Hiding an application-created folder

Apr 27, '02 10:19:21AM

Contributed by: megasad

I have two partitions on my iBook's internal hard drive. 4GB for OSX and applications, 10GB for my Home directory. I've used NetInfo Manager to set the second partition as said Home directory and all is well. Almost.

BBEdit Lite seems to love making a Temporary Items folder in said Home directory every time I open it. I can delete it all I want, but the next time I want to edit some plain text, a stinking Temporary Items folder appears. This didn't happen in the past, when my Home directory was on the same partition as OSX. But it does now. So it must be stopped.

Because the folder is in my Home directory, I can't make it invisible using this hint. Instead, I did this:

  1. Download and install TinkerTool (linked in Hall of Fame box at left).
  2. Make it so that you can see all those pesky invisible files and folders.
  3. Duplicate one of the invisible folders in your home directory. Choosing one that's currently empty makes sense.
  4. Rename it "Temporary Items" (without the quote marks).
  5. Use TinkerTool again to make those invisible things invisible again.
Now BBEdit can use that folder all it wants and you don't have to put up with it invading your space anymore. Hoo-hah.

[Editor's note: As listed in the other hint's comments, I think SetFile would also work here, but I like this non-Terminal solution.]

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Mac OS X Hints
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