Video Training – Tutorials

Apple Mac 10.5 Leopard Tutorial – Show Hidden Files

November 5, 2008 at 11:17 am Leave a comment

For users who prefer to learn Apple Leopard 10.5 visually we have a range of video tutorials, this method of training greatly enhances learning and allows beginners to master Apple Leopard 10.5 at their own pace.
View the Apple Leopard Tutorial Videos

Show Hidden Files on Mac 10.5 Leopard

As any Mac user knows his system is full of hidden files, most of the time this is fine and we care not that the underlying OS is not showing us everything, but every once in a while we need to edit a file that the system decides we should not see, sure at this point I could tell you how to open the terminal, type a few commands and give the system a good kick and force it to show all, but  some users don’t like the terminal, to some it’s like the place their parents warned them never to go to, it’s scary.
Another way to force your Mac to share it’s secrets would be to purchase one of the many applications that will unlock the secrets of all your files, but no we’re going to make our own , using Automator.
For those users who don’t know Automator is kind of a GUI, drag-n-drop quick builder of AppleScript commands and can be used by people who don’t want to learn AppleScript.
Lets get started creating a action that will allow you to switch the visibility of  hidden files on and off at a whim.

1/ Open your Applications and look for Automator, launch it.

2/ On the left column select “Automator” and then click on Run Shell Script.

Paste the following code into the Run Shell Script Window :-

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder

 

 

 

 

3/ Here comes the really cool part. Select File > Save As Plugin and select the Finder as the Applicaton, give it a descriptive name like “ShowHiddenFiles”

That’s our Show Hidden Files taken care of, but what if we want to hide them again, just carry out the action again, but change the TRUE in the script to read FALSE and save this using the same procedure under the descriptive name “Hide Files”, to access this command just right click and select your action from the contextual menu.

No longer can your Mac hide those hidden files.

A word of warning, hidden files are hidden for a reason, if you don’t fully understand what a file does LEAVE IT ALONE.

Entry filed under: Apple Leopard Tutorials. Tags: Apple Leopard Tutorials, AppleScript, Automator, OS X Tutorials, Show Hidden Files.