How to Hide files in Mint

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Score: 55
votes: 60
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I'm gonna show you a way of hidding your files without changing their names.

To begin with, you have to create a file called ".hidden"' in the same directory where you have the files you want to hide.

After that, you have to do is to open that file with Text Editor and add the names of files/directories to that file, one per line. Finally, you need to refresh the view.

Before

After

To see your hidden files press Ctrl + H

Tags: hide files directories
Created: 2 years ago.
Last edited: 6 days ago.
Reviewed: 1 year ago.
Read 3256 times.

Comments
6 days ago	efthialex	@chompskyhomp It works on every version of Linux Mint.
2 weeks ago	chompskyhomp	This doesn't work for me for some reason. Worked on every other distro I've ever tried.
3 months ago	mfzn	http://i52.tinypic.com/2ylmypc.gif but its showed on wind***
1 year ago	breaker	Good tutorial, I didn't know about the special .hidden filename, only dot filename. Thanks.
1 year ago	Bobster	cool
1 year ago	Anleoje	Cool!!! :P
1 year ago	ivy_s	Very goof tutorial. Thanks for the info.
1 year ago	Perkins	Oh, couple more things, important folders at specific locations can't easily be hidden this way. (e.g. .Desktop doesn't resolve to the same folder as Desktop, so anything that points to Desktop won't find the folder if you rename it to .Desktop) Also, the command to display hidden files is `ls -a', from the GUI ^H will display files that start with '.'. The open/save dialog boxes in gnome do display hidden folders without even a note that they are hidden (Ever notice all the . names in your home folder?). Same goes for samba shares being accessed from windows, I don't know if the .hidden file hides them from samba and the open/save dialog or not. Oh, and my advice is to leave all the folders in your home folder that begin with '.' alone, they are usually configuration files specific to the user.
1 year ago	diegoCode	Cool! Thank you!
1 year ago	efthialex	@Perkins I didn't know this, i'll try it. Thanks
1 year ago	Perkins	@executable: Note that in windows running dir /a will show hidden files, so they are not really hidden, just not shown by default. Also, with ext filesystems, any file or folder starting with `.' is hidden, this applies to folder/files or links. It also applies to file lists shown on the command line. If you want files not readable to others (not just hidden), run `chmod o-r' (to make them not group readable run `chmod g-r'). This doesn't hide that the files are there, but does keep them from being read. (If you `chmod o-r' a directory, the contents of the directory cannot be seen or read.) Note that none of this keeps the file owner from reading the files, only way to do that is by encrypting the files with a password.
1 year ago	blueXrider	Nice tutor @ihends actually there is a script to hide-unhide using right click http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=789684 see #5 I haven't used it but it should be ok.
1 year ago	executable	I don't understand why unix and linux file system don't have hidden attributes like on windows. We must add this bit on next ext5 :) so the file attributes become rwxhrwxhrwxh
1 year ago	efthialex	@ihends you could rename your file and add a dot at the beginning etc file -> .file and your file would be hidden. With this way you can hide only files, not directories. ;)
1 year ago	ihends	is there any simpler way of doing this.. can i hide the files with my rightclicks.. so i don't have to make many .hidden documents for each folder...
2 years ago	obakfahad	Thanks yaar.
2 years ago	Steampunk-Nick	great tutorial!
2 years ago	mysoomro	Thanks a lot. I was looking for a way to hide some of my file, that I didn't want children to mess up with. I hope it's not as lengthy as it seems in this tutorial. :-)
2 years ago	nurtel9	Good one
2 years ago	Frank	Muy bueno! Thank you
2 years ago	Tonya	Cool!!! Thank you very much!
2 years ago	MintyFresco91	very useful trick to prevent intruders. take that hackers CTRL + H! haha
2 years ago	slw_	Handy. Thanks.
2 years ago	wanda	Thank you!
2 years ago	mercury700ir	Thanks alot... Useful knowledge for someone like me, which is a new user to linux.
2 years ago	maxpestun	Yes, very cool feature! Thanks!
2 years ago	gonye	Yes it's great! I didn't know the CTRL+H command. Thanks!
2 years ago	efthialex	You're all welcome
2 years ago	mikefreeman	Really cool! I didn't know you could do this!
2 years ago	zaenal1234	very good, without rename the file. and can also be used to hide folders.
2 years ago	sayan_acharjee	Did not know this method. I used to use only dot (.) to hide files :D Thanks!!
2 years ago	efthialex	@Elisa You can do that only for files,not for directories. ;-)
2 years ago	Elisa	Just curios (because didn't tried it :)) - isn't it easier, without typing especially long names files to create a folder ".whatever" and move all files even folder to that hidden folder? ;)
2 years ago	efthialex	I changed it.
2 years ago	m4daredsun	Thank you! I am not a total beginner, but was not aware about this possibility for cleaning interfaces
2 years ago	Xyie	Sounds really useful, not just for one's self but also potentially for cleaning up an interface for someone inexperienced so they don't mess with anything they shouldn't tinker with.
2 years ago	efthialex	I fix it.Thank you.
2 years ago	remoulder	Nice, but you may want to check your spelling, beginners not begginers. Also you should mention that after saving the file you need to refresh the view.

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How to Hide files in Mint

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