Open Terminal by typing “ Terminal” in Mac's search bar.

It’s a secure cloud with a free 3 GB plan, end-to-end encryption both in the cloud and locally, and backup as well as the ability to offload your files and save device storage.Īnother way is by using the Mac Terminal to show hidden files: Lastly, since a major reason for deleting files is to gain free storage, it might be worth reminding you about alternatives that don’t require touching Mac’s hidden files. Only delete files you know are safe to remove. While there is nothing dangerous about unhiding files, many users tend to do this with the purpose of tinkering with or deleting something. Before you do anything, make sure you understand the risks. But Apple hides files to prevent accidental damage to the operating system. You may have a legitimate reason to unhide files. Let's take a look at how Mac can show hidden files. Apple offers several ways to show the hidden files Mac has. However, if you need to access one of these files, don't worry.

In other words, those hundreds of files are what helps your operating system run without a hitch.

They're secluded for a reason - deleting, modifying, or moving one could seriously impair your macOS performance. But those files aren't made invisible just to keep your folders looking clean.

Select Finder in the Force Quit Applications list and click the Relaunch button.Īfter following the above steps, Finder will be relaunched and your icon thumbnail previews should be reinstated in Finder windows and on your desktop.Your Mac has entire libraries and directories hidden away from view.

Next, click the Apple () symbol in the menu bar and select Force Quit.

Select Force Quit in the dialog prompt that appears.

Select the process in the list, then click the Stop icon (the circled X) in the taskbar.

In the search field in the top-right corner of the Activity Monitor window, type and hit Enter.

In Activity Monitor's menu bar, select View -> All Processes.

Launch Activity Monitor on your Mac (Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor).

If you find yourself in this frustrating predicament, there's a fairly reliable method you can use that can quickly get it functioning again. This function can be turned on and off in Finder -> View -> Show View Options by checking the box next to Show Preview Icon, but in some cases it may not work even if you have the setting enabled. If Finder doesn't recognize an item (if it can't be matched with an installed application that can open it) or preview icons are turned off then it displays a generic icon for the file. The Finder icon for a JPEG image for example will show a small thumbnail-sized version of the image, which is useful for identifying the file without having to open it. Most Mac users will be familiar with Finder's ability to display icon previews for file types that it recognizes.

Mac file explorer