Table of Contents
Some users are need to know how to view all files on your Mac. MacOS keeps some files hidden from users. Most of the time, this is helpful and smart because it keeps important files from being deleted, which could damage the system. But you may have a problem that requires you to view hidden files on a Mac. For example, you may need to do troubleshooting, remove applications completely, change some system settings, or just clean up junk files.
Through hidden files and folders, your Mac is keeping something from you. In fact, it’s keeping a lot of things from you. Don’t worry, it’s for your own good. We can tell you why and give you some easy ways to view all of your Mac’s files, even the ones that are hard to get to. When you look at your Mac’s desktop computer or any folder, you’ll see a number of file and folder icons. But there are a lot of system files that are hidden just out of sight that we all have in common.
Ways to view all files on your Mac
Open Files from the Keyboard
You can also use the keyboard to open a file. Choose a file in Finder or on the Desktop and press Command-down-arrow. When you double-click a file, it opens with the app that works best with that file type. You can also choose a file and press Command-O to open it.
Re-Open a File from the Open Recent Menu
If you worked on a file in a certain app, you can open it again from that app’s Open Recent menu. Select the file, then go to File > Open Recent. You should know that this menu can only hold a certain number of files. You can change this number in System Settings > Desktop & Dock by giving Recent documents, apps, and servers a number between 0 and 50.
Open Files from a Dock Icon
If an app can open files, you can see a menu of recently used items if you click and hold an app icon in your Mac’s Dock. Choose a file to use that app to open it. Like the other menu, this one only has a few files. Some apps, like Calendar, Reminders, and Notes, can’t open files but can manage data directly.
Drag and Drop to Open Files
You can open a file by dragging it to an app icon in the Dock or in a Finder window. If that app can open the file, the icon will be highlighted, and when you drop the file, the app will open (if it wasn’t already) and show the file.
Open any File from an Open Dialog
You can open any file from an app’s Open dialogue, as explained in an article about how to use the Open and Save dialogues (if that app supports the file type). Just press Command-O in your app, find the file, click Open or press Return, and the file will open.
When you’re in an Open dialogue and want to look at a file, you can select it and press the space bar to see it in Quick Look.
Use Spotlight to Open Files
You can use Spotlight to look for files by their name or even by keywords in their content, and then open them from the search results. Just choose a file with the arrow keys and press Return or double-click it. If you want to see where a file you found in Spotlight is, press Command-Return. That file will be highlighted in a new Finder window that opens.
Double-click to Open Files
Double-clicking a file is the most basic way to open it on a Mac or Windows computer. By default, it opens with the programme that is set to work with that file type. For example, if you have Microsoft Office on your Mac, a.docx file will open in Word, and an.xls file will open in Excel. Some file names, like.pages or.numbers, make it clear which app can open them.
For example, the Pages and Numbers apps can open.pages and.numbers files. When you double-click a file type, only one app can open it. However, as you’ll see below, you can open files with other apps and change the default app that opens a file type. If you get a file attached to an email, you can double-click it to open it, just like you would with a file in the Finder.
Open Files from the Recent Items Menu
You can see a list of recently used apps, documents, and servers by going to the Apple menu and clicking on Recent Items. If you choose a file from the Documents section, it will open in the app that it is linked to.
In the General settings, you can also change how many items are shown in this menu. This is different from the Open Recent menu in apps because it shows recently opened files from all apps. The Open Recent menu in apps, on the other hand, only shows files from that app.
FAQ
What is the purpose of all my files in Mac?
All my files shows you all the files you are allowed to see at once. It won’t show you any files that you aren’t allowed to see. If a flash drive or other device is included, the files on it will also be included.
How do I view files on Mac?
To open a window and see the files on your Mac, click the desktop or the Finder icon (shown above) in the Dock to switch to the Finder. When you switch to the Finder, any Finder windows that were hidden behind the windows of other apps will be shown.
How do I see all files on my Mac desktop?
Click the desktop, choose View > Show View Options, and then use the controls to make changes. You can also click the desktop with Control and then click Show View Options. See You can change how folders look in the Finder.
Where is the All files folder on Mac?
To open a Finder window on your Mac, click the Finder icon in the Dock. To briefly show the path bar, choose View > Show Path Bar or press the Option key. Near the bottom of the Finder window, you can see where your file or folder is and what other folders are inside it.