How to Show Hidden Folders in Windows 7, 8 and 10

Posted on the 21 April 2023 by Jitendra Vaswani @JitendraBlogger

Many times you would want to view the hidden files and folders on your system. For this “How to see hidden folders?” becomes an obvious question.

In this article, we will show you “how to view hidden folders?” in easy and simple steps. So, let’s get started:

How to show hidden folders in windows 7?

There is a number of methods with which one can show hidden folders in windows 7. In the following section, we will see how we can do the same.

Method 1: Using folder options.

Step #1: As the initial step you are required to type “Folder options” at the start section. You can do so by clicking on the start button and then typing “Folder options” at the appropriate field.

Once the “Folder options” appears then you are now required to click on it in order to proceed further.

Step #2: Executing step #1 will result in a window titled “Folder options” where you will see tabs like “General”, “View” and “Search”. In this step, you have to click on “View tab”.

Step #3: In the view section, navigate for the option which says “Show hidden files, folders and drives”. Once found, you have to click on the checkbox which is positioned just adjacent to the option.

Step #4: After successfully completing step #3, all that you have to do is to click on the “Apply” button and then you have to hit on “OK” for the sake of completing the process.

Alternatively, you can also go the “Folder options” by going to any of your drives or your my computer window and then clicking on the “Organize” tab which will be positioned at the extreme top left corner of the window.

Once you have done the mentioned, all that you require to do is to select the “folder and search options” option from the drop-down menu.

There is one another way using which we can reach to “Folder options”. This includes clicking on the start button and then going for the control panel.

Once you have reached the “control panel” window then you have to click on the “Appearance and Personalization” option. After which you can click on the “Folder options”. After this, all of the steps are same as above.

Performing the mentioned steps will result in the appearance of the hidden files. In order to view the hidden folders, you have to navigate on the possible drives.

Method 2: Using Search.

This method is very handy if you are familiar with what type of hidden file you are searching for that is you know the extension or the file format of the file.

Like if you are searching for a movie or a video file and you know that it has the mp4 file format. So, you can search for the file as “*.mp4” without quotes in the search box which is usually positioned at the extreme right corner of the window of your possible file containing the drive.

Likewise, if you are searching for a word document then you can search as “*.docx” in the search box.

One key point to take note that in order to follow this route you are required to follow the method 1 first as this method requires setting up the “Show hidden files, folders and drives” to enable mode.

How to show hidden folders in windows 8?

Step #1: As the initial step for viewing hidden folders in Windows 8, you are first required to click on the Desktop tile from the start screen of Windows 8.

Step #2: Now, once you have landed on your desktop screen then you are supposed to click on the file explorer icon which is usually located at the taskbar. If it is not there then you can also consider making a search for the same.

Step #3: The previous step will result in the opening of the “Libraries” window. In this step, you have to click on the “view” tab which is positioned at the extreme top of the window.

Step #4: Now, you need to click on “Options”.

Step #5: From the drop-down menu of the “Options” tab, you are now required to click on the “Folder options”.

Step #6: In the “Folder Options” window, you now have to select the “View” tab.

Step #7: Now, from the advanced settings section, you just have to make sure to click on the checkbox next to which “Show hidden files, folders and drives” is written.

Step #8: This last step includes clicking on the “Apply” button and then hitting the “OK” button.

Using these 8 steps, you can easily show hidden files and folders in windows 8.

How to show hidden folders in windows 10?

Step #1: In the initial step, you first have to open “This PC” from the desktop. You can do so by double-clicking on “This PC” icon.

Alternatively, you can also option other folders like File Explorer, recycle bin or any other. Any of these will do the needful.

Step #2: You are now required to click on the “View” tab.  After clicking on the “View” tab, you have to click on “Options”.

Step #3: Step #2 will result in the appearance of a drop-down menu from which you have to select “Folder options”. Once you have done the mentioned then all that you have to click on the checkbox next to the “Show hidden files, folders and drives” option.

After this, you have to click on “Apply” and then hit “OK”.

[Additional information]: How to hide a folder?

Step #1: Right click on the folder which you want to hide.

Step #2: Right clicking on the folder will result in a menu. From this menu, you have to navigate for the “Properties” option.

Step #3: Under the “Properties” window, you have to click on the checkbox next to which “hidden” is written. After this hit on “Apply” and click on “OK”.

Do we hope that with this article you came to know that how to unhide folders?

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