file on my desktop didn't bother me until recently when I started making a concerted effort to keep my desktop clean and actually organize my documents properly.

It's not something I can't live with, I just did a search to see if it were possible to hide just the desktop .DS_Store file. FOund this article and thought I would ask.

Thanks for responding. 🙂