OS Compatibility:
Show or Hide Desktop Icons.app has been tested and verified to run on the following versions of macOS:
- 10.14.4
- 10.13.6
- 10.12.6
Not tested on the following versions of OS X:
- 10.11.6 or earlier
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Using Show or Hide Desktop Icons.app
-
If needed, download the Show_and_Hide_Desktop_Icons zip file from the installer directory in my GitHub repo.
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Once downloaded and installed, double-click on the Show or Hide Desktop Icons application in /Applications.
-
Depending on if your icons are visible or hidden, the following actions take place:
Visible icons:
- The
defaultscommand to hide the icons is applied. - The Finder process is restarted.
- A dialog window notifies you that the desktop icons are now hidden.
Hidden icons:
- The
defaultscommand to make the icons visible is applied. - The Finder process is restarted.
- A dialog window notifies you that the desktop icons are now visible.
How Show or Hide Desktop Icons.app works
Show or Hide Desktop Icons.app is an Automator application that uses shell scripting behind the scenes to run the needed commands. When the application is launched, the following process takes place:
The script inside the Automator application determines if the desktop icons are set to be hidden or visible by checking for the following conditions:
Condition:
The CreateDesktop value in the user's ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist file is either not explicitly set, or set with a boolean value of true.
Action:
- The
defaultscommand to hide the icons is applied. - The Finder process is restarted.
- A dialog window notifies you that the desktop icons are now hidden.
- The script exits.
Condition:
The CreateDesktop value in the user's ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist file is set with a boolean value of false.
Action:
- The
defaultscommand to make the icons visible is applied. - The Finder process is restarted.
- A dialog window notifies you that the desktop icons are now visible.
- The script exits.