How to Hide Files on Mac
Data security is essential to us today. Most of us have some private files on our computers and do not want others to view them. In this condition, we, usually, choose to lock or hide our files. On Mac, if you don’t allow others to visit your files, you can hide your files or folders with the following methods.
1. Use Terminal to hide files
It is the easiest way to file hiding on Mac. Chflags is a command that changes the file’s hidden attribute or changes flags. Thus “chflags hidden” means hide files. You can input “chflags hidden + file name” to hide files that want to be invisible.
Steps to hide files on Mac with the Terminal:
1, Click the Terminal App to run it on the Mac. You can use the shortcut command+space to activate the search feature and input the word “terminal” for searching.
2, input “chflags hidden” and a space, and then drag your file to the terminal window and press return. You will hide your files on Mac.
2. Create a hidden folder
Input “mkdir.” the file name in the terminal app to create a hidden folder. For example, if you want an invisible file in the document, you can run the terminal app to input mkdir Documents/.test to create a file named test under the document app.
3. Add a dot in front of the files to hide them
Click the file name to add the dot before the file name. You will make it invisible because the system defaults the attribute of the hidden file starting with a period.
4. Use the built-in FileVault to hide files on Mac
It does not just hide files but also encrypts them. You have to input a password during the setting. Thus it is the most effective way to hide files because others cannot access your files without a password, even if they find where your files are.
The steps to hide files with FileVault:
1, Click the Apple logo on the top left to enter System Preferences.
2, Click Privacy & Security
3, Click FileVault on the popup.
4, Click Turn on FileVault and follow the instruction to set the password and recovery method.
5, You can click the lock label to lock the FileVault. Once you lock it, it is uneditable the turn on/off FileVault.
5. Use the third-party program to hide files on Mac
There are many software available on App Store for file hiding. Acc file protection is such a program.
With it, you need two steps to keep your files safe.
1, Run the acc file protection.
2, Add the file or folder to the acc file protection and select the files you want to hide.
3, Add a password with require the password for the program. With it, you have to run the software with the password.
If you only want your file are not easily visit by others, you can hide them with the two methods below:
6. Hide them in app folders
The apps on Mac are some folders with a file extension .app. Right-click to select “Show package content.” You will see the application files and other data folders. Thus, you can put your files or folders in it, which is also a so-called hide file.
You can also create a folder with the extension(. app) to put your files in. You can right-click and select display content if you want to visit your files.
7. Put your file under Library
Since the system Lion, the system defaults the Library as a hidden folder. Thus you can create a folder under it to store your secret. Even you can build a folder under Library/Application Support/.
1, On the left top of the desktop, you can find the Go tab on the navigation.
2, Click it. You will get a drop-down. Then press the key “option”, and you will find the hidden Library folder shows up.
3, Click the Library. You can enter the folder.
How to visit hide files on Mac
The straightforward way to unhide files on Mac is to use a shortcut to press Shift + Command + period( .) the keys on your keyboard. The hidden files would show in shallow color.