How to Show Hidden Files on Mac in Finder and Terminal

By Martin Hale Published November 8, 2026 9 min read

To show hidden files on Mac, open a Finder window and press Command-Shift-Period (.). Hidden files and folders appear dimmed, and pressing the same keys again hides them. To open one hidden folder directly, choose Go > Go to Folder and type its path, such as ~/Library or ~/.claude.

That is the short answer to how to show hidden files on Mac. The rest of this guide covers your Library folder, a Terminal setting that keeps hidden files visible, which hidden items are normal, and how to hide them again. Nearly every leftover step in our removal guides points at one of these folders.

The quickest way: Command-Shift-Period in Finder

This shortcut is built into Finder in current macOS. It needs no settings and is easy to undo.

Open a Finder window. Click the Finder icon in the Dock if no window is open.
Go to the folder you want to look in. Your Home folder is a good start: choose Go > Home, or press Command-Shift-H.
Press Command, Shift and the Period key together.
Hidden files and folders appear, slightly dimmed. Items such as the Library folder, dot files such as .zshrc and dot folders such as .claude now show in the list.
Press Command-Shift-Period again to hide them.

The setting stays on until you press the keys again, so you can move between folders and keep seeing hidden items.

The same shortcut also works inside Open and Save dialogs in other apps. That is handy when an app asks you to pick a file and the one you need sits in a dot folder.

Laptop keyboard with three keys lit together, like the Command-Shift-Period shortcut to show hidden files on Mac — Three keys, pressed together in any Finder window: Command, Shift and Period. Press them again to hide the files.

Why the hidden files look grey

Dimmed items are simply hidden items, drawn faded so you can tell them apart. They open, copy and move like anything else, so the grey look does not mean something is broken.

Go straight to a hidden folder with Go to Folder

When a guide names an exact path, you do not need to show hidden files at all. Go to Folder opens hidden folders directly, even while they stay hidden everywhere else.

In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder, or press Command-Shift-G.
Type or paste the path. As you type, Finder suggests matching folders.
Press Return. The folder opens in a Finder window.

Here are paths that the removal guides on this site send readers to:

~/Library/Application Support holds settings and data for most apps.
~/.claude holds settings for Claude Code, covered in the guide to uninstalling Claude Code on Mac.
~/.ollama holds downloaded models, covered in the Ollama removal guide.
~/.cursor holds extensions and MCP and command line settings, covered in the guide to uninstalling Cursor.

The tilde (~) means your home folder. The dot at the start of a folder name is what hides it. Apple explains the rest of the path rules on its page about how to go directly to a specific folder on Mac.

How to open your Library folder

Your user Library is the folder most guides send you into. It is hidden by default, but there are two easy ways in.

In Finder, click the Go menu in the menu bar, then press and hold the Option key. A Library item appears in the menu while you hold the key. Choose it, and your Library folder opens. Apple documents this tip on the same Go to Folder help page.

Keep Library visible in your Home folder

If you open Library often, you can make it show all the time.

Open your Home folder in Finder (Go > Home).
Choose View > Show View Options.
Select the Show Library Folder checkbox.

Library now shows in your Home folder. Clear the checkbox to hide it again.

Three Library folders, three different jobs

~/Library belongs to your user account. It holds your app settings, caches and saved data, and it is where most app leftovers live.

/Library sits at the top of the startup disk and is shared by all users. Changes here usually ask for an administrator password, and some apps put helpers and support files here.

/System/Library is part of macOS itself. Leave it alone. macOS protects it, and no app removal guide should send you there.

Three stacked trays from open to locked to sealed, like the user, shared and system Library folders on a Mac — Your Library is yours to tidy, the shared Library needs an admin password, and the System Library is sealed by macOS.

Show hidden files on Mac with Terminal

Terminal can list hidden files without changing Finder, or tell Finder to show them all the time. To open Terminal, go to Applications > Utilities and open Terminal. Apple's Terminal User Guide covers the basics.

List hidden files without changing Finder

The ls command lists a folder's contents. Add -a to include hidden items, or -la to add sizes and dates. To list everything in your home folder, type this and press Return:

ls -la ~

Names that start with a dot are the hidden ones. Nothing changes in Finder.

Make Finder always show hidden files

This is a Finder preference set from Terminal. Copy the two lines below, paste them into Terminal and press Return:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true
killall Finder

The second line only relaunches Finder so it picks up the change. Your files are not touched, and Finder windows reopen on their own. If Finder stops responding instead, you can relaunch it from the Force Quit window, as the guide to force quitting an app on Mac shows.

Turn the Terminal setting back off

When you are done, run the same command with false to hide the files again:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool false
killall Finder

Two toggle switches, one on with clear cards behind it and one off with frosted cards, for showing and hiding hidden files — The same Terminal command switches hidden files on with true and off again with false.

Why macOS hides these files

Mac files are hidden in two ways. Any name that starts with a dot is hidden by a long Unix habit, which macOS follows. Some folders, such as your Library, carry a hidden flag instead.

Apple hides these items so everyday browsing stays clean, since settings, caches and system parts are not things most people need to open. Apple's File System Programming Guide describes how hidden files and the Library folders fit together, from a developer's point of view.

Most Mac apps keep their files in ~/Library, while command line tools and developer apps often use a dot folder in your home folder. That is why the guides to remove Codex and Docker send you to ~/.codex and ~/.docker.

Hidden files you will see and should leave alone

Once hidden files are visible, a few names show up in almost every folder. Most are normal parts of a Mac.

Item	What it is	What to do
`.DS_Store`	Finder's view settings for that folder, such as icon positions	Leave it. Finder makes a new one if it goes.
`.localized`	Lets a folder name show in your Mac's language	Leave it.
`.Trash`	Your Trash, stored in your home folder	Empty the Trash from the Dock instead.
`.zshrc`, `.zprofile`	Your shell settings for Terminal	Edit with care. Do not delete them.
`/usr`, `/bin`, `/sbin`, `/var`	Dimmed folders at the top of Macintosh HD that are part of macOS	Leave them. macOS protects them.

Seeing a file is not a reason to delete it

Showing hidden files is a way to find one specific thing, not a reason to clear out everything unfamiliar. Most hidden items do a quiet job, and removing the wrong one can reset settings or break an app.

A few simple rules keep this safe:

Back up first. A recent Time Machine backup means any mistake can be undone.
Delete only a named path. Remove a hidden item only when a guide for an app you removed names that exact path.
Quit the app first. An app that is still running can recreate its folder or refuse to let go of it.
Use the Trash, not Terminal. Move items to the Trash instead of deleting them with a command, so you can put them back.
Stay out of system folders. Never touch /System or the dimmed folders at the top of Macintosh HD.

Those system folders are guarded by System Integrity Protection, which stops even an administrator from changing them. There is no reason to turn it off to remove an app, and no guide here will ask you to.

Row of folders behind protective glass with one set apart, showing how to delete only the hidden file a guide names — Most hidden items stay where they are. Only the one path a removal guide names gets moved to the Trash.

When you are finished, press Command-Shift-Period again, or run the Terminal command with false.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I make hidden files visible on Mac permanently?

Run the defaults write command from the Terminal section with true, then killall Finder. To undo it, run the same command with false.

Why do hidden files look grey or dimmed in Finder?

Finder dims hidden items so you can tell them apart from normal files. They still open and work the same way. Press Command-Shift-Period to hide them again.

Does Mac have a hidden Library folder?

Yes. Your user Library at ~/Library is hidden by default. Hold Option while you click the Go menu in Finder and choose Library, or turn on Show Library Folder in your Home folder's view options.

How can I see all files on my Mac, including system files?

Open Macintosh HD in Finder and press Command-Shift-Period, or run ls -la / in Terminal. You will see the system folders. macOS protects the core ones, such as /System and /usr, so look but leave them as they are.

How do I find hidden files on a Mac?

Press Command-Shift-Period in any Finder window. If you already know the path, use Go > Go to Folder instead. In Terminal, ls -a lists the hidden items in the current folder.

Removing other apps from this Mac

Now that you can see hidden folders, the leftover steps in these guides are easy to follow:

The Claude Code guide covers the ~/.claude folder and the ~/.claude.json file next to it.
The Codex guide covers ~/.codex, which the ChatGPT app also uses.
The Ollama guide covers ~/.ollama, where downloaded models are kept.
The VS Code guide covers ~/.vscode and the other folders it leaves behind.

Every other guide is on the Uninstall on Mac blog. If your app is not covered yet, email hello@uninstallonmac.com with the app's name and version and your macOS version, or use the contact page.