Hiding Folders And Files In Linux Mint

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Möbius
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Hiding Folders And Files In Linux Mint

Post by Möbius »

Add a little privacy to some of your Linux Mint folders.

You can hide a folder quite easily in Linux Mint and there and no Terminal commands are involved. This is for the benefit of some users new to Mint.

There are two settings in the Home directory of your files/folders. Right click a blank space here and a context menu showing "show hidden files" within the directory. Check it and it will reveal a bunch of stuff that you probably wont need to use. Here you should err on the side of caution and do not delete anything, it may be super important to your system.

Go ahead and minimise your Home folder.

Right, lets start.
On the desktop......
As normal, gather together a bunch of your files and put them inside a "new folder". Name your folder whatever you like then drag and drop it into the Home folder, or, use copy and paste (don't forget to delete your original desktop folder, it's full of all that juicy stuff which you don't want prying eyes on).

This is the simple trick. All you need to do is rename the titled folder within the Home folder but prefix it with a period, full stop, dot or a "." without the quotes. All you do next is uncheck the "show hidden folders" option and close your Home folder.

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There it is.................................................... :icon_arrowu:

The next time you visit the home folder. Your ".titled" file/folder won't show until you recheck the "show hidden files" option. Great....but, it is easily opened. Okay, read on...

Next, add a security measure, right click the folder and compress or zip it (akin to a RAR type file) and select "other options" to encrypt the folder with a password of your choice.

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Oh damn it, I've forgotten the password... :confused:

There is still an copy of the unzipped ".titled" folder in the Home folder, just delete it, as all your valuable info will now be locked up in an encrypted zip file.

You may extract the zip file into the Home directory, but to move its content elsewhere on your system, you will have to rename it once again by removing the dot.

Just as easy as Windows huh?

:thumbup:
Last edited by Möbius on 10 Feb 2020, 02:18, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Hiding Folders And Files In Linux Mint

Post by OnTheLimit »

Again, an evolution which adds to Linux's viability as an alternative.

Thanks Mobi!
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