Mac OS X Tip: See Hidden Files in File Open Dialog

I came across this little tip on a development twitter post. Turns out you can see hidden files and even open one up for editing if you enter Cmd-Shift-. in an Open File dialog.

As with pretty much all of Apple’s shortcuts, it’s a toggle, so typing it once displays hidden files and typing it again hides hidden files.

Here is a standard Open File dialog window:

Here is the same Open File dialog after typing ‘Cmd-Shift-.’:

I really wish Apple had a page somewhere on its website that described all these hidden gems. There are literally hundreds of these things hidden through out OS X and other Macintosh applications.