Power User Monday Tip of the Week

Managing Invisible Files

Brought to you by: James

Your Mac is full of invisible files. These are typically system files and application support files. Sometimes, however, these may be files which you don't want lying around.

Search for Invisible Files

Maybe you know which invisible file you're looking for, or maybe you just want to be sure that you delete every last file with the word "Microsoft" in it. This is simple. In the FInder, hit command-f, or go to "Find" in the File menu. Add a new search criteria by hitting the addition symbol. Now, set that new criteria to Visibility:visible and invisible items. Your search will now search all files, including those which are invisible.

Unfortunately, Spotlight (introduced in Mac OS X 10.4) comes pre-configured with a list of excluded directories, and these excluded directories will contain most of your invisible files. Fortunately, Mac OS X Hints has a comprehensive article on configuring Spotlight to index excluded directories.

Show all Invisible Files

To show all invisible files (and hide them again), use InVisibles (free). InVisibles will allow you to quickly, easily, and safely alter the system preferences to show and hide all invisible files. Yes, there are plenty of way to do this via the Terminal. But, this is Power User Monday, and you can't call yourself a Power User if you accidently destroy your system by misusing these commands. Just use InVisibles.

Edit Invisible Files

If you encounter an invisible file and wish to edit it, you will need a plain text editor. Use Smultron (free).

Quickly View and/or Delete Invisible Files

I bet you had no clue that it's actually quicker and safer to do all of this with an FTP or SFTP client (SFTP is FTP's SSH-encrypted cousin). All FTP and SFTP clients have the ability to browse your hard drive, most display your hard drive's contents on launch, and all good FTP and SFTP clients have the ability to display hidden files. You guessed it, with an FTP or SFTP client, you can browse hidden files and even delete hidden files (if need be) without altering your system preferences. I recommend either Cyberduck (FTP/SFTP, free) or Fugu (SFTP, free). For more free Mac SFTP clients, see this Freeloader Friday.

Remember, any invisible file you delete or alter could be an important system file. Edit and delete with care.

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