Dave Metzener's Weblog

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

Posted in OS X, Tips & Tricks by Dave M. on September 16, 2009

snowleopard.png

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:
openfilebefore.png

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

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.


One Response

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  1. Polprav said, on October 15, 2009 at 5:05 pm

    Hello from Russia!
    Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?


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