By default, the Finder hides root-level directories (/usr, /lib, /etc, etc.,) from dialog boxes, which makes it hard to navigate there. Here's one trick to make them accessible to the Finder's — and every app's — dialog boxes.

  1. In the Finder, type "shift command G" ("Go to folder").
  2. Type "/usr" (for example) and click "Go".
  3. Drag the tiny "usr" icon at the top of the window over to the sidebar.

Voilà! From now on, /usr will always be easily accessible to "open" and "save" dialog boxes in all your apps.

To make every file visible to the Finder — including those that begin with a ".", such as .htaccess or .login — issue the following command at the Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE; killall Finder

To make those 'invisible' files go away again, do this:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE; killall Finder

I like to be able to turn those invisible files on and off easily, so I have a couple of aliases in my ~/.alias file:

alias dot+ "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE; killall Finder" alias dot- "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE; killall Finder"

Then it's simply a matter of typing dot+ or dot- to toggle the visibility of those "invisible" files.

Or you could use a third-party utility such as TinkerTool.

Creative Commons License