There are many reasons why you might want to hide a file or folder on your computer. You might be keeping a personal diary, a secret shopping list, your bank statements or maybe even a list of your account passwords and logins.
Whatever the reason, in this guide I’ll show you 2 different ways in which to hide files and folders in both Windows 10 & Windows 11.
The first method is just using the file/folder attributes. The second method is much more sneaky.
How To Hide A Folder In Windows 10.
You can hide a folder in Windows 10 by simply changing what’s called its “attribute” to hidden.
Right click on the folder (or file) that you want to hide and then left click Properties on the menu that opens.
The Properties dialogue box will open. Make sure that you’re on the General tab (at the top of the window).
The Attributes section is at the bottom of the window. Check the box labelled Hidden. Then click Apply.
Confirm Change Folder Attributes To Hidden.
The Confirm Attribute Changes window will popup. Select “Apple changes to this folder, subfolders and files”. Then click the OK button to close the popup.
Click OK on the properties window to close that and you should find that the folder (or file) “disappears”.
How To Unhide A Folder In Windows 10.
Now that the folder is hidden, it’s not much use unless you can unhide it. To unhide a folder in Windows 10, open File Explorer.
In File Explorer, click the View button on the tollbar and then put a check mark the the Hidden Items box.
The file or folder that you hid will re-appear but it’ll be greyed out. But now you can see it, you can open it, copy it or whatever you want to do with it.
To re-hide the folder again, just open File Explorer, click View and then uncheck Hidden Items. The folder will be hidden once more.
How To Hide A File Or Folder In Windows 11.
If you’re using a Windows 11 PC, it’s pretty much the same to hide a folder as in Windows 10. The only real difference is that the menus and File Explorer look different. With that in mind I think it best that Windows 11 gets its own section.
To hide a file or folder in Windows 11, right click on the item and then left click on Properties.
When the Properties window opens, make sure you’re on the General tab. At the bottom of the window, you’ll see the item attributes section. Select Hidden by clicking inside the box. Then click the Apply button.
On the Confirm Attribute Changes popup window, just click the OK button. Then click OK on the Properties window to close that and you should find that the item is now hidden (not visible).
How To Unhide A Folder In Windows 11.
To unhide a file or folder in Windows 11, open File Explorer. Click on View and then hover the mouse pointer over Show. On the second menu, click Hidden Items.
The hidden item (file or folder) will become visible again, albeit greyed out. While it’s visible you can open it, edit it or whatever you wish to do with it.
To hide the folder again, simply open File Explorer, click View, Show and then click Hidden Items.
How To Hide A Folder In Windows.
This second method of hiding folders in Windows is very sneaky indeed. It’s a little more involved than just changing the file/folder attribute to hidden, but I think it’s worth it.
You can make a folder totally invisible. It isn’t hidden as such, it’s invisible.
Take a look at the two images below. In image 1 the folder is in the top right hand corner of the screen. Can you see it? No because it’s invisible. It is there, it isn’t hidden, but you can’t see it.
The only way to know that the folder exists is to mouse over it. When you pass your mouse pointer over the folder, a highlight appears just as it does when you pass your pointer over any other item.
How To Make A Folder Invisible In Windows.
A Windows folder is made up of 2 parts, the folder icon and the folder name.
In order to make a folder invisible (and therefore hidden), you need to create a folder that doesn’t have a name and give it an icon that can’t be seen. How to create folders.
To get started, create a new folder on your desktop, just as you normally would.
While the “New Folder” is highlighted, hold down the Alt key on your keyboard, and then type 255. Press Enter on you keyboard and you’ll be left with a folder that doesn’t have a name.
Change The Icon.
Next you need to change the folder icon to one that’s invisible. But before you do that, I’d suggest you move the folder to the area of your desktop that you want it to be. It’s easier to move move it while you can still see it.
When the folder is in place, right click it and then click Properties.
In the Properties window, click the Customise tab and then click the Change Icon button.
The Change Icon window will open. Use the arrows at the bottom of the window to scroll through the icons.
You’ll see lots of them. What you’re looking for is a gap in the icons.
It’ll look like there’s something missing, as if an icon didn’t load properly. But if you click on the “gap” it’ll show a blue highlight square. That’s the invisible icon.
With the invisible icon selected (highlighted) click the OK button and then click OK again and your folder should disappear. If it doesn’t, you might need to click somewhere on your desktop to deselect it.
Hiding A Folder In Plain Sight.
Hiding a folder in this way means that it’s always there when you want it. But only you know exactly where it is on the desktop.
To find it, you simply move your mouse pointer over the general area and you’ll see the highlight appear around it. Double left click in the highlight and the folder will open.
Sometimes You’ll See A Black Square.
When trying to hide a folder like this, sometimes, instead of the folder becoming invisible, it displays as a black square.
I’ve seen that happen and it seems to be some sort of a glitch. Not exactly sure what’s happening, but if it happens to you, then this is what to do.
Click the Start button and then type “disk clean-up“.
When Disk Clean-up opens, deselect everything except for Thumbnails.
Keep Thumbnails selected. Click the OK button and Disk Clean-up will clean out your computer thumbnails cache.
Change The Icon Again.
When Disk Clean-up has finished, you’ll need to change the folder icon again. Right click on the folder, left click Properties. Click the Customise tab and the Change Icon button.
Scroll along the icons and select a different “gap”. This time your folder will disappear. It will be hidden.
Summary.
Hiding folders in Windows using these two methods is quick and easy to do. But it isn’t really that secure.
The folders (and there contents) aren’t encrypted or protected in any way, other than the fact that you can’t see them. On your home computer, that’s generally enough.
Windows doesn’t have a built in utility for password protecting folders. So if you’d like a bit more security then you need to look at third party software.
