In this post, we’ll show you a couple of methods for quickly hiding all icons on your Mac desktop, creating a clean, organized workspace.
Some people love to keep their Mac desktop clutter-free, while some don’t mind having all their files on the desktop. If you belong to the former group, you’ll find this article useful.
Having files on the desktop will make it easy for you to find them super fast, but they can pile up and clutter the space. One way to deal with the clutter is to simply hide the files on the desktop. Doing this means that the display will look clean, but the files are always there, just not visible to you.
Hiding the icons is also a great privacy step if you are taking a screenshot of your desktop and don’t want your image thumbnails and file names to show on it.
Hide desktop icons on Mac with a third-party app
One of the best and simplest ways to hide the disk, files, folders, and all other icons from your Mac’s desktop is to use HiddenMe, which costs $1.99. I have been using it for several years and love it.
- Open the HiddenMe app, and its icon will appear in the top menu bar.
- Click its icon and select Hide Desktop Icons.
But if you’re looking for a free app, we have some great options for you
You can try Hide Icons or Desktop Declutter – Hide Icons. Both these apps work well in the same way as the one we mentioned above.
If you’re still searching, you can try Desktop Icon Hider or iLove Hide Desktop.
Tip: You can also enable some of the above apps to open automatically when you restart your Mac.
Use Terminal to hide icons from your Mac desktop
If you don’t want to use a third-party app, you can hide icons on your desktop by using a simple Terminal command. Remember to save these commands to your Notes app or bookmark this page for future use.
1) Open Terminal on your Mac, enter the following command, and press the return / enter key:
defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool false; killall Finder
2) The desktop icons should be hidden. After hiding the icons, you can view them from the Finder.
3) To reveal the icons, you’ll need to launch Terminal again and use this command:
defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool true; killall Finder
On a related note: