Fix grayed out files and folders

[BobHas]

I have been having problems of various sorts, and perhaps there are connections. But in any case I suspect I need to understand and hopefully fix this one.

I am noticing in Finder considerable numbers of grayed out folders and files. What is going on, and what is recommended to fix ir?

This is on High Sierra.

 

[MacInWin]

Do the files also have a "no entry" icon (circle and a diagonal bar)? That means you don't have the right permission to access those files. Another source of greyed out listings is that you have turned off the hidden files being hidden to you. Finder hides things from users that users don't need/have access to.

Maybe a screenshot of a few of them might help?

 

[BobHas]

Things seem to be getting quite odd. Some from my top level:


And something that may be close to some of the issues - I have been having had problems with mailbox rebuild attempts. They have seemed to hang and I have stopped them one or another (maybe including powering down as a last resort). And something odd has been happening often. Files like downloads via the web browser to the desktop take a long time to appear. When I run MAD to capture the desktop icon positions it beachballs for a fair amount of time before being ready to have me click to save. It is doing some sort of interaction with Finder that should not take any noticable time according to its auth or.

 

[MacInWin]

Taking the second issue first, my experience is that Mailbox rebuilds is a very slow process. I haven't done a rebuild in a while, but I seem to remember them taking a looooooooong time to finish.

The image from Finder is a bit fuzzy, but it looks like most, if not all, of the grey entries start with "." which is a mark to make the file normally hidden.

To fix that, i.e., to hide the files again, open Terminal and enter these two lines:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE

killall Finder

The first command will change the toggle back to hide hidden files and the second will force Finder to restart and read the new default for hidden files. The effect should be immediate. Use the exact case for the commands and lines. Press the return key at the end of each line to execute the changes.

 

[ferrarr]

Just as an FYI, there is an option in OnyX to show/hide hidden files.

 

[BobHas]

Just as an FYI, there is an option in OnyX to show/hide hidden files.

I have had OnyX for a long time, but hardly ever do anything with it. I just started it up. After getting past the error message about not being to load an update I recalled it has to do with OS version compatibility. But then after tracking down what I think is the place you reference for visibility settings it seeme pretty intimidating trying to understand the different possibilities and options. The main idea here is to try to preserve all, as much as possible, of the long history, particularly mail, given that backups have been giving failures for a while now - something wrong in the file structure - maybe related to aborted operations.

So anyway, yes I see the "." involved in at least some of what I am seeing about grayed out entries. I will have to look further to see if that is what is going on generally.

In any case, I wonder how I got the show files with "." set. Is it a flah to some other issues, etc...

Thanks.

 

[BobHas]

I will have to explore, but I found at least part of it I think. I have the Funter app as part of the MacCleaner 2 Pro package. I have been having strange interactions trying to make it stay away and not mess with me.

I just ran it and found that it had Show Hidden Files turned on. Maybe I did that while messing around with it. Anyway first look the issue is at least much better. Maybe fixed - fingers crossed.

 

[Rod]

Personally, I would never use any app which integrates with or modifies the Finder. As for MacCleaner 2, I guess it's much the same as CMM X which although I have this app myself I keep it inactive having disabled it's "helper" app so it's only active when I want to use it. Generally I align with the broad view of others on these forums about "cleaner" apps; you don't need them and they definitely have the potential to cause harm.

PS. If I wanted to see hidden files, which I generally do not, I can always show them in the free Find Any File app.

 

[BobHas]

Taking the second issue first, my experience is that Mailbox rebuilds is a very slow process. I haven't done a rebuild in a while, but I seem to remember them taking a looooooooong time to finish.

The image from Finder is a bit fuzzy, but it looks like most, if not all, of the grey entries start with "." which is a mark to make the file normally hidden.

To fix that, i.e., to hide the files again, open Terminal and enter these two lines:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE

killall Finder

The first command will change the toggle back to hide hidden files and the second will force Finder to restart and read the new default for hidden files. The effect should be immediate. Use the exact case for the commands and lines. Press the return key at the end of each line to execute the changes.

 

[BobHas]

On the second issue around mailbox rebuild. Yes. I have noted it can take a long time where there is a lot of mail. I am not sure there is much visual indication about how the process is progressing or if/when it completes (at least undr High Sierra - maybe it gets better down the road?).

In any case as we can see I have A LOT of file space being used with those rebuild files. I am wondering about getting rid of it. What, if anything cleans those files up - presumably after a successful rebuild? Is it safe to just delete them?