How to show hidden files on Mac

Better solution: Use shift+command+period to toggle hidden files in Finder (on macOS Sierra Ver 10.12.4).

This may also work in prompts to open or save documents (see below post from VikingOSX Nov 7, 2016 5:16 AM )

1. Hi. You can try these steps:
2. 1. Open Terminal found in Finder, go to Applications, choose Utilities
3. 2. In Terminal, paste the following:

   defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES

4. 3. Press return after that.
5. 4. Hold the ‘Option/alt’ key, then right click on the Finder icon in the dock and click Relaunch.

NOTE: shift+command+period toggles hidden files in Finder too!! (on macOS Sierra Ver 10.12.4)

No need to open terminal or manually relaunch Finder!

If you want to hide or show hidden files on Mac, follow this guide. All you need to do is to perform a few simple commands via Terminal.

If you can't remember those commands for the next time. Don't worry, there were solutions to help you create aliases for those long commands. In the next time, you only need to enter the short ones.

Applications that use the Cocoa (AppKit) NSOpenPanel and NSSavePanel classes that prompt to open or save documents — also permit the use of shift+command+period keyboard shortcut that toggles hidden files on and off in that panel.

Try it with TextEdit, Preview, etc.

VikingOSX wrote:

Applications that use the Cocoa (AppKit) NSOpenPanel and NSSavePanel classes that prompt to open or save documents — also permit the use of shift+command+period keyboard shortcut that toggles hidden files on and off in that panel.

Cool shortcut - I never knew this was possible.

<http://osxdaily.com/2009/02/25/show-hidden-files-in-os-x/>