How to show hidden files in Finder (OS X 10.9)?

This worked for me and my colleagues:

I was forced to spend some of my precious time looking into this use today and I have now worked it out. The command that everyone is using is correct, but there seem to be some new plist caching being used in Mavericks that is being messed by by the "killall Finder" command. The key is to reboot rather than killall.

To show all the file:

Type the following into a terminal window:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1

Then REBOOT. Do not use the killall Finder command as suggested in other posts.

I got the clue from this post:

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20130908042828630

What we can see happening is that then we run the defaults command, the finder plist is updated correctly but when the killall command is issued and we recheck the plist, the AppleShowAllFiles line is gone again. I figured that the kill all command must trigger some kind of security in the OS. It probably thinks that Finder has crashed and it refreshes it's plist file from a backup. I guessed that a reboot of the system would gracefully write any caches to where they should be. This seems to be the case.

You are completely wrong about it being part of ANY OSX. Just admit to it and move on. We all make mistakes.

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Merry Christmas

Pete

Use an app that can toggle the invisible files visible and then invisible.

InVisible 1.2.1

Show Hide Invisible Files 1.6

iShow Invisible 1.6.5

Show Hide Invisible Files 1.6

Much easier than using the Terminal

OT

This explains a lot. I wrote an AppleScript back while I was still using Lion, to reveal and hide hidden files and folders. Now I'm using Mavericks, and when I tried to use the script today, it didnt do anything. Looks like it's time to update the script.

Thanks for the info!

One more way (yours is better as a real App though)

set answer to the button returned of (display dialog ("Finder Hidden Files:") buttons {"Show", "Hide", "Cancel"} with icon caution default button 3 with title "Finder Hidden Files")

if answer is "Show" then

tell application "Finder" to quit

do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1"

delay 2

tell application "Finder" to run

else

tell application "Finder" to quit

do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 0"

delay 2

tell application "Finder" to run

end if

Tony I think you need to do nothing if Cancel is pressed, currently it will check 'if answer is "Show"' and return false, so set to hidden. If you have them shown then click Cancel it will hide the files, where as you want it to leave the setting as-is.

I may be wrong having not programmed in that language really but the logic seems incomplete

This particular script will allow you to just press Enter to obtain the opposite result of the current Hidden or not variable. eg. if the hidden files are invisible, then set the default button to "show hidden files" and vice-versa.

try

set yorn to (do shell script "defaults read com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles")

on error

set yournans to 2

end try

if yorn is "FALSE" then

set yornans to 2

end if

if yorn is "TRUE" then

set yornans to 3

end if

display alert "Revealer" message "Would you like to show all hidden files or hide them?" buttons {"Cancel", "Show Hidden Files", "Hide Hidden Files"} default button yornans

set ShowOrHideButton to button returned of the result

if ShowOrHideButton is "Show Hidden Files" then

do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE"

do shell script "killall Finder"

end if

if ShowOrHideButton is "Hide Hidden Files" then

do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE"

do shell script "killall Finder"

end if

if ShowOrHideButton is "Show Hidden Files" then

set endAlert to "All hidden files are now visible."

end if

if ShowOrHideButton is "Hide Hidden Files" then

set endAlert to "All hidden files are now invisible."

end if

if ShowOrHideButton is "Cancel" then

set endAlert to "Nothing was changed."

end if

display alert "Revealer" message "Completed Successfully! " & endAlert & ""

I didn't write this script, and credit is due to Baltwo. Open the script content in the AppleScript Editor. Save it as text (dotx.applescript) where you want to save the source. Then, save as an Application and drag it to your Dock. Click once to reveal hidden files, click again to hide them.

-- AppleScript to toggle hidden "." files
-- Submitted by Baltwo on Apple Support Community

try
          do shell script "defaults read com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles"
on error
          do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 0"
end try

if (do shell script "defaults read com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles") is equal to "0" then
          do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1"
else
          do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 0"
end if

do shell script "killall Finder"

Same here. It’s not possible to show hidden files with my default user.

Just created a new user. With him there are no problems.

I really need to show hidden files with my default user. I already repaired permissions with disk utility.

Any ideas how to fix this?

Michael Kühnel wrote:

I really need to show hidden files with my default user. I already repaired permissions with disk utility.

Any ideas how to fix this?

Try re-setting Finder Preferences by dragging ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist to the Trash

then in Terminal defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1

Note: this will reset any Finder Prefereces you set in Finder->Preferences

MJAtlas wrote:

Just use OnyX -- t's built in to every mac os.

No, you have to download it and install it seperately to the OSX. What makes you think it is 'built in'?

You can also use TinkerTool or Cocktail to see hidden files, and probably a heap of other third party preferences. I think most here are trying not to install such third party tools.

Pete

MJAtlas wrote:

You guys are completely nuts - Just use OnyX -- t's built in to every mac os.

One check box, vs whatever insanity you're trying to script..

OnyX is not installed with the OS, and it does exactly what everybody has already suggested doing. It doesn't do anything other than run the Terminal commands posted. The problem here is that those commands are not working or not sticking.

Michael Kühnel wrote:

I really need to show hidden files with my default user.

What is driving this tireless yearning to see the hidden files?

I've rarely had a need to see the hidden files. I've edited quite a few of them, but I never needed to see them to do that. Maybe there is another way to accomplish what you want.

Go into Onyx (from an Admin acct), which will be burried somewhere in a utils folder probably, then go to the parameters tab, then choose the Finder sub-tab, and you will see a checkbox to show hidden files & folders.